General

Despite their critical role in promoting food security on the African continent, women continue to be marginalized in the distribution and allocation of land. The implications for both family survival and national food security are far-reaching. This project will support research to examine the conditions needed to allow women to become empowered to participate in large-scale land acquisition (LSLAs) processes. The objective is to help ensure that sub-Saharan Africa puts the legal and policy frameworks in place to foster better accountability and legitimacy on issues of land governance. African women must continue to engage in food crop farming to ensure food security for their families and for the continent at large. This is only possible if their right to land is protected, respected, and fulfilled. Previous studies have shown that African women's right to land is seriously under threat. Traditionally, African women have not had equal access to land and weak land laws and governance processes related to LSLAs are further eroding their access. We are now learning more about the impact of LSLAs on livelihoods in affected communities but little evidence exists on gender differences. Little is also known about how African women have developed strategies to foster more equitable land governance policies and practices to ensure greater accountability and transparency around LSLAs. This research seeks to fill these knowledge gaps. The ultimate goal of the project is to promote land governance policies that treat both genders more equally and that contribute to greater accountability and transparency around LSLAs. The research will be implemented in six communities in three African countries: Ghana, Cameroon, and Uganda. All three have experienced LSLAs. The research team will explore the following: -land acquisition processes; -winners and losers in these transactions; -ways in which the losers (specifically, rural African women) respond to their situation; and, -extent to which these responses are successful. The project will create gender-sensitive evidence-based knowledge that can be used by women, local communities, non-state actors, and public authorities to enhance accountability and legitimacy in LSLAs processes. It will also propose gender inclusive strategies for formal and informal institutions that will respect, promote, and protect women's rights in LSLAs processes.

General

The partners are currently engaged in an initiative called the Cote d’Ivoire Land Partnership (“CLAP”). CLAP is an innovative partnership between private companies, government and civil society to achieve tenure security for smallholder cocoa farmers in private sector supply chains launched in 2019. The FVO funded project enables the partnership to pilot a systematic titling approach, wherein all members of a community that CLAP targets are able to obtain land tenure documentation, whether they are in- or outside of the direct supply chains of the private companies. The project focusses on land tenure, as this is a central component to tackling: ? Environment: Deforestation is prevalent among farmers with tenure insecurity, as they see deforestation as a means to spread their risk in case of dispossession or productivity loss. Land tenure also provides the required traceability to confirm and promote a deforestation-free supply chain. Lastly, land documentation provides both farmers and supply chain partners (companies) with the security to make investments in the land, e.g. for replanting and sustainable agroforestry. ? Human Rights violations – Forced dispossessions are still common and can arise from disputes and power plays from large agricultural players that expand their land, but also within families (e.g. after spousal death) and in Land Owner<>Land User arrangements. Land documentation ensures long-term stability and legal rights to land ownership and land usage, protecting each party’s rights.

Objectives

To develop the capacity for enhancing ecosystem services of peatlands (specifically reduction of GHG emissions from degraded peatlands) in Mongolia and the capacity of indigenous reindeer herders to reduce land degradation and improve the provision of ecosystem services and increase community resilience.

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

The following section is a reproduction of the ProDoc Section on benefits (ProDoc pp. 62) This Project will support Mongolia’s LDN target of ‘Promoting sustainable grassland management and halting further grassland degradation’ and ‘Ensuring no net loss of wetlands by 2030 compared to 2015’ by putting 20,000 ha of landscapes under improved practices. The Project will reduce 30,000 t of CO2e per annum with sustainable peatland management interventions. Demonstration of successful introduction of peatlands related land use change in the NDCs of Mongolia will be a positive example for other countries and will encourage countries to include peatlands in their NDCs. The project implementation will have a significant positive impact on Mongolian part of the watershed of Lake Baikal. The sources of the main tributaries of the Lake Baikal, Orkhon and Selenga, are part of the project area. Safeguarding these sources will contribute to alleviating the current problems of the decline of the water level of Lake Baikal, the world´s largest freshwater resource. The project will develop and apply existing methods of ecosystem restoration and test them in pilots to inspire local, national and international stakeholders. Restoration of peatlands in arid and semiarid biomes, as well as restoration of permafrost is a significant challenge. By demonstration of pilots, the Project will help in meeting the targets of the UN decade of ecosystem restoration (2021-2030). Furthermore, the project will directly contribute to increasing the capacity of disadvantaged nomadic herder communities to engage in and benefit from sustainable land management efforts and adapt to environmental and human-induced changes to the rangeland habitats they depend upon. The tools and partnerships developed through the project will increase their knowledge and understanding of policy and national decision-making processes that affect the habitats they depend upon, and their livelihoods. With these capacities, herder communities will be in a better position to advocate for their sustainable model of land use in sensitive tundra and taiga landscapes and mitigate pressures to convert land to more degrading uses. Nomadic herders will enhance their resilience to changing social, environmental and climatic conditions at the global scale. An additional expected benefit of the project is community empowerment, enabling nomadic herders’ community members to participate more fully as equal partners in information sharing, education and training, technology transfer, organizational development, and policy development, thereby gaining more access to commercial, social and political opportunities. The project will also facilitate interaction between state, local authorities, industry and nomadic herders, assisting in creating dialogue, building confidence and sharing information. Further the project will: · Enhance capacity of countries to implement MEAs (multilateral environmental agreements); · provide ways and means for reducing and mitigating the effects of anthropogenic transformation, land fragmentation and degradation; · provide global support for achieving UNESCO World Heritage status for reindeer husbandry; · preserve and develop reindeer husbandry and its cultural base in the circumpolar north; and · increase the competence of the next generation concerning the central importance of indigenous pastoral systems. In addition to these benefits, the contribution of the project to the GEF Core Indicators is discussed and presented earlier.