Land degradation is a major problem in almost all the countries. In most of the developing countries, population pressure and small farm sizes, land tenure insecurity, land redistribution, limited access to credits and limited education are the factors leading to unsustainable land management. In Ethiopia, among many factors, tenure insecurity is considered as a main problem for land degradation. The frequent land redistribution and the changing pattern of land ownership with the change in Government made the farmers insecure of their land resulting in not making land related investments.

The paper analyzes a sample of existing or in-formulation policy frameworks governing access and security of tenure over major natural assets such as land, forests and wildlife. The fundamental question that runs through the analysis in the paper concerns the extent to which security of resource tenure can mediate the achievement of the MDGs. The overall objective is to apply existing knowledge on land-related development and land rights into principles of policy formulation and implementation processes.

Many drylands in the world suffer problems of land degradation and desertification derived from human activities and exacerbated by drought. Too often these degradation processes have been endured by the ecosystems for a long time, and, according to forecasts of climate change, are likely to worsen in the future. Ecological restoration combined with adaptive management can be effective tools in response to this environmental and socioeconomic problem.