Au cours de l’année 2012, il est apparu clairement que les pays en voie de développement devaient faire un choix fondamental. Opteraient-ils pour un développement basé sur l’inclusion, le respect de la loi et des droits de leurs citoyens ? Ou chercheraient-ils un moyen rapide d’accéder au développement en cédant la terre et les ressources naturelles des communautés aux investisseurs internationaux et aux élites nationales ? Transformeraient-ils leurs propriétaires fonciers en paysans sans terre ?

En 2009, l’UE s’est fixé comme objectif de porter à 10 % la part des énergies renouvelables dans sa consommation énergétique d’ici 2020. Dans le secteur des transports, cela s’est traduit par une législation qui promeut l’utilisation des carburants d’origine végétale : les agrocarburants.

The sheer number of refugees from Zimbabwe puts a heavy burden on the province of Limpopo in South Africa. These new arrivals strain the already weak structure of the local labour market. The result is frustration and bitterness for local people.

Since the 2008 food price crisis, foreign investors have been acquiring more and more land in poor countries for producing foodstuffs and biofuels for their own use. Such investments have the potential to promote rural development and food security worldwide. By the same token, however, there is the danger of countless small farmers losing their land, of food insecurity increasing in many places, and of social and ecological systems collapsing through pure "land grabbing".

In many Asian, African, and South American nations, indigenous people are being driven from their homes: Government authorities are leasing hundreds of thousands of hectares of land belonging to indigenous people who only in the rarest of cases possess deeds to the land that are recognised by the authorities. Although in many cases their ancestors have lived on the land for centuries, these rights were never recorded in the land registries. The way of life and the livelihood of many indigenous peoples are severely threatened by their land being sold off.

In the Mekong region, conflicts between local communities and large scale land concessions are widespread. They are often difficult to solve. In Cambodia, an innovative approach to conflict resolution was tested in a case involving a private company, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL), and several indigenous communities who lost some of their customary lands and forests when the company obtained a concession to grow rubber in the Province of Ratanakiri. The approach was developed by CSOs Equitable Cambodia (EC) and Inclusive Development International (IDI) with the support of QDF funding from MRLG.

This country level analysis addresses land governance in Viet Nam in two ways. First, it summarises what the existing body of knowledge tells us about power and configurations that shape access to and exclusion from land, particularly among smallholders, the rural poor, ethnic minorities and women. Second, it draws upon existing literature and expert assessment to provide a preliminary analysis of the openings for and obstacles to land governance reform afforded by the political economic structures and dynamics in the country.

La migration est un phénomène d’une ampleur considérable. La proportion de migrants dans la population des pays industrialisés a doublé au cours des trois dernières décennies et la somme des envois de fonds dans les pays en développement est supérieure à celle des investissements étrangers ou de l’aide internationale. Dans de nombreux pays en développement, le pourcentage de la population travaillant à l’étranger et le pourcentage du produit intérieur brut (PIB) représenté par les envois de fonds sont à deux chiffres.

Les enquêtes menées sur plusieurs années dans la région de Kagera, en Tanzanie, ont montré que la migration a un impact positif sur le niveau de vie des gens, même pour ceux qui restent dans l’agriculture.

Peu de pays sont plus caractérisés par la migration et ses répercussions que le Burkina Faso. Au cours des 40 années qui ont suivi l’indépendance, la moitié de la population a fait l’expérience de la migration, qu’il s’agisse de migration transfrontalière de main-d’œuvre (essentiellement vers la Côte d’Ivoire) ou d’une réinstallation permanente dans le pays même (d’une zone rurale à une autre).

This chapter is an initial exploration and sharing of experiences and ideas based largely on a case study of a group of small farmers who have occupied and are producing on land that they believe they have an historical right to. The group, called Mahlahluvani – although they include people from other communities and claimant groups – are part of a land claim that has been lodged on the land they now occupy, but the claim is not yet settled.

The world is increasingly encroaching on indigenous peoples’ traditional lands. Around the globe, indigenous communities are forced to cede ground to state development, corporate land grabs, rising sea levels, environmental degradation, and population growth. The right to land provides the basis for access to food, housing, and development. But for indigenous peoples, traditional lands are more than this; they represent essential ties to their ancestors, their culture, and their languages. Losing their land means losing their way of life.