A report of a Conference held in Nairobi 6-7th June 2013. Includes case studies on community land rights from South Africa, Uganda, Mozambique, Rwanda, Brazil and Kenya.

News, views and experiences of policy-makers, practitioners and communities on making rangelands secure for local users

China’s land policy has been in the news frequently over the last few weeks, since the Chinese government announced it will reform its land policy in the wake of the Third Plenum last November.

For those who do not know the Chinese land system follows a brief introduction:

This paper is part of a broader Chatham House study which assesses illegal logging and the associated trade. The study, which began in 2006, measures the nature and extent of the problem, and the effectiveness of the response by both the government and the private sector in a number of producer, processing and consumer countries.

The gender and equity implications of land-related investments on land access and labour and income-generating opportunities A case study of selected agricultural Investments in LAO PDR (2013)

Most analyses of violence in Darfur ignore the local dimension of the crisis, focusing instead on the region’s economic and political marginalization and climatic variability. However, agricultural change and other changes relating to the land-rights and land-use systems have led to competition and exclusion, and have played a major role in the collective violence that has raged throughout the region. Understanding these questions is essential for the successful resolution of political and policy debates in Darfur.

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Indigenous farmer in the municipality of Sayaxché, department of Petén, Guatemala, viewing the stunted corn crop on his land bordering an oil palm plantation. 

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The gender and equity implications of land-related investments on land access and labour and income-generating opportunities

>> A case study of selected agricultural Investments in LAO PDR (2013)

In recent years, Zambia has witnessed increased interest from private investors in acquiring land for agriculture. As elsewhere, large-scale land acquisitions are often accompanied with promises of capital investments to build infrastructure, bring new technologies and know-how, create employment, and improve market access, among other benefits

A Case Study of Selected Agricultural Investments in Zambia (2013) 

Agricultural investments create risks as well as opportunities, for instance The Case Study of Integrated Tamale Fruit Company (2013) In recent years, Ghana has witnessed increased interest from private companies in developing agricultural investments. This trend is common to many lower/middle income countries.

A Case Study of Selected Agricultural Investments in Northern Tanzania (2013)

For early reports, see FAO’s Corporate Document Repository

"For millions of people living in the world’s poorest countries, access to land is a matter not of wealth, but of survival, identity and belonging. Most of the 1.4 billion people earning less than US$1.25 a day live in rural areas and depend largely on agriculture for their livelihoods, while an estimated 2.5 billion people are involved in full- or part-time smallholder agriculture.