This paper is one of three thematic case studies resulting from a set of pilot projects undertaken jointly by civil society and private business partners from 2016–2019 in five countries in sub-Saharan Africa. These pilots sought to test how private companies could collaborate with civil society organisations and other stakeholders to implement responsible agribusiness investments that recognise and respect community land rights, and to develop innovative tools and approaches that could be adopted and implemented at greater scale.

This paper is one of three thematic case studies resulting from a set of pilot projects undertaken jointly by civil society and private business partners from 2016–2019 in five countries in sub-Saharan Africa. These pilots sought to test how private companies could collaborate with civil society organisations and other stakeholders to implement responsible agribusiness investments that recognise and respect community land rights, and to develop innovative tools and approaches that could be adopted and implemented at greater scale.

The extractive industry can be an important source of human development, economic growth, government revenues and foreign investments. When well-managed, the sector provides possibility to create employment, build human capital, advance peoples mobility by improving infrastructure, and ultimately enhance the overall human development with a positive impact on poverty reduction efforts.

This guide takes communities and their leaders, and 'ocal and national civil society organisations, through the steps needed to ensure that land investments in the community are carried out inclusively and responsibly.

Labor migration and large-scale land enclosures are increasingly central to the story of agrarian change throughout the Global South. Nonetheless, there remain limited understandings of how recent explosions of mobile labor and new sources of smallholder capital shape and are shaped by ongoing land use and property transformations. This article reviews this gap in Southeast Asia – a region where labor and capital are highly mobile and where the expansion of industrial agriculture and forestry has been particularly rapid.

This paper deepens the economic analysis of the effects of land consolidation – reduction of land fragmentation. It does this in the context of rural Vietnam, studying whether land consolidation promotes or hinders the Vietnamese government's policy objectives of encouraging agricultural mechanization and stimulating the off-farm rural economy. The analysis views land consolidation as a form of technical change, making it possible to apply the rich insights developed in the economic literature on that subject.

An information ecosystem is an extremely vast and cluttered space. What data exist? What data is up to date? What data is reliable? Who owns the data? Can I use the data without inflicting harm? Who are the data subjects? Many people across numerous sectors struggle with such questions and more. The land governance sector in India is no different. But somehow, it seems the land data ecosystem in India is more complex and controversial.

The Support to Responsible Agricultural Investments project (S2RAI) promotes internationally recognised principles and guidelines such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT), and Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) to ensure food security and secure land tenure rights for communities in the context of large-scale commercial land investment as well as strengthen the institutional frameworks and coordination structures at federal and regional levels in relations to responsible agricultural investment in Ethiopia.

Around the world, land is the foundation of rural life. Perhaps no other asset can equal the transformative power of land to create economic opportunity, boost productivity and food security, and fulfill the promise of fundamental human rights and a life of basic dignity and access to justice.

The articles in this LEGEND Bulletin highlight the tangible contribution made by the UK Government to land governance globally through LEGEND and other programmes, not least in promoting responsible land investment (RLI) and governance. Promoting increased investment in agriculture and other sectors is a key priority of DFID’s economic development strategy. With this in mind, UK government investment through LEGEND reflects an understanding that good land governance underpins good investment.

In Kenya, the total land area of the country is 58 million hectares (ha), of which only around 10% is classified as arable land. As of January 2020, the Land Matrix had recorded a total of 14 concluded deals in the country, totalling 269 411 ha, or just 0.46% of the total land area. Although this is a relatively small land footprint, these deals may still have significant implications for local communities and indigenous people. It is important to note that in this country profile, regional filters were used to sort and extract the data on the Land Matrix online platform.

This guide aims to help communities develop “interest-based” negotiation skills and understand how to use a range of tools to deal with the power imbalance between them and those trying to take their housing, land and resources. The guide may be useful to communities threatened with eviction as well as communities that are negotiating solutions for evictions already suffered. It encourages communities to develop a negotiation strategy that incorporates advocacy at key points in order to strengthen their position.