In a thought-provoking webinar moderated by Nolundi Luwaya, Director of the Land and Accountability Research Centre at the University of Cape Town, experts from across Africa convened to unravel the complexities of the role of traditional authorities in land-based investment governance. This event brought to light the unique challenges and strategies employed by traditional authorities in managing land-based investments.
Chad is at the verge of an emerging land tenure crisis. As observed in many countries in Africa, formal and customary tenure systems overlap. Customary tenure systems, that generally prevail in rural areas, differ from region to region, with each its own needs and practices. Land conflicts are abundant, caused by degradation and transformation of land surfaces caused by climate change, as well as land investments by domestic investors with disputed legitimacy. Women, particularly, struggle in practice to obtain the same rights to land as men, even though country’s constitution enshrines gender equality.
Blogpost about the book “Power, Knowledge, Land – Contested Ontologies of Land and Its Governance in Africa” 2022 by Laura A. German. University of Michigan Press.
By Linda Engström, Researcher, Division of Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden.
This session addressed the fact that the rights implications and the social and economic consequences of current climate change and biodiversity strategies in the context of the Rio Conventions for millions of people are not sufficiently acknowledged, researched, and addressed.
Interview with Prof. Félix Ngana of the University of Bangui: Promoting training of Central Africans in land governance for poverty reduction
In this interview, Prof. Felix Ngana talks about the recent creation of the Training and Research Unit (UFR) on Land Governance and Local Development (GFDL) at the University of Bangui in the Central African Republic (CAR). Following the establishment of a Bachelor's degree program, plans to extend this training to the Master's and PhD levels are already underway. These efforts are timely, as the country has embarked on a decentralization process to elect mayors and governors to head municipal and regional councils, respectively.
Forests around the world play a major role in curbing or contributing to climate change. Standing, healthy forests sequester more atmospheric carbon than they emit and act as a carbon sink; degraded and deforested areas release stored carbon and are a carbon source.
The issue of land tenure and governance is one of the most complex and multifaceted challenges that face policymakers and practitioners in the development field. This is especially true when it comes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as there are more than a dozen land-related indicators housed over five SDG goals, with data maintained by different custodian agencies.
In a blog series from IIED and the Land Portal, rights defenders and practitioners in the global South reflect on their strategies to push for more responsible and sustainable land-based investments. Here, guest blogger Jesinta Kunda describes how civil society organizations were key to improving Zambia’s first ever National Lands Policy.
In this blog we talk to Maria-Clara van der Hammen, who has worked with indigenous communities in Colombia for many years with Tropenbos, one of the LAND-at-scale partners in Colombia. For the moment the project is being applied with Koreguaje and Macaguaje communities in the Colombian Amazon region who live mainly from slash and burn agriculture, fishing and hunting and the commercialization in small amounts of agricultural and forest products.