During the UN World Data Forum 2023 in Hangzhou, China, I had the opportunity to participate in the Global Data Barometer Measuring the state of data for public good and the achievement of the SDGs, which the Land Portal Foundation organized together with the Open Government Partnership (OGP), the Open Contracting Partnership, and Open Data Watch (ODW).
Strengthening tenure security is often considered a precondition to improved livelihoods, resilience, and sustainable resource use. Interventions from the LAND-at-scale program, which is funded by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), employ a range of methods for achieving tenure security, such as improving land mapping and registration systems.
Last week, I had the honour of moderating a panel on ‘Monitoring, Evidence and Data’ for Land Portal during the 10th Anniversary Event of the VGGT. The intention was to take inspiration from a recently published data story questioning the provision of data and monitoring to measure the impacts of the Voluntary Guidelines over the past 10 years. Yet the topic was already highly visible, garnering much attention during the first day of the event.
Once again International Development organizations (World Bank, IFAD, FAO, USAID, GIZ and others) came together to discuss the Voluntary Guidelines, which were approved in May2012. An indisputable success of this was to have also associated the largest peasant movement, La Via Campesina, which from the day of approval enthusiastically applauded this process.
Scaling is at the heart of both the name as well as the strategy of LAND-at-scale (LAS). Scaling and scaling potential are key in the way the program was designed and is reflected in the three pillars chosen to realize the aim of the program. The first pillar is about scaling successful initiatives and projects; the second pillar focuses on land governance innovations with scaling potential; and the third pillar covers knowledge management, with a focus on gaining a deeper understanding on the conditions required to make scaling successful.
Mali is a landlocked country in the heart of the Sahel that faces land related tensions, food insecurity and severe security challenges despite the 2015 peace agreement. Agriculture accounts for 39% of the national GDP and Mali’s main exports rely on gold, cotton, and livestock.
The 15th session of the Conference of Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), is taking place in Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire, from 9 to 20 May 2022. The theme: “Land, Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity.” “We are faced with a crucial choice,” Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told participants: “We can either reap the benefits of land restoration now or continue on the disastrous path that has led us to the triple planetary crisis of climate, biodiversity and pollution”
