Secure land rights are important for development and poverty reduction and the greatest challenges for providing such rights are in urban, peri-urban areas, and the most productive rural areas. This publication updates and revises UN-HABITAT’s 2004 publication ‘Urban Land for All’, and stresses the need for policies that facilitate access to land for all sections of their existing and future populations – particularly those on low or irregular incomes.

The caste system is an intricate part of the institutional structure as well as class formation, political instability and conflicts in Nepal. The most severely discriminated group in the caste system is the Dalits, the so-called “untouchables”. Dalits faced religious, occupational and even, territorial discrimination. They were traditionally excluded from receiving education, using public resources, and had no rights to own land.

Recent years have seen pastoralist communities in Tanzania becoming increasingly impoverished and vulnerable, due to  livestock diseases, drought, fluctuating market prices and unfavourable policies. This paper discusses strategies to address the last of these factors with reference to the Ereto-Ngorongoro Pastoralist Project, which was set up in response to growing concern about the unprecedented and rising levels of poverty among pastoralists in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA).

Working on the premise that in the 21st century there may be two or three times the human population than at the time of writing, this paper explores the concept of sustainable livelihoods. The analysis points to priorities for policy and research, including pricing and taxing policies for the rich that would reduce environmental demand, and further research into small farming systems, local economies and factors influencing migration.
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This report offers a detailed analysis of the different challenges of land reform in both Zimbabwe and South Africa. The report looks at the history of land ownership and policy in both countries.For Zimbabwe, it offers practical policy suggestions for ways forward by identifying the contours of a post-Mugabe land approach.

This study examines the use and management of natural resources in an area of South Africa at a time of profound political and social change. It takes as its focus the Mutale River valley, which lies almost entirely within Venda, a former black 'homeland' under the South African system of apartheid, and now part of the Northern Province. Venda is situated in the north-eastern corner of the country, adjacent to the Kruger National Park and the border with Zimbabwe.

Development economists have long aimed to identify programs and policies that can, by simultaneously improving equity and efficiency, foster sustainable growth. Land reform provides a classical example for such a programme.

The study was conducted to determine whether the gender difference in wealth and land allocation between male and female farmers in male-headed households is manifested in soil fertility indicators. It determined chemical fertility levels (fertility indicators) in the composite topsoil samples from 5 woman-owned plots and 5 man-owned plots in Ntanzi village, Uganda, on a Rhodic Ferralsol. A similar study was conducted on 8 woman-owned and 8 man-owned plots in Buggala Island, Uganda, on a Ferralic Arenosol.

Effective and well-designed land reform policies can provide sustained contributions to economic growth, reduced social unrest and poverty. This study analyses land reform policies in Angola and South Africa with a view to assess its impact on food security. Both countries have introduced extensive land reform policies following histories of colonialism, occupation and oppression which displaced many people.The paper begins with a background of South Africa and Angola and discusses the governments’ land reform policies.

Since Independence, India’s states have employed several land reform ‘tools,’ including reforming tenancy, imposing land ceilings, distributing government wasteland, and allocating house sites and homestead plots. This article briefly summarises some of these past efforts and attempts to draw broad lessons for informing possible policy paths ahead.To date, the authors argue, the effectiveness of the legislation has been mixed and progress over the last few years has slowed. But the link between rural poverty and landlessness remains.

Current land management approaches focus on achieving ecological resilience for natural resources and biological diversity, and socioeconomic resilience for the people who depend on the land for their livelihoods and wellbeing. In the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, landscapes extend across national boundaries and their effective management requires cooperation among the countries sharing the transboundary area, particularly in light of the impacts being experienced from a wide range of drivers of change, including climate change.

The aim of this paper is to illustrate how projects could be designed to address land degradation through the four focal areas; with special reference to incremental costs assessment. Approaches the question from a generic form through to specific examples.