In a watershed moment for land rights in Liberia and across Africa, President George Weah on Sept. 19 signed into law a land reform bill that extends land rights to millions of rural Liberians.

The Land Rights Act ensures, for the first time, that the land rights of rural Liberians are recognized, protected, and guaranteed by law – an essential ingredient for these communities to achieve secure land rights. Under the previous land tenure system, as much as 80 percent of Liberians lived without legally recognized rights to land.

The restoration and improvement of natural capital (NC) in rural areas represents one of the main objectives of the EU’s rural development policy (RDP). In addition to creating environmental and biodiversity benefits, NC represents an important territorial asset and a basis to generate socio-economic second-order effects for economic competitiveness and rural viability. However, the regional capability to valorise NC depends on the specific regional context, needs and potentials, as well as targeted policy support.

Kenya’s development context is greatly influenced by land use and ownership. Consequently land holds immense cultural, spiritual and socio-political significance for nearly all communities. However, proper utilization of land has been besmirched by numerous challenges. Vulnerable and marginalized groups such as women, children and youth have borne the brunt of land challenges. The Constitution of Kenya, 2010 in appreciation of these complex dynamics has sought to provide a blue print for the realization of land reforms.

The Continental Land Policy Initiative, now the African Land Policy Centre, has made tremendous progress in generating knowledge on land governance since inception in 2006. A key milestone was the formulation of a Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa in 2009 upon which the African Union Declaration on Land Issues in Africa was prepared and endorsed in Libya in July 2009.

La tierra, la pesca, los bosques y otros recursos naturales proporcionan una base para los medios de vida y las prácticas sociales, culturales y religiosas. Sin embargo, la mayoría de las personas en las zonas rurales de los países en desarrollo no tienen ningún tipo de documentación para proteger sus tierras y sus derechos a los recursos naturales, lo que pone en peligro sus medios de subsistencia y, en consecuencia, su seguridad alimentaria y nutricional.

La terre, les pêches, les forêts et d'autres ressources naturelles est crucial pour les moyens de subsistance et les pratiques sociales, culturelles et religieuses. La plupart des habitants des zones rurales des pays en développement ne disposent pourtant d'aucune forme de documentation pour protéger leurs droits à la terre et aux ressources naturelles, ce qui met en péril leurs moyens de subsistance ainsi que leur sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle.

Rural households are displaced from their lands without any plan in place to resettle or compensate them, for a promise of improvement in their living standards. This has not only resulted in a decline in the living standard of the rural populace, in terms of loss of land and livelihoods, the poor are also further marginalized and impoverished. This study examines the welfare implication of domestic land grabs among rural households in Delta State, Nigeria, employing primary data obtained from one hundred and seventy-three representative farming households.

In 2017, Cameroon committed to restore forests and degraded lands over more than 12 million hectares across all ecosystems by 2030 as part of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR 100). The fact sheet elaborates on the status of the commitments made and highlights key restoration efforts and major constraints to FLR in practice.

Although Tanzania looks back onto a long history of land degradation, it has seen significant restoration efforts even before the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR 100) was launched. Building on this experience, the fact sheet highlights the main landscape restoration approaches employed in the country and elaborates on the major constraints as well as enabling conditions for FLR.

As one of the key partners of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR 100), Ghana is committed to restore 2 million hectares of its land by 2030. In this factsheet, the major approaches to forest landscape restoration are outlined and enabling conditions as well as major constraints to forest landscape restoration elaborated.

With 22 million hectares, Ethiopia by far made the largest pledge to restore its degraded lands under the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR 100). In this fact sheet, restoration efforts are presented including major approaches, key constraints and enabling conditions and steps to achieve FLR in the country.

Land degradation poses a major challenge to sustainable development in Burkina Faso. Against this backdrop, the fact sheet explores relevant Forest and Landscape Restoration approaches as well as enabling factors to overcome pertaining constraints for the country to achieve its varied international FLR commitments.