Over recent decades, there has been a shift in the focus of government irrigation schemes towards groundwater development throughout the Gangetic Plains, especially in the Nepal Tarai-Madhesh. This report explores the impact of landlord-tenant relations on access to groundwater irrigation. Tenant farmers have a reduced incentive to invest in pumping equipment and the boring of tube wells due to the high cost involved, insecure tenure and high rent payments, while landlords themselves have been shown to offer little support.

The Chinyanja Triangle (CT) is an area inside the Zambezi

River Basin, inhabited by Chinyanja-speaking people

sharing a similar history, language and culture across

the dryland systems of the eastern province of Zambia,

southern and central regions of Malawi and Tete Province

of Mozambique. Chiefs and Chiefdoms play a critical role

in decision making and influencing social relationships. The

Zambezi River, which originates in the Kalene Hills in Zambia

is joined by ten big tributaries from six countries, and is

This Topic Guide covers: the trends in and drivers of large-scale land acquisition, and the associated costs, risks and benefits; the provision of and access to more accurate data on large-scale land acquisitions, and key international and regional initiatives to provide guidelines to enhance security of tenure and promote good quality investment; land reform issues such as land tenure regularisation and land administration systems; and land issues in the context of fragile states, and conflict and post-conflict situations.

Land markets are evolving in response to increasing population pressure in Africa.
High population pressure leads to land use intensification on very small farms.
Population growth in densely populated rural areas leads to increasing rural–urban youth migration.
Tenure security enhancing land reforms enhance investments and sustainable land use intensification.
Pro-poor development strategies should target the strengthening of land governance.

Large-scale land acquisitions have increased in scale and pace due to changes in commodity markets, agricultural investment strategies, land prices, and a range of other policy and market forces. The areas most affected are the global “commons” – lands that local people traditionally use collectively — including much of the world’s forests, wetlands, and rangelands. In some cases land acquisition occurs with environmental objectives in sight – including the setting aside of land as protected areas for biodiversity conservation.

This Study discusses the human rights issues raised by large-scale land deals for plantation agriculture (‘land grabbing’) in low and middle-income countries. Firstly, the Study takes stock of available data on large land deals, their features and their driving forces. It finds that ‘land grabbing’ is a serious issue requiring urgent attention. Secondly, the Study conceptualises the link between land deals and human rights, reviews relevant international human rights law and discusses evidence on actual and potential human rights impacts.

Unregistered ancestral lands and those under shifting cultivation will be protected under draft policy and protected from confiscation under under a draft land use policy, a change land rights groups say would be a major step forward for tenure security.

In a first study of this kind, International Justice Mission has used mixed methods assessment to portray the depth of widow and orphan property grabbing problem and lack of justice system response in Mukono County, Uganda. The report demonstrates that nearly a third of widows have experienced land grabbing with virtually no criminal justice system response.

A webpage list showing company name, address, director name and nationality, status of company registration with the Ministry of Commerce, legal papers and investment rights, ELC size and location with coordinates, purpose of investment, contract duration, land utilization plan, profess of implementation after contract signing, and any measures taken by the Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF).