Large-scale acquisition of land in the global South has received a great deal of interest in the last few years. Especially following the food crisis, and stimulated by the growing demand for biofuels, pressure on land continues to increase.

LAND GOVERNANCE IN TRANSITION: 

How to support transformations that work for people and nature?

Given the uncertainties generated after the peace agreements in Colombia, we believe that understanding and studying the most relevant transformation agents and potential socio-ecological pathways into the future is a key step to develop pro-active management strategies.

In 2019 the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) will focus the world’s attention on the fundamental importance of rights to address the current environmental crisis. Linking people to landscapes, the GLF will explore the essential contributions of indigenous peoples, local communities, and rural and indigenous women and youth in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement targets on climate change, highlighting the transformative role of rights and rights-based approaches in securing a more just, sustainable and prosperous future for all. Woven across the year’s events, these priorities will form the centerpiece of the annual conference in Bonn, Germany – to be held on June 22–23 alongside the intersessional climate talks – making it the world’s single largest forum on rights and sustainable landscapes.

The conference theme of “Strengthening Southern-driven cooperation as a catalyst for ICT4D” seeks to stimulate and encourage critical discussions on the different facets of Southern-driven cooperation, its promises, potential, for creating a better world, and the challenges we face in achieving the promised potential.Grounded by Geoff Walsham’s question, ‘Are we making a better world with technology?’ (Walsham, 2012); the conference will aim at offering context-rich theories, methodologies and practical guidance on the use of ICT’s to empower local communities.

FIG Working Week is an exciting week-long conference that brings the international community of surveying and spatial professionals together to discuss key challenges of our time within the surveying profession with fellow peers. With the theme

The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 on 20 December 2017 in order to improve the position of family farmers in all five (5) continents.

Availability of accurate and up to date data and information on land rights, tenures and administration as well as on different land use, such as agriculture, forestry, mining, wildlife, water, housing and infrastructure, is critical to effective land governance and crucial for planning and managing the use of land and land-based resources.

​The Land & Accountability Research Centre (LARC) at the University of Cape Town commissioned the vivid documentary film This Land as a way for rural people to bring the untold story of their struggle for rights and accountability on communal land into urban forums of legislative, political and corporate decision-making.

Many women around the world are working to improve their land rights. Yet the access to their land is often insecure. During this evening, you will hear stories by women who are involved in different initiatives at the grassroots level – from the Netherlands to Malawi. What lessons can we learn and how can they generate ideas that lead to more action on the ground? 

Kick-off event: meet female land rights champions, make your work more effective and join the festive launch of a photo exhibition

There are high hopes that the process of drawing up an international human rights instrument for the promotion and protection of peasant rights will soon be crowned with success: In September, the Human Rights Council decides whether the newly negotiated UN Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas will be sent to the United Nations’ General Assembly in New Y