From 9 to 11 November 2016 the ‘symposium on land consolidation and land readjustment for sustainable development’ was held in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. The symposium was a joint initiative from FIG commissions 7 and 8, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), LANDNET, the Dutch Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency, and supported by Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) and the World Bank. About 200 participants from 50 countries shared their experiences and knowledge about state of the art practices of land consolidation and land readjustment across the world.

Launched on 18 May 2012, the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (NAFSN) is a G8 (now G7) initiative spearheaded by former US President Barack Obama. The New Alliance aims to increase private investment in African agriculture as a means to “achieve sustained and inclusive agricultural growth and raise 50 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years.” In total, 10 African countries have signed on to the NAFSN.

Large scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) impact women: loss of rights and access to land, water resources, fuel wood, adequate shelter, compensation and livelihood. The study looks at three sub-Saharan African countries (Cameroon, Ghana and Uganda) each having different land tenure regimes. Since land is vital for the survival of rural dwellers especially women, the study recommends that laws and policies governing the process of LSLA stress a mandatory participatory approach that includes women. There is urgent need to revalorize national laws to mainstream women’s land rights.

Despite six years of crisis in Syria, agriculture remains a key part of the economy. The sector still accounts for an estimated 26 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and represents a critical safety net for the 6.7 million Syrians – including those internally displaced - who still remain in rural areas. However, agriculture and the livelihoods that depend on it have suffered massive loss. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has now conducted the first comprehensive nationwide assessment on the cost of the war to the agriculture sector.

Nos últimos anos os estudos sobre relações de género têm gerado muitos debates, principalmente quando o tema está associado ao meio rural, onde os processos de mudança e de aceitação de transformações de atitudes e comportamentos estão relacionados com a iliteracia, os costumes, tabus, bem como com a divisão social do trabalho configurados por relações de poder marcadas por desigualdades.

There has been considerable discussion over the past thirty years on how to define “sustainable agriculture.” During most of this period, sustainability was exclusively considered an environmental issue and was therefore measured as such. The 2030 Agenda requires that all sectors, including agriculture, be considered from the point of view of the three dimensions of sustainability: economic, social and environmental.

This learning brief suggests that one of the factors limiting the ability of the country to make good on its constitutional obligations relating to land reform is that we, as a country, have a missing middle – smallholder plots – when it comes to land reform.

Shaping the Food System to Deliver Jobs is the fourth paper in a series on The Future of Food. This paper focuses on how the food system can deliver jobs. It provides a framework for understanding the factors determining the number and quality of jobs in the food system, including inclusion of women and youth. It highlights a set of actions that countries can adopt, adapt, and apply to their own circumstances to enhance the food system’s contribution to jobs.

The dominant debates about land in South Africa often focus on the transfer of land from a few white hands to the black majority. The discussion seldom unpacks who constitutes the “black majority” as this is not a homogeneous group. In instances where the debate touches on land use, again the focus is often limited to agricultural production and whether or not small-scale farmers are productive. This narrow framework clearly has to be broadened and we need to ask deeper and more strategic questions than the ones we have been asking.

A Agricultura Brasileira se destaca entre as maiores do mundo e representa uma fonte de alimentos e de matéria prima para muitos países. Nela estão presentes diversos modos de fazer Agricultura, entre os quais a produção Agrícola Familiar, encontrada em extensas e importantes regiões do país. A agricultura familiar no Brasil é crescentemente uma forma social de produção reconhecida pela sociedade brasileira, por suas contribuições materiais e imateriais.

A ideia de produzir este livro teve origem em um esforço compartilhado por organizações e redes vinculadas à Articulação Nacional de Agroecologia (ANA) de sistematizar evidências dos benefícios do enfoque agroecológico na gestão técnico-econômica da agricultura familiar, aqui apreendida em suas variadas formas de organização produtiva e expressão identitária.

Conscientes do colapso civilizacional com que nos defrontamos como espécie humana e inspirados pela Campanha da Fraternidade deste ano, cujo tema é Fraternidade: Biomas Brasileiros e Defesa da Vida e que tem como lema Cultivar e Guardar a Criação (Gn 2,15), a edição de número 500 da revista IHU On-Line debate o tema que também é assunto central do ciclo de conferências promovido pelo Instituto Humanitas Unisinos – IHU a partir do dia 15 de março até o final do mês de junho deste ano.