Conscientes do colapso civilizacional com que nos defrontamos como espécie humana e inspirados pela Campanha da Fraternidade deste ano, cujo tema é Fraternidade: Biomas Brasileiros e Defesa da Vida e que tem como lema Cultivar e Guardar a Criação (Gn 2,15), a edição de número 500 da revista IHU On-Line debate o tema que também é assunto central do ciclo de conferências promovido pelo Instituto Humanitas Unisinos – IHU a partir do dia 15 de março até o final do mês de junho deste ano.

As Unidades de Conservação cobrem 22% da Amazônia Legal e são uma estratégia eficaz para conservar animais, plantas e serviços ambientais, conter o desmatamento e manter o equilíbrio climático do Planeta. Contudo, as taxas de desmatamento em UCs vêm aumentando – em 2015 já superava a de 2012 em 79% –, assim como sua participação no desmatamento total da Amazônia, que passou de 6% em 2008 para 12% em 2015.

Source: Fao.org

La gestion durable de l’eau en agriculture est essentielle pour mettre fin à la faim et pour l’adaptation au changement climatique

Global demand for timber, agricultural commodities, and extractives is a significant driver of deforestation worldwide. Transparent land-concessions data for these large-scale commercial activities are essential to understand drivers of forest loss, monitor environmental impacts of ongoing activities, and ensure efficient and sustainable allocation of land.

Em vários países em desenvolvimento, a agricultura é a principal actividade e é tida como a base para o crescimento das suas economias. Em Moçambique, apesar do emergente crescimento da indústria extractiva nos últimos anos e da redução considerável da percentagem de pessoas que tem a agricultura como actividade principal (de 60% em 2005 para 54% em 2012, segundo o Inquérito Agrário Integrado de 2012), a actividade agrícola continua a ser o principal sector económico, empregando a maior a parte da população, sobretudo no meio rural.

While women’s rights to land and property are protected under the Kenyan Constitution of 2010 and in various national statutes, in practice, women remain disadvantaged and discriminated. The main source of restriction is customary laws and practices, which continue to prohibit women from owning or inheriting land and other forms of property.

Kenya’s Vision 2030 aims at transforming the country into a newly industrialized middle income country

and infrastructural development is high on the agenda to achieve this. Competing land uses and existing

interests in land make the use of eminent domain by government in acquiring land inevitable. However

most of the land earmarked for compulsory acquisition comprises of un- registered land whose interests

Globalisation and urbanisation trends in developing countries present both opportunities for growth and development on one hand while contributing to the complex myriad challenges of managing urbanisation on the other hand. Cities and urban areas play a critical in the development of a country. They provide platforms that incorporate intense combination of economic, cultural and political factors of a country or region. Nairobi city is Kenya’s economic capital and is a major economic hub in Africa.

This paper describes the development of a Land Information Management System (LIMS) for County Governments in Kenya. In the new Constitution 2010, devolution of some national government functions and formation of county governments was provided for. These invoked the development of new land laws to guide the devolution processes and procedures. According to the County Government Act 2012, all County Governments are supposed to develop digital Geographic Information System (GIS) based spatial plans and these calls for development of LIMS for and efficient breakthrough.

The need for affirmative action and the mainstreaming of the commons community plus a comprehensive strategy to secure indigenous and community land has become a major global concern of the 21st century. To achieve this will require out of the box reform mechanisms and the participation of the communities concerned, such that the reforms recognize and embrace indigenous systems and structures that offer avenues to secure collective rights, land use and management of commons resources; namely pastures, water and forests among others.

Land Registration and Administration in Kenya is currently operated on a multi-legal platform [UN 2013]. The Land Registration Act No. 3 of 2012 (LRA) was in that regard enacted to consolidate, harmonize and rationalize land registration goals; which are yet to be achieved. This is majorly because in as much as the 2012 statute repealed five out of the seven major land registration laws, they all remain in force under LRA’s transitional clauses. The Government of Kenya is making efforts to avail land registration information online via the e-citizen platform.

Access to land is at the heart of rural livelihoods. In sub-Saharan Africa, the pace and scale at which land is changing hands are increasing fast. Understanding these changes in land access is crucial if the systems of land governance, the practices of companies and organisations, and the initiatives seeking to influence rural development, are to adapt and have a positive impact.