The paper outlines issues arising in a planning process with a poor tribal group who have no legal title to the land where their homes have been for decades. Families live with the constant fear of eviction, an ever-increasing occurrence in Thane District where land prices are rising rapidly due to proximity to Mumbai. The character of the project was identified and a planning approach and management tool was selected. Six months later, a second assessment was done and project modalities adjusted.

Towards the end of this assessment process, participants decided to present a land petition at the village assembly and with officials of the revenue department, in an attempt to broaden their network of support and draw attention to their rights. The focus of the assessment was neglect of government officials and elected representatives. Participants also recognized that gaps in information and communication related to the Katkari’s legal rights as residents of tribal lands, worsen the situation by keeping from public view illegal advantages held by wealthy landowners.

The effect of prime-age adult death and its consequences on access to land for the survivors has not been fully explored nor incorporated into policy regardless the fact that high adult mortality is now the lived reality in countries affected by HIV/AIDS, particularly in Africa. This paper explores the gendered relationships between adult death due to HIV/AIDS and changes in land rights for the survivors particularly widows. In many African societies, women have traditionally accessed land through marriage.

On the occasion of the International Year of Mountains-2002, FAO and its partners undertook a large-scale assessment and global review of the current status and future trends of integrated and participatory watershed management. The overall objectives were to promote the exchange and dissemination of experiences in implementing watershed management projects in the decade from 1990 to 2000 and to identify the vision for a new generation of watershed management programmes and projects.

The study conducted by FAO and partners in South and Southeast Asia was based on an analysis of forest tenure according to two variables: the type of ownership, and the level of control of and access to resources. It aimed to take into account the complex combination of forest ownership − whether legally or customarily defined − and arrangements for the management and use of forest resources. Forest tenure determines who can use what resources, for how long and under what conditions.

This paper represents part of an area of work in support of enhancing access to land and forest resources in support of rural livelihoods in Mongolia. . This synthesis report draws on field studies undertaken recently in five rural areas of Mongolia, covering all ecological zones from montane and northern taiga forest to arid forest in the Gobi. Our findings document and explain, with case studies and documentation from participatory analysis, the downward cycle of resource depletion and descend into poverty that is in action.

This paper represents part of an area of work in support of enhancing access to land and forest resources in support of rural livelihoods in Mongolia. It is based on learning emerging from an ongoing FAOsupported project called: Support to the development of participatory forest management (TCP/MON/2903). This project has involved the development (through extensive community-level consultations in forest areas) of a detailed Concept Document for the design and implementation of participatory forestry.

The present paper seeks to cover the key issues, trends, constraints, challenges, knowledge gaps and policy options on a range of dimensions of land access. Land access is broadly defined as the processes by which people individually or collectively gain rights and opportunities to occupy and utilise land (primarily for productive purposes but also other economic and social purposes) on a temporary or permanent basis.

Most of the world’s poor work in the “informal economy” – outside of recognized and enforceable rules. Thus, even though most have assets of some kind, they have no way to document their possessions because they lack formal access to legally recognized tools such as deeds, contracts and permits. The Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP) is the first global anti-poverty initiative focusing on the link between exclusion, poverty and law, looking for practical solutions to the challenges of poverty.

Across rural Africa, land legislation struggles to be properly implemented, and most resource users gain access to land on the basis of local land tenure systems.

“Both tragedy and hope are reflected in this fifth annual survey of internal displacement in eastern Burma. The tragedy is that such systematic and widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law continue to occur with national impunity and a largely ineffective international response. Yet it is the ongoing commitment and courage of ethnic community-based organisations to support grassroots coping strategies and document the impacts of conflict, violence and abuse which inspires hope for the future of Burma.