Why this study?
Recent years have witnessed an increase in violent conflicts involving pastoralists in parts of West Africa and the Sahel. They often take the form of clashes between herders and farmers, impacting human, national and regional security.
Given its mandate and role in conflict prevention, the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States, initiated this study in 2017 to examine the causes and identify concrete solutions to conflicts related to pastoralism.

This report assesses the costs and effectiveness of responsible investment practices in emerging market contexts. Its results make the business case for investments in social risk mitigation and avoidance practices. Such practices include community engagement efforts, impact assessments and the establishment of grievance resolution mechanisms. Implemented correctly, responsible investment practices engender confidence and trust between investors and local communities, which secures social buy-in and mitigates the financial risks associated with disputes.

The article examines the European share in large-scale land acquisitions in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper aims to identify correlation between biofuels policy and large-scale land acquisitions in Sub-Saharan Africa and the consequences of this phenomenon. It first identifies the backgrounds that caused the increased interest in biofuel production and, consequently, African land acquisition in recent years. Then, it examines growth in the number of land transactions that take place on the continent. Finally, the paper investigates the share of European capital in land transactions.

The aim of this paper is to provide an Asian perspective on land investments with particular reference to the European position in terms of land acquisition. At first, the paper recalls the relevance that land holds as a distinct factor of production and consumption. Then, it investigates the different ways employed to define the recent phenomenon of land-grabbing in the increasing literature review. In order to contribute to the discussion on the issue, the second part of the paper is devoted to the examination of the Asian case.

Recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in land-based investments for food, feed, fuel and fiber, driven by volatility in commodity prices, economic growth of emerging economies, policy drivers of biofuel demand and investor strategies in the wake of the global economic crisis. This has led to a surge of foreign and local investments in developing countries, where land can be obtained at lower cost, and has led to fears of land grabbing.

Although there has been a considerable effort to reduce soil erosion and improve land productivity in Ethiopia, farmers’ investments in SWC remain limited. There is a long and rich tradition of empirical research that seeks to identify the determinants that affect farmers’ investments in SWC practices. Nevertheless, the results regarding these determinants have been inconsistent and scattered. Moreover, the impacts of different SWC practices have not been reviewed and synthesized.

In hoofdstuk 8 van de Natuurbalans 2009 wordt ingegaan op de dilemma’s en barrières in de praktijk van het natuur- en landschapsbeleid. De realisatie van dit beleid is grotendeels gedecentraliseerd naar provincies. De feitelijke uitvoering vindt vaak weer plaats in gebiedsprocessen. Onderzocht is wat de betekenis is van deze decentralisatie in het kader van het Investeringsbudget Landelijk Gebied om de natuur- en landschapsdoelen van het Rijk te realiseren. Hiervoor zijn literatuurstudies en interviewronden in gebiedsprocessen uitgevoerd.

De regeling ter subsidiëring van Landschapsontwikkelingsplannen (LOP's) wordt herzien. Eén van de door LNV gewenste verbeterpunten – op basis van een uitgevoerde evaluatie - voor het functioneren van LOP's is een betere inbedding in de lokale planvorming. Onduidelijk voor LNV is hoe de afgelopen 10 jaar de LOP's zijn ingebed in bestemmingsplannen of andere lokale en/of gemeentelijke plannen. Elementair inzicht hierin is belangrijk voor een effectieve herziening van de subsidieregeling.

On the heels of the rural ‘land grab’ debate, the ongoing urban transition combined with large-scale urban infrastructure investments and land scarcity forces us to also pay more attention to issues of land in urban discussions. Yet how can we conceptualise land-related problems in order to connect and integrate rural and urban debates in overarching discussions of development?

Uzbekistan has embarked on significant reforms since early 2017, aiming to improve the lives of ordinary citizens, enable business development, and open up to neighbors. The scale of changes is unprecedented. The new government aspires to modernize the country and to move it toward upper middle-income status. The formulation of the country partnership strategy (CPS) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is timely for supporting this reform agenda through investment financing, policy support, and capacity development.