This paper examines the various ways local land conflicts affect sustainable land-use planning in peri-urban Ghana. In recent years, rapid urbanisation has resulted a high demand for customary lands for housing development in peri-urban areas in Ghana. Customary lands are continuously converted into housing uses; leading to eviction of indigenes from their farmlands. A mixed method approach was used to collect data from 40 participants from the research site, Aburaso.

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.

Climate change-related threats and land insecurities are increasingly impacting upon disadvantaged communities, especially women. In the context of evolving land policy discourse and priorities, intertwined land tenure, climate change, and gender equality require reference to global normative human rights and development frameworks. Human Rights treaties, the Paris Agreement, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda, among others have strategic policy implications.

       Context and backgroundWith many physical and human potentials, the Bamun country in the western highlands of Cameroon, which is an agricultural area excellence is today experiencing serious socio-economic and spatial transformations. The coffee crises, growth in cash crop production and demographic pressure within the former agricultural spaces has favored the movement of producers towards pioneer fronts. The availability of land capital in these new agricultural spaces attracts migrants from other horizons.

The only specialized multilateral development institution focused exclusively on rural development, IFAD has successfully used agriculture as a means of poverty reduction – contributing ~USD 22 billion in funding to date1 . About 90% of IFAD's portfolio is focused on Low to Middle Income (LMI) countries. IFAD stands out with its nutrition and gender-sensitive lenses coupled with investments in climate resilient agriculture – mainstreaming nutrition, gender, and climate change work in agriculture.

The effects of climate change and variability cause a shift in climatic patterns and increasing shocks. These changes and shocks are affecting soil that is the backbone of many, particularly the farming communities. Climate-Smart soil (CSS) practices among farmers are known to rehabilitate and protect it. These practices will improve soil fertility, increase crop productivity and mitigate climate change as soil act as carbon sinks.

Forage-based cattle systems play a key role in rural economies of developing countries in terms of food security and poverty alleviation. However, they can generate negative environmental impacts by contributing to increased greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation, and reduction of biodiversity.

In most developing countries, agriculture plays a crucial role in livelihoods and economic development.
The sector employs between 60 to 80% of active populations in least developed countries (LDCs) and
contributes to a large share in the national GDP (Huyer 2016). However, there is growing evidence that
climate change is interacting with multiple stressors of the agricultural sectors of LDCs, challenging
efforts to achieving food and nutrition security targets of the sustainable development goals [Partey et al.

The climate-smart agriculture (CSA) concept reflects an ambition to improve the integration of agriculture development and climate responsiveness. CSA aims to achieve food security and broader development goals under a changing climate and increasing food demand. CSA initiatives can sustainably increase productivity, enhance resilience, and reduce/remove greenhouse gases (GHGs), but require planning to address trade-offs and synergies between the three CSA pillars, namely: productivity, adaptation, and mitigation(1).

The Sahel region holds both challenges and opportunities for smallholder agriculture/agropastoralism. Market opportunities for food producers in the region have improved due to population growth, urbanization, income growth, dietary diversification and higher output prices.