Policies have considerable impact on people’s livelihoods. They influence the access people have to livelihoods assets and the strategic possibilities for employing these assets to reach favourable livelihoods outcomes. However, policies developed at central level are often not responsive to…

Forests play major roles in climate change. They contribute carbon emissions when destroyed or degraded and they suffer from changing climate, drought and extreme weather. Managed sustainably, they can provide a unique environmental service by removing excess carbon from the atmosphere, storing…

Il y a neuf mois à peine, la FAO, le GIEC, l’IUFRO et le CIFOR ont convenu de la première Rencontre d’experts sur l’harmonisation des définitions sur les forêts à l’usage des différentes parties prenantes. Pour commencer, son objectif était d’harmoniser les définitions sur les forêts en ne…

Invasive tree species are now considered to be a threat to the biological diversity of Southern Africa. Most of the invasive tree species in Southern Africa were either deliberate or accidental introductions. Most of the invasive tree species are exotic, with only one or two being indigenous.…

This was a major and highly successful workshop on women’s land rights in Southern and Eastern Africa, organised by FAO and Oxfam GB. It attracted an unusually diverse range of participants. This official report summarises the papers, presentations and discussions in the original order of the…

In March 2003 a group of land reform practitioners and researchers met informally to discuss the state of land reform in Southern Africa and to explore ideas about constructive ways forward. Following this, in late June 2003 a number of participants from the ‘think-tank’ workshop held…

In the first part of this paper the role of the core principles in three different scenarios will be discussed. The first is a setting where a shared watercourse, but no specific treaty exists; the second, where a treaty is in the process of being negotiated; and the third where an…

This publication comes out of the Gender, Citizenship and Governance programme of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Netherlands. The project aimed to develop good practice in changing governance institutions to promote gender equality, enhance citizen participation and build accountability of…

Begins with a brief overview of South Africa’s redistribution programme. Offers an interpretation of ‘what went wrong’ with the land redistribution programme that prevailed between 1995 and 1999, followed by a scan of the problems that do or will limit the revised redistribution programme in…

THIS report is based on research undertaken by AFRA in 2002/3. The process of compiling the information included an extensive literature review, workshops with the forest dwellers and interviews with various stakeholders. A number of issues were considered and a large volume of literature and…

With an estimated 40 percent of people in Africa, South America and Asia living in drylands, land degradation poses a significant threat to food security and survival. This report looks at the relationship between gender and dryland management based on an analysis of field experiences in Africa…

This paper looks at the case of Mdudwa village in the Eastern Cape to explore the processes and impacts of democratic decentralisation. Through an examination of contests over land, forest and water resources, the paper looks at the emerging power dynamics between new elected authorities at…