Mudanças importantes ocorreram no cenário político institucional e nas dinâmicas sociais nos últimos vinte anos no Brasil. O marco inicial destas transformações pode ser fixado a partir da promulgação da nova Constituição que rege o tecido jurídico e societário brasileiro na atualidade. Todavia, fixar uma marca temporal é sempre complicado quando se trata de entender os pro‑ cessos sociais e suas mudanças, especialmente quando sabemos das interfaces entre passado e presente.

Em 2015, Moçambique celebrou 40 anos desde a proclamação da sua independência. Ocorreram entretanto grandes mudanças positivas em diversas áreas, apesar de um período relativamente longo de 16 anos de guerra civil, de finais dos anos 70 a princípios dos anos 90. Entre outras realiza- ções, no período pós-guerra reduziu-se a insegurança alimentar de 56% em 2003 para 24% em 2015, isto é, 32 pontos percentuais em 17 anos. A desnutrição também foi reduzida de 48% em 2008 para 43%, em 2015, isto é, 6 pontos percentuais em 7 anos.

From peoples' point of view, the issue of khas land is so much so neglected and non-transparent that no one even knows what is the amount of khas land available in Bangladesh. No comprehensive research work has so far been undertaken to assess the impact of distribution of the khas land on the poor, and the whole range of problems associated with the retention and non-retention of khas land by the poor including the role of the power matrix (agents of power structure) in the process of alienating the poor from their inherent rights to own the khas 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.

In Kenya, insecure land tenure and inequitable access to land and natural resources have contributed to conflict and violence, which has in return exacerbated food insecurity. Most farmers in Kenya have no legal title for the land on which they farm. Sources of tenure insecurity can be ethnic conflicts over land between neighbouring communities, particularly in the Northern provinces, expropriation by the state or local government and land grabbing by local elite or companies. Competition is as well growing over water, especially over groundwater, which is scarce in Kenya.

In Kenya, insecure land tenure and inequitable access to land, forest and water resources have contributed to conflict and violence, which has in turn exacerbated food insecurity. To address these interlinked problems, a new set of laws and policies on food security and land governance are currently being introduced or designed by the Government of Kenya. The new Food Security Bill explicitly recognizes the link between food security and land access, and the 2012 land laws target the corrupt system of land administration that made much of Kenya’s land grabbing possible.

As desigualdades de desenvolvimento e suas dinâmicas possuem razões políticas, económicas e sociais de longa duração. Estes factores influenciam os percursos históricos sobre as quais as políticas económicas e os poderes políticos procuram influenciar conjunturalmente sem que, na maioria dos casos, sejam efectivas mudanças fundamentais nas sociedades.
As desigualdades sociais e territoriais têm implicações sobre a estrutura e as dinâmicas do crescimento/desenvolvimento económico, sobre a estabilidade política e social e sobre a sustentabilidade ambiental, entre outros aspectos.

This edition of The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture (SOLAW) presents objective and comprehensive information and analyses on the current state, trends and challenges facing two of the most important agricultural production factors: land and water.

Almost one in seven people around the world are chronically hungry, lacking enough food to be healthy and lead active lives. This is despite the fact that enough food exists for all of the world’s people.1 Agricultural policies, the prices of certain food commodities such as meat and grain and economic development hugely impact food security, but demographic trends also play a role.

Armed conflicts are enemies of food security. There is a well established correlation between the exposure of countries to external or internal conflicts, and the deterioration or long-term stagnation in their food security. Most conflicts, and especially the internal conflicts that have now become the dominant model of mass violence, mainly affect rural areas and their populations.

The Lao Land and Forest Allocation Policy (LFAP) was intended to provide clearer property rights for swidden farmers living in mountainous areas. These lands are legally defined as “State” forests but are under various forms of customary tenure. The policy involves demarcating village territorial boundaries, ecological zoning of lands within village territories, and finally allocating a limited number of individual land parcels to specific households for farming.

The government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic has made great efforts to halt the rapid decline in forest cover by implementing different policy measures, which include measures: to address the causes of the decline in forest cover; to sustainably manage natural forests; and to regenerate degraded forests. In the last decade, forest cover has continued to decrease at a lower rate of just 1% from 2002 (41.5%) to 2010 (40.3%) at national level; however, there has been a net gain of forests in the northern region.