The first Meeting of the Advisory Board on Population, Agriculture and Environment was held in the United Nations Conference Center (UNCC), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 20-21 September 1999. The Meeting was formally opened by Ms. P. K. Makinwa Adebusoye, Director of the Food Security and Sustainable Development Division of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

African Agriculture is in crisis. Serious deterioration in the terms of trade, frequent droughts, growing expenditure on food imports, and rapid population growth on an ecologically fragile agricultural resource base have, all combined to prevent African agriculture from playing its vital role as the engine of economic development of the continent.

በኢትዮጵያ ኃላፊነት የተሞላበት የግብርና ኢንቨስትመንት ዕውን ለማድረግ የሚያስችል የማህበራዊና አካባቢ የስነ ምግባር ደንብ የተዘጋጀው የግብርና ኢንቨስትመንት ፕሮጀክቶች ሁሉን አቀፍ ፣ዘላቂ ፣ ግልጽነት የሰፈነባቸው እና ሰብአዊ መብቶችን የሚያከብሩ መሆናቸውን ማረጋገጥ ይችሉ ዘንድ ለመርዳት ታስቦ የተዘጋጀ የስነ ምግባር ደንብ ሰነድ ነው ፡፡ ይህ ሰነድ የተዘጋጀው የኢትዮጵያ ሆርቲካልቸርና ግብርና ኢንቨስትመንት ባለስልጣን የግብርና ኢንቨስትመንት ልማት በተገቢው መንገድ ተግባራዊ ለማድረግ የሚያስችሉ መመሪያዎችን ለማዘጋጀት ባሳየው ቁርጠኝነት ምክንያት ነው፡፡

በግብርና ስራ ላይ የሚውል ኢንቨስትመንት በምግብ ራስን አለመቻልንና ድህነትን ለመቀነስ እጅጉን አስፈላጊ ነው፡፡ ከ2000 ዓ.ም ጀምሮ በታዳጊ አገሮች ውስጥ የእርሻ ቦታ ተፈላጊነት በከፍተኛ ደረጃ ጨምሯል፡፡ በዚህ አኳያ መሬት አጉዋጊ መስህብነት ያለው ቋሚ ንብረት ተደርጐ ይወሰዳል፡፡ በማህበራዊ ዘርፍ ረገድ በመሬት ላይ የሚደረጉ ኢንቨስትመንቶች ቅይጥ ውጤቶችን አምጥተዋል፡፡ እንደነዚህ ያሉ ኢንቨስትመንቶች የአንዱን አካባቢ ማህበረሰቦች ተጠቃሚ የማድረግ አቅም አላቸው፡፡ ይህም አነስተኛ አቅም ያላቸው ገበሬዎች የካፒታል፡ የቴክኖሎጂ፣ የእውቀትና የግብይት ቦታዎች አቅራቦት እንዲኖራቸው በማድረግ ነው፡፡ ከዚሁ ጐን ለጐን የላቀ ኢኮኖሚያዊ እምርታ እና የግብርና ምርታማነትን የመሳሰሉ ጠቀሜታዎችን ማግኘት ያስችላሉ፡፡ ቢሆንም እነዚህ ኘሮጅክቶች ብዙ ግዜ የአካባቢውን ነዋሪዎች መብቶቻቸውን እንዲያጡና መሬታቸውንና በመሰል የተፈጥሮ ሃብቶችም መ ጠቀም እ ንዳይችሉ በ ማድረግ ለ ተጐጂነት ይ ዳርጉዋቸዋል፡፡ እ ንደዚሁም በ ምግብ ዋስትናና በገጠር ነ

Key messages:

This guide examines the role and responsibilities of private sector lawyers when advising their clients on agricultural investments. It discusses how lawyers can prevent and/or address and mitigate adverse human rights impacts on holders of legitimate tenure rights when advising on or conducting their due diligence and risk assessment processes on behalf of their clients. It provides a number of key recommendations, including on how to align legal advice with the VGGT and CFS-RAI.

Globally, increased investor interest in land is confronting various types of political mobilisations from communities at the grassroots level. This paper examines the case study of a land occupation movement called Chengara struggle in the largest corporate plantation in southern India. The movement is led by the historically dispossessed scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities. The objective of the study is to understand the type of institutional transformation of property rights that the movement is calibrating.

The article reviews changing land use relations in India and calls for a comprehensive land use policy. 

In several regions in Europe, the horse is becoming a common grazer on semi-natural and cultivated grasslands, though the pasturing benefits for animals and biodiversity alike are not universally appreciated. The composition of ground vegetation on pastures determines the value of both the forage for grazing animals as well as the biodiversity values for species associated with the pastoral ecosystems. We studied three pastures, each representing one of the management types in southern Finland (latitudes 60–61): semi-natural, permanent and cultivated grassland.

Indigenous groups are increasingly combining traditional ecological knowledge and Western scientific approaches to inform the management of their lands. We report the outcomes of a collaborative research project focused on key ecological questions associated with monsoon vine thickets in Wunambal Gaambera country (Kimberley region, Western Australia). The study mapped monsoon rainforests and analysed the environmental correlates of their current distribution, as well as the historical drivers of patch dynamics since 1949.

This study investigated the implications of large-scale land concessions in the Red River Delta, Vietnam, and Northeast Cambodia with regard to urban and agricultural frontiers, agrarian transitions, migration, and places from which the migrant workers originated.

Land use and land cover (LULC) change causes biodiversity decline through loss, alteration, and fragmentation of habitats. There are uncertainties on how LULC will change in the future and the effect of such change on biodiversity. In this paper we applied the Land Change Modeler (LCM) and Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) Scenario Generator tool to develop three spatially explicit LULC future scenarios from 2015 to 2030 in the Pulang Pisau district of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.