Much African land currently has low productivity and has attracted investors purchasing (or leasing) land as a speculative option on higher future prices or productivity. If land deals are to be beneficial they need to induce productivity enhancing investments. Some of these will be publicly provided (infrastructure, agronomic knowledge), and some can only be provided by ‘pioneer’ investors who discover what works and who create demonstration effects.

In this issue: benchmarking global
poverty reduction; rethinking the stateapos;s role in
finance; coordinating housing and transport policies in
urban South Africa; making public sector reforms work;
helping women get to work; export superstars; why did
inequality in Latin America decline in the 2000s?

In a first study of this kind, International Justice Mission has used mixed methods assessment to portray the depth of widow and orphan property grabbing problem and lack of justice system response in Mukono County, Uganda. The report demonstrates that nearly a third of widows have experienced land grabbing with virtually no criminal justice system response.

This publication compiles land grab cases documented by LWA partners in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Philippines. The cases highlight how farmers, women, and indigenous peoples have been displaced from their lands; and how ecosystems have been destroyed, food security undermined and livelihoods lost. This publication also features the recommended principles of responsible agricultural investment (rai) governing land investments in the Philippines recognizing the importance of farming and fishing communities in the country. 

Cambodia Development Review is published four times a year in simultaneous English- and Khmer-language editions by the Publisher: CDRI Cambodia Development Resource Institute in Phnom Penh. Cambodia Development Review provides a forum for the discussion of development issues affecting Cambodia. Economy Watch offers an independent assessment of Cambodia’s economic performance.

Currently Tanzania faces numerous challenges regarding Land Registration Procedure in Tanzania as reflected in land owners perceptions on the procedure, especially in rural areas. This makes the need to improve the procedure compelling. However, the current Administrative, Financial, Legal, and Institutional aspects need to be taken into the consideration in promoting and improving the process of obtaining CCROs in the country.

In 2010, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the Aichi Biodiversity Targets as part of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. Target 11 calls for ‘at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas’ to be conserved by way of ‘well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures’.

En esta guía técnica sobre el Respeto del consentimiento libre, previo e informado (CLPI) se establecen medidas prácticas para que los organismos gubernamentales respeten y protejan el CLPI y para que las organizaciones de la sociedad civil, los usuarios de la tierra y los inversores privados a nivel mundial cumplan con sus responsabilidades en relación con el CLPI.

This paper is the second update of FAO’s original report on this topic. It presents information about the contribution of the forestry sector to national economies at the global, regional and country levels. The study presents the status and trends of the forestry sector’s contribution (total employment, value-added and export earnings) in the sector and analyses the driving forces behind these trends. It updates the data and analysis to the year 2011. The study gives a reasonable estimation of the general trends in the sector at the regional and global level.

Em 2013, o Centro Terra Viva (CTV) iniciou a monitoria dos processos e procedimentos seguidos pelas instituições do Estado para o licenciamento ambiental e de uso da terra de empreendimentos económicos que recaem sobre as áreas ocupadas pelas comunidades locais. O projecto da fábrica de liquefacção do gás natural, a ser implantado pela Anadarko no distrito de Palma, em Cabo Delgado, marcou o arranque desta actividade. A partir de 2015, a instituição pretende estender este tipo de acções a outros pontos do país.

Desde meados de 2013, temos assistido a confrontações militares que, de novo, opõem os protagonistas da guerra civil terminada em 1992. Até ao momento, esta guerra de baixa intensidade tem  ‑se concentrado em algumas zonas da província de Sofala, ao longo da Estrada Nacional n.º 1, tendo havido ainda registo de algumas acções esporádicas nas províncias de Nampula e Inhambane.

Com  o  frenesim  da  indústria  extractiva  em  Moçambique,  ficou  instalada  a  percepção  generalizada  de que,  tirando  as  empresas  extractivas,  todas  as  outras  partes  interessadas  (incluindo  o  governo) possuem  conhecimento  bastante  limitado  sobre  os  contornos  da  pesquisa,  prospecção,  exploração  e comercialização  dos  recursos  extractivos  do  país.  Assim,  o  debate  que  tem  acontecido  sobre  a indústria  extractiva  no  país  é  limitado  pela  insuficiência  de  informação  relevante e em tempo útil quechega às diferentes partes  intere