Your Excellency, Madam Minister, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
In many parts of the world, large-scale projects such as agribusiness plantations, mines and infrastructure have heightened the policy imperative to recognise the rights of socially, politically and juridically marginalised people – from small-scale farmers to forest dwellers, pastoralists, artisanal fishers and people living in informal settlements, including many who identify as Indigenous Peoples. Yet effective responses to land justice issues often require not just securing certain precarious rights, but also addressing imbalances between the rights and obligations of different groups. Land rights are typically subject to limitations and come with obligations, and it is this interplay of rights, limitations and obligations that underpins many of the most difficult challenges.
When the US housing bubble burst in late 2008, it dragged major banks into liquidation and destabilised financial systems worldwide. A long, era-defining recession ensued, ushering bank bailouts, currency crises and austerity measures. Meanwhile, China’s skyrocketing industrial production was shifting global economic power.
Over the past nine years, the project on Supporting Implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT) has helped countries make political commitments towards the eradication of hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition, with the explicit outcome of increasing awareness among decision makers, development partners, and society at large regarding access to natural resources. The Food a
There is an immense pressure on land in Uganda. The country has a rapidly growing population and is host to the world’s third largest refugee population. Particularly poor people struggle to get access to healthy food. Agriculture practices need to become more efficient and focused on the domestic market. The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) in Uganda works to improve food security in selected areas in the country. Among several food security projects, the EKN works with the LAND-at-scale program to improve land governance.
Addressing the land and conservation communities’ discomfort in discussing the relationships between migrants, Indigenous peoples, and tropical forests in the fight against climate change.
Land. It is a commodity like no other. We live on it. We grow from it. We drink from it and build our futures upon it. But — increasingly and frighteningly so — we don’t share it equally.
The distribution of land has long defined the gap between rich and poor. Now new data shows clearer than ever how the way in which land is being shared and managed profoundly impacts extreme and rising inequality, and the achievement of women’s and girl’s rights.
By Grace Goodrich
In the second part of an exclusive with Africa Oil & Power, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s Director for Africa, Paul Akiwumi, discusses trade facilitation reforms, debt relief programs and Official Development Assistance as instruments of aid for Angola during COVID-19.
What role will trade facilitation and policy reforms play in helping reduce Angola’s dependence on fuel exports?
The fourth session of the Mekong Land Forum introduced the ASEAN Guidelines on Promoting Responsible Agricultural Investment and identified some of the challenges ahead in implementation. Two companies shared their experiences working with a strong policy in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), so that we could consider how company practices can align with the Guidelines.
In the Mekong region, agriculture (including forestry and fisheries) employs over 43% of the population and contributes to around 16% to the regional GDP, making it an important sector for investment. Agricultural investment can be key to support economic growth, enhance food security and nutrition and reduce poverty, thereby contributing to the Agenda 2030. Yet, this investment must be responsible to generate sustainable benefits.
What are the state-of-the-art and new approaches to land consolidation as part of integrated rural development strategies in North Africa and Near East? That was the main question around which several experts from Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Turkey joined the FAO/ RVO roundtable discussion on land consolidation during the Second Arab Land Conference last February; a session which 110 participants attended – both in person and online.
