A review of examples and experiences of making rangelands secure.

The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) was established in 2010 as the science-policy interface of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS). The HLPE aims to improve the robustness of policy making by providing independent, evidence-based analysis and advice at the request of CFS.

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) between investors and states was established in 1965 with the adoption of the Washington Convention, establishing a specific arbitration mechanism under the auspices of World Bank to resolve a very peculiar kind of disputes: the disputes between a state and a foreign investor.

On the eve of the new millennium, the EU embarked upon a major agroenergy and bioeconomy experiment. More than ten years on, the evidence from science, academia, and grassroots voices is clear: most of the claims initially made for agroenergy as a truly renewable alternative to fossil fuels are flawed. Indeed, reports and research continue to demonstrate problems with the policy’s most basic assumptions.

This case study of a palm oil concession in Liberia highlights wider policy considerations regarding large-scale land acquisitions in the global South including the need for both formal mechanisms to ensure free, prior and informed consent; and rigorous environmental and social impact assessments before operations start.

This paper is part of a broader Chatham House study which assesses illegal logging and the associated trade. The study, which began in 2006, measures the nature and extent of the problem, and the effectiveness of the response by both the government and the private sector in a number of producer, processing and consumer countries.

Urgent action required to challenge impunity of perpetrators, protect citizens and address root causes of environmental crisis

Most analyses of violence in Darfur ignore the local dimension of the crisis, focusing instead on the region’s economic and political marginalization and climatic variability. However, agricultural change and other changes relating to the land-rights and land-use systems have led to competition and exclusion, and have played a major role in the collective violence that has raged throughout the region. Understanding these questions is essential for the successful resolution of political and policy debates in Darfur.

- - - 

Indigenous farmer in the municipality of Sayaxché, department of Petén, Guatemala, viewing the stunted corn crop on his land bordering an oil palm plantation. 

- - -

"For millions of people living in the world’s poorest countries, access to land is a matter not of wealth, but of survival, identity and belonging. Most of the 1.4 billion people earning less than US$1.25 a day live in rural areas and depend largely on agriculture for their livelihoods, while an estimated 2.5 billion people are involved in full- or part-time smallholder agriculture.