In the conditions of the Republic of Belarus there was formulated a term of intra-farm organization of the territory of an agricultural enterprise. There was examined its content, role and meaning in the organization of agricultural production. On-farm organization of a territory of an agricultural enterprise represents a regularization of allocation of a complex of interrelated and interdependent sustainable elements of a territory which included natural and anthropogenic objects. There were presented the parameters, which characterized intra-farm organization of the territory.

This publication is the product of a multi-year cluster analytical and advisory work on social and land conflict management of the World Bank office in Hanoi, which aimed to assist Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) to improve the land acquisition and conversion process to achieve more sustainable development during the current rapid urbanization and industrialization process.

Doing Business sheds light on how easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-size business when complying with relevant regulations. It measures and tracks changes in regulations affecting 10 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

Significant cocoa production in the municipality of Waslala, Nicaragua, began in 1961. Since the 1980s, its economic importance to rural smallholders increased, and the region now contributes more than 50% of national cocoa bean production. This research aimed to assist local farmers to develop production of high-value cocoa based on optimal use of cacao biodiversity. Using microsatellite markers, the allelic composition and genetic structure of cacao was assessed from 44 representative plantings and two unmanaged trees.

A critical review of the directions that post-conflict state-building is taking, particularly the implications for post-conflict land administration that current approaches are mandating as the ‘correct’ approach. Influenced by the author’s work for UN agencies on local government and land issues in Liberia and Somaliland.

The report considers the critical issues providing the context for discussing land issues affecting West Africa as a region. These include the political, social and economic context, colonial legacy and legal plural systems, the operations of regional economic communities and other regional initiatives, impact of demography, migration and urbanization, conflicts and post-conflict issues, as well as shared resources and ecosystems.

Despite formal legal recognition of women’s land rights, no government institution is mandated to protect women’s land rights or to ensure their legal implementation and enforcement. The roles of decentralized land administration institutions do not include the protection of women’s land rights. More importantly, District Land Boards only control the allocation of public land and not private or customary. Several land dispute resolution institutions co-exist without clear coordination mechanisms.

The research aims to develop a legal and policy framework that will facilitate integration of environmental protection with socio-economic activities during land use decision-making, as a mechanism to achieve sustainability. A statutory duty of care, with respect to land use, would make it clear that land owners or occupiers have definite responsibilities to protect and enhance the sustainability of the land that they use or manage; it would aim to reverse existing land degradation, or include a duty to inform other land owners or the state about some kinds of foreseeable degradation.

After three days of deliberations on the findings of a decade of research and initiatives across Africa, conference participants presented this series of recommendations affirming women’s rights to ownership, access, and control of land. Specific recommendations are directed towards actions to be taken by governments, intergovernmental organizations, and civil society organizations that focus on customary law; women’s economic empowerment, food security and the environment; political conflicts; and in relation to poor women and urban land.

Land distribution is highly skewed in Africa, where women’s ownership of land is a small percentage of that owned by men. Women frequently lack the resources to acquire land in their own right and are further disadvantaged by discriminatory inheritance laws, customary practices and market structures. This report summarizes presentations at the symposium on women’s rights and access to land.

Peri-urban areas in Africa are usually dynamic with respect to land tenure. Statutory, informal and customary tenure systems often co-exist and interfere with each other. This disclosure of legal pluralism often leads to lower levels of tenure security, especially for people with low incomes. Pro-poor land administration tools have been designed to cater for the poor. The question arises whether these tools have the desired impact. This question is answered by confronting the existing tenure regimes with the pro-poor land administration tools.