The land grabbing issue has produced a plethora of debates ranging from ethical conduct of land grabbing agents, specifically concerning displacement, to evidence for and against positive externalities such as technological spill-overs and construction of infrastructure. An underexplored topic is the valuation of agricultural land and the compensatory payments made to land users, distinct from land owners, for the loss of their source of food security.

Since the onset of the phenomenon of large scale land acquisition for agri-business in Sierra Leone, after the first whistle was blown by Green Scenery, many studies have been conducted by various researchers, some to meet requirements for degree thesis, others for policy and development purposes. There is the fear in a school of thought opposed to large scale land acquisition that there is danger in corporate entities ascribing huge portions of land to themselves in the guise of investment and annihilating the actual land owners.

Sierra Leone’s new National Land Policy, recently approved by the cabinet, presents a progressive and ambitious plan for protecting land rights that will strengthen women’s access to land, give communities a bigger say over land management and create a better framework for major land investments. All of which is urgently in need if Sierra Leone’s future development is to benefit the entire nation.

We, leaders of groups of women affected by the expansion of industrial monoculture plantations, particularly oil palm plantations, coming from all regions in Sierra Leone and different countries from West and Central Africa;

We, national and international organizations involved in the struggle for the rights of women and local communities in Africa, Latin America and Asia, signatories of this declaration, met from 14 to 15 August 2017 in Port Loko, Sierra Leone.

The recent phenomenon of large-scale acquisition of land for a variety of investment purposes has raised deep concerns over the food security, livelihood and socio-economic development of communities in many regions of the developing world. This study set out to investigate the food security outcomes of land acquisitions in northern Sierra Leone.

List of Participant to the stakeholder meeting held in Tunis and aimed at establishing a processes for sustainable collective rangeland management and governance

Presentation made by Jutta werner during the stakeholder meeting held in Tunis and aimed at developing sound policies that will enable implementation of governance of rangelands (collective action for sustainable pastoralism)

On the eve of independence from the Soviet Union, a process of destatization, promulgated into Soviet law in early 1990, was proceeding under Gorbachev’s leadership. Yet, significant shortcomings in vision, influenced by historical ideology and contemporary friction, mitigated the full development of private land ownership. Leasing of land from collective (Kolkhoze) and state (Sovkhoze) farms was legally permitted and proceeded accordingly.

There are different visions of what constitutes responsible land investment (RLI) and how to successfully implement it, but it is clear that legal compliance alone is not enough.  This resource covers 7 Responsible Land Investment key lessons.  

This document compiles four short reports and reflection pieces produced by Natural Habitats Group (NHG) during their involvement in a LEGEND project in Sierra Leone implemented by Solidaridad, which aimed to ensure that an NHG land based investment, undertaken by group member company Natural Habitats Sierra Leone Ltd (NHSL) to develop a large oil palm plantation respected existing community members and land holding families’ land rights.

This paper is one of three thematic case studies resulting from a set of pilot projects undertaken jointly by civil society and private business partners from 2016–2019 in five countries in sub-Saharan Africa. These pilots sought to test how private companies could collaborate with civil society organisations and other stakeholders to implement responsible agribusiness investments that recognise and respect community land rights, and to develop innovative tools and approaches that could be adopted and implemented at greater scale.

This Briefing Paper is based on the outcomes and lessons from projects recently completed in Mozambique, funded by DFID’s LEGEND programme, wider analysis conducted by that programme, and the knowledge and practical experience of the authors. The briefing is a summary of a longer Policy & Practice Paper by Norfolk, S., Quan, J. & D. Mullins (2020), “Land Policy and Practice in Mozambique: Options for Securing Tenure and Documenting Land Rights”.