This paper examines Philippine policies on land and resource tenure as embodied in the 1987 Constitution and ten major laws on tenure, and then analyzes these policies in comparison to the Voluntary Guidelines, in order to identify areas of policy convergence, divergence and gaps. 

Land Watch Asia (LWA) is a campaign undertaken by a loose coalition of organizations with a view to supporting and advancing the advocacy for access to land in Asia, particularly in the six participating countries, namely: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines. LWA campaign ensures that the issues of access to land, agrarian reform, and equitable and sustainable development in rural areas are addressed in national and regional development agendas. It seeks to serve as a monitoring mechanism to assess the status of agrarian reform in the region.

Improving women’s access to land is high on the agricultural policy agenda of both governmental and non-governmental agencies. Yet, the determinants and rationale of gendered access to land are not well understood. This paper argues that gender relations are more than the outcomes of negotiations within households. It explains the importance of social norms, perceptions, and formal and informal rules shaping access to land for male and female farmers at four levels: (1) the household/family, (2) the community, (3) the state, and (4) the market. The framework is applied to Ghana.

For decades, policymakers and development practitioners have debated benefits and threats of property rights formalization and private versus customary tenure systems. This paper provides insights into the challenges in understanding and empirically analyzing the relationship between tenure systems and agricultural investment, and formulates policy advice that can support land tenure interventions. We focus on Ghana, based on extensive qualitative fieldwork and a review of empirical research and policy documents.

A method of consensus building for management of wetlands and fisheries using a systematic approach to participatory planning and initially developed in Bangladesh is now being applied in both Bangladesh and the Mekong delta. The method recognizes diversity in livelihoods and works through a structured learning and planning process that focuses on common interests. It works with each category of stakeholder separately to prioritize the natural resource problems that their livelihoods are largely dependent on, they then share and agree common priorities in plenary.

Source: Iied.org

Par Aminata Niang et Catriona Knapman

Secure tenure of farming and forest land is increasingly recognised as an important factor of household food security and nutritional status. This is borne out by a study by the Laotian Land Issues Working Group. It demonstrates mutual impacts, how government land-related policies affect the factors involved, and who the winners and losers are.