Processes of globalization have generated new opportunities for smallholders to participate in profitable global agro-commodity markets. This participation however is increasingly being shaped by differentiated capabilities to comply with emerging public and private quality and safety standards. The dynamics within Indonesia’s oil palm sector illustrate well the types of competitive challenges smallholders face in their integration into global agro-commodity chains.

Oil palm plantations in Indonesia have been linked to substantial deforestation in the 1990s and 2000s, though recent studies suggest that new plantations are increasingly developed on non-forest land. Without nationwide data to establish recent baseline trends, the impact of commitments to eliminate deforestation from palm oil supply chains could therefore be overestimated. We examine the area and proportion of plantations replacing forests across Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Papua up to 2015, and map biophysically suitable areas for future deforestation-free expansion.

This guide provides a simple yet complete resource to help communities to understand the Asian Development Bank’s policies and use them for justice. While it focuses on the ADB, it also contains information that is useful for any campaign against destructive development—even if the ADB is not involved. The guide contains different kinds of information, including:

• Information about human rights and rights-based development

• Information about the Asian Development Bank and its safeguard policies

• Learning activities for community workshops

In the last decade, there have been a number of global/regional targets and initiatives to halt and reverse land degradation and restore degraded land. Starting in 2010, these include the CBD’s Aichi Biodiversity Targets, one of which aims to restore at least 15% of degraded ecosystems; the Bonn Challenge and its regional initiatives to restore more than 150 million hectares; and most recently the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The pressure on land is growing in many regions of the world, due to the increasing demand for arable crops, meat and dairy products, bio-energy and timber, and is exacerbated by land degradation and climate change. This policy report provides scenario projections for the UNCCD Global Land Outlook, exploring future changes to the use and condition of land and the resulting impacts on food, water, climate change and biodiversity.

Esta publicación recoge reflexiones sobre los componentes económicos del sector agrícola en Chile, mecanismos para mejorar la transparencia de los mercados, el componente laboral, la actividad forestal, la pequeña agricultura, la agroenergía, el sector forestal y la dimensión territorial y ambiental en que se enmarca este sector productivo. Se incluye aquí también una síntesis de variables relevantes recogidas en cada región del país, en las que se identifican brechas prioritarias que se deben enfrentar en cada una de ellas.

After the fall of the Soviet Union and regaining its independence, Armenia has begun a process of systemic transformation. The level and pace of socio-economic development has been influenced by internal situation as well as by country’s geopolitical position and its relations with foreign partners. The purpose of this article is to present general characteristics of foreign direct investment that has been present in Armenia since the 1990s. The author describes several key factors shaping the volume, geographical, proprietary and sectoral structure of the FDI inflows.

En Honduras, con la expedición del Decreto Ejecutivo PCM-053-2013, empezó un trabajo institucional tendiente a reconocer que en el país, aún después del conflicto armado de 1907 y de 1969, persisten fenómenos de desplazamiento forzado, violencia y dinámicas de despojo de tierras, territorios y viviendas.

This is a Establishment Convention posted on OpenLandContracts.org. It lists Timber (Wood) as the primary resource(s)

The document details the agreements of the Expert Group meeting on a set of defined questions that need to be asked in order to properly measure 1.4.2.  

This report provides information on due diligence and effective conflict management through consultation in the context of community land conflicts. It identifies some key steps to follow to integrate community land conflict into enhanced project risk assessments.