Smallholder farmers and indigenous communities must cope with the opportunities and threats presented by rapidly spreading estate crops in the frontier of the agricultural market economy. Smallholder communities are subject to considerable speculation by outsiders, yet large-scale agriculture presents tradeoffs that they must navigate. We initiated a study in Sintang, West Kalimantan in 2012 and have returned annually for the last four years, building the baselines for a longer-term landscape approach to reconciling conservation and development tradeoffs in situ.

Over the past six months Myanmar has
experienced a surge in new displacement
in four states, while humanitarian
organizations simultaneously faced severe
constraints on access. Border post attacks
on 9 Oct 2016 and subsequent security
operations triggered a new humanitarian
crisis in northern Rakhine. Intensified
conflict resulted in new displacement in
Kachin and northern Shan. Thousands
were also relocated in Kayin State due to
fighting in Sep 2016...

The following Interview was conducted by a community member trained by KHRG to monitor local human rights conditions. It was conducted in Hpapun District on October 12th 2016 and is presented below translated exactly as it was received, save for minor edits for clarity and security.This interview was received along with other information from Hpapun District, including six other interviews and 62 photographs.

A Agricultura Brasileira se destaca entre as maiores do mundo e representa uma fonte de alimentos e de matéria prima para muitos países. Nela estão presentes diversos modos de fazer Agricultura, entre os quais a produção Agrícola Familiar, encontrada em extensas e importantes regiões do país. A agricultura familiar no Brasil é crescentemente uma forma social de produção reconhecida pela sociedade brasileira, por suas contribuições materiais e imateriais.

A ideia de produzir este livro teve origem em um esforço compartilhado por organizações e redes vinculadas à Articulação Nacional de Agroecologia (ANA) de sistematizar evidências dos benefícios do enfoque agroecológico na gestão técnico-econômica da agricultura familiar, aqui apreendida em suas variadas formas de organização produtiva e expressão identitária.

As Unidades de Conservação cobrem 22% da Amazônia Legal e são uma estratégia eficaz para conservar animais, plantas e serviços ambientais, conter o desmatamento e manter o equilíbrio climático do Planeta. Contudo, as taxas de desmatamento em UCs vêm aumentando – em 2015 já superava a de 2012 em 79% –, assim como sua participação no desmatamento total da Amazônia, que passou de 6% em 2008 para 12% em 2015.

This LEGEND bulletin considers the impact that new technology can have on documenting land rights and democratising access to land data around the world.

This report presents results from nationally representative surveys with 1,000 residents aged 15 and older in eight countries — Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Nigeria, Peru and Tanzania — and with 3,000 residents in India. Each survey attained comprehensive coverage of both urban and rural areas of the country using multi-stage stratified cluster sampling.1 Standardized interviewer and supervisor training, as well as robust validation of data collection/data entry, help to ensure rigorous quality standards. 

Women face many problems with regard to land inheritance and land rights in Kenya. Individual and community land ownership do not favour women. The reason for this is that ownership of land is patrilineal, which means that fathers share land amongst sons, while excluding daughters. This practice is traditionally widespread and partly accepted although it goes against the interest of women and is prohibited by the constitution.

While women’s rights to land and property are protected under the Kenyan Constitution of 2010 and in various national statutes, in practice, women remain disadvantaged and discriminated. The main source of restriction is customary laws and practices, which continue to prohibit women from owning or inheriting land and other forms of property.

The need for affirmative action and the mainstreaming of the commons community plus a comprehensive strategy to secure indigenous and community land has become a major global concern of the 21st century. To achieve this will require out of the box reform mechanisms and the participation of the communities concerned, such that the reforms recognize and embrace indigenous systems and structures that offer avenues to secure collective rights, land use and management of commons resources; namely pastures, water and forests among others.

This note is part of an Action Notes series and provides guidance for governments and companies on how to design business models for responsible agricultural investment. It outlines the general types of models available and the considerations for selecting and/or designing a blended model to suit the context of the investment.