“Land matters” – more than ever! Can land be dealt with like other resources or – in terms of an economic perspective– forms of capital. Or does it attract particular meanings, sentiments, interests, acquisition strategies or social relations?

The report’s findings suggest that policies and programmes of governments and the development partners could include a stronger focus on the development of peri-urban areas and smaller cities and towns. The rapid pace of change in peri-urban areas throws into relief any underlying issues in land tenure arrangements, land administration/planning and governance, such as overlapping mandates, conflicts in tenure systems, weak land administration/planning capacity and wider political economy issues that can block positive reforms.

While the economic growth renaissance in sub-Saharan Africa is widely recognized, much less is known about progress in living conditions. This book comprehensively evaluates trends in living conditions in 16 major sub-Saharan African countries, corresponding to nearly 75% of the total population. A striking diversity of experience emerges. While monetary indicators improved in many countries, others are yet to succeed in channeling the benefits of economic growth into the pockets of the poor. Some countries experienced little economic growth, and saw little material progress for the poor.

The Government of Ethiopia and more specifically, the Rural Land Administration and Use Directorate, (RLAUD) has identified land use planning as an important tool for the sustainable development of the country. Land use planning is vital for optimising the use of the land and for reconciling conflicts between different land uses. Land use planning should be carried out at different levels – from national to regional to local including community: these different levels should support and integrate with each other.

Resilience-building planning in drylands requires a participatory, integrated approach that incorporates issues of scale (often large scale) and the interconnectedness of dryland ecological and social systems. In an often political environment that supports small, “manageable” administrative units and the decentralisation of power and resources to them, planning at large scale is particularly challenging; development agents in particular may find it difficult to work across administrative boundaries and/or collaboratively.

أضحت حيازة الأراضي سيئة التنظيم مشكلة أساسية، خاصة في أفريقيا جنوب الصحراء الكبرى وجنوب شرق آسيا، حيث تهدد الأمن الغذائي وسبل كسب العيش المحلية وإدارة الموارد الطبيعية بطريقة مستدامة، وأثارت نزاعات حول الأراضي والتعدي على حقوق الإنسان. والمجموعات الاجتماعية المهمشة مهددة بصفة خاصة، بما في ذلك السكان الأصليون، وغيرهم من أصحاب الأراضي العرفيين، والنساء، الطبقات الدنيا، والأقليات العرقية.

Since the 1970s and 1980s, community-based forestry has grown in popularity, based on the concept that local communities, when granted sufficient property rights over local forest commons, can organize autonomously and develop local institutions to regulate the use of natural resources and manage them sustainably. Over time, various forms of community-based forestry have evolved in different countries, but all have at their heart the notion of some level of participation by smallholders and community groups in planning and implementation.

Desde las décadas de 1970 y 1980, la forestería comunitaria ha ido adquiriendo cada vez más popularidad, a partir del concepto de que las comunidades locales, cuando se les conceden suficientes derechos de propiedad sobre los bosques colectivos locales, pueden organizarse de forma autónoma y crear instituciones locales a fin de reglamentar el uso de los recursos naturales y manejarlos de forma sostenible.

Государства-члены Продовольственной и сельскохозяйственной организации Объединенных Наций (ФАО) определили ключевыми целями Организации “повышение продуктивности сельского хозяйства, повышение качества питания, улучшение жизни сельского населения и содействие росту мировой экономики”. Как специализированное учреждение Организации Объединенных Наций (ООН), ФАО играет ключевую роль в усилиях по достижению продовольственной безопасности и сокращению масштабов нищеты.