In late April, 2021, deadly cross-border violence resulted in the deaths of 36 Kyrgyz and 19 Tajik citizens.1 To say that the Kyrgyz-Tajik border is complicated would be an understatement. The Soviet collapse in 1991 transformed internal and often overlooked administrative boundaries into suddenly salient and internationally recognized state borders. Villages, farmland, pasture, and infrastructure once shared with little afterthought during the Soviet period today straddle sovereign nations. Exclaves make cross-border travel, commerce, and politics even more complicated.

In recent decades;many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have pursued national water permit systems;derived from the colonial era and reinforced by “global best practice.” These systems have proved logistically impossible to manage and have worsened inequality in water access. This study traces the origins of these systems;and describes their implementation and consequences for rural smallholders in Kenya;Malawi;South Africa;Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Since the arrival of multinational agribusiness company SOCFIN in 2011 as part of a large-scale investment in palm oil in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone;social conflict has raged in the Malen Chiefdom. SOCFIN is controlled by a Belgian businessman (Hubert Fabri) and the French group Bolloré;which has developed a business empire in many parts of Africa. This report found that affected communities who have lost access to and control over their land have been exposed to serious human rights violations and abuses since 2011.

Argues that the role of the European Union in landgrabbing is manifold. EU actors are involved in the financing of large-scale land deals worldwide through forms of private finance;public finance and a combination of both. The EU’s position as an agricultural powerhouse is dependent on the huge import of agricultural commodities and inputs from the global South. Europe has a vast land import dependency with nearly 60% of the land used to meet Europe’s demand for agricultural and forestry products coming from outside its borders.

Covers rights violations in Liberia – responsibility in Switzerland; rubber and Socfin in Switzerland; evictions for plantation expansions; access to food and water; violence on the plantations; limited opportunities for jobs and schooling; conclusions; bibliography.

For more than five years;Ardhi Yetu Programme through its partners (HAKIARDHI;Tanzania Natural Resources Forum (TNRF);and PAICODEO) has been working with communities to advocate for land rights;gender equality and climate change adaptation. AYP’s main goal is to ensure that national level advocacy;policy dialogues and campaigns are driven by community voices;actions and realities. This report documents individual and collective efforts by project beneficiaries;particularly women.

Africa’s Catholic bishops have criticized the appropriation of land;natural resources and other economic assets by private companies and called on national governments to show greater concern for local community rights and needs. They said: ‘The impunity of corporate and elite capture of African land and natural resources and the damage this is doing to Africa’s food systems;to our environment;our soils;lands and water;our biodiversity;our nutrition and health is a major concern.

On 5 March 2021 the Namibian Ministry of Land Reform issued 988 land holder titles to nine associations in Freedom Square;an informal settlement in Gobabis municipality;with an additional 122 to be printed in due course. This is a huge milestone to the residents of Freedom Square and to the stakeholders championing the improvement of tenure security of middle and low-income groups residing in different informal settlements of Namibia.

Describes the efforts of Zambian traditional leaders to promote gender equality in the management of land and natural resources at the national level. Developed a tool to address knowledge gaps and provide practical guidance on promoting gender equality in the chiefdoms in the areas of land;forestry;wildlife;water;fisheries;and minerals.

Diamonds in the Delta (DiD) is an international research-action network of scholars, water professionals and civil society advocates who are concerned about how climate change compounds problems of flooding and subsidence in delta cities. We – the people in the network – are united in our conviction that the needs, experiences and aspirations of communities that are actually or potentially most affected by these problems should be the focus when designing and implementing solutions.

We cannot live without healthy soil and land. It is on these resources that we produce most of our food and build our homes. We need them to provide clean water and precious plant nutrients, to conserve biological diversity and to cope with climate change. And they form the basis for the livelihoods of millions of people. But despite such known facts, these valuable resources are in a dire state. A third of all soils world-wide are already degraded, and each year, further huge expanses of fertile land go lost.