Dhaka Declaration: Mainstreaming land rights in the narrative of climate change

Land and human rights are closely tied. Land use planning approaches can only be robust and have a meaningful impact if they integrate the interests of vulnerable and marginalised members of communities into their schemes.  

2023 marks two decades since the adoption of the Maputo Protocol. The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol) is arguably the most progressive legally binding instrument on women’s and human rights instruments globally. A total of 44 African countries have signed and ratified it.

Two comprehensive State of Land Information (SOLI) reports have been released, providing in-depth assessments of the land data and information ecosystems in Botswana and Zambia. These reports examine the availability of land information and evaluate its compliance with open data standards. The findings highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each country's land information management practices and offer insights for targeted interventions.

The rural poor who have weak or no land tenure rights are among the most vulnerable to the direct effects of climate change, both because insecure land tenure reduces the incentives and capacities to take good care of the land to mitigate /adapt to the effects of climate change, and because without secure tenure rights, disasters can easily lead to land loss and migration, also through document loss and land grabbing.

Whereas Cameroonian law grant men and women equal access to land ownership, unofficial yet prevalent customary laws greatly restrict women’s right to own land. 

The Land Portal Foundation reported another successful year in 2022, making significant progress toward their organizational strategy and monitoring and evaluation framework. According to their annual survey, 87% of users reported a positive impact on their work, while the website continued to receive high traffic, averaging 74,000 visits per month.

With USAID support through the Land for Prosperity Activity, the Colombian government has begun delivering land titles as part of a far-reaching project to transform the territory and meet the Peace Accord commitments

Secure land rights for women and girls are linked to increased women’s leadership and autonomy, enhanced economic opportunities, better social security, safety and dignified societal standing.

Judy Heumann, who passed away this weekend, taught me—and the world—a 75-year lesson in the power of humanity and dignity. She taught us how to live and lead with it, how to fight for it, how to embody and represent it fully and completely.

Robin Palmer passed away on Sunday 19 February. Robin was a pro-poor land activist who worked tirelessly as an academic and practitioner in the land rights sector for more than five decades.

Among the formerly ‘stateless’ residents of the enclave exchange between Bangladesh and India, nationalism thrives despite the state’s failure to provide rights.