New research by CCSI and the Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement (CED) on transparency of land-based investment in Cameroon. 

In the report, CCSI and CED find that:

• Communities continue to be excluded from decision-making around investments.
• The government pursues a top-down approach to concession allocation and remains reluctant to recognize all legitimate tenure rights.

For the past few decades, efforts to strengthen women’s land rights in many sub-Saharan African countries have primarily focused on a single approach: systematic registration through individual/joint certification or titling. While registration — individually or with a spouse — may support tenure security in specific contexts, the sheer complexity of land governance practices and tenure arrangements across the continent (both formal and customary) often render an emphasis on systematic titling inadequate.

Land adjudication constitute a series of sequential steps that if followed carefully and correctly, can lead to a sufficient determination of the varied interests in land including whether, and where they overlap, complement, conflict or compete with each other. This is a preliminary study aiming to find out how the adjudication process as it is conducted in the context of a fit-for-purpose land administration (FFPLA). A framework of components for adjudication in the FFPLA context is first developed.

Has 3 main chapters: modes of access to land and natural resources and the tenure situation of the poor and marginalized groups (customary rules, statutory law, development of commercial transactions); some ways of securing land rights for the poor and other vulnerable groups (local resource management agreements, formalization of collective rights and of land transactions, access to justice); can the necessary reforms be carried out?

The guide will serve as documentation of the lessons learnt from the experiences of making use of the VGGT and in Senegal. As stakeholders from countries, such as Guinea, Mali and Mauritania seek inspiration from Senegal to improve governance of tenure in their own country context, this document will be an important source of inspiration. The document will also be a reference for different Donors and Partners interested in tenure governance in Senegal.

In May 2012, the Committee on World Food Security approved the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (the “Guidelines”). The Guidelines have been described as a catalysing instrument that improves the conditions of land and natural resources, in the agricultural, fishery and forestry sectors. They address problems related to poor governance of land tenure and the growing pressure exerted on natural resources, thereby helping countries to achieve food security for all.

This publication will demonstrate how the project was a catalyst leading to improvements in conditions in the Senegal River Basin, under which land is held or occupied in agriculture sectors. The VGGT addresses problems of weak governance of tenure and the growing pressure on natural resources, assisting countries to achieve food security for all. The project focused on four separate Multi-Stakeholder Platforms (MSPs) located in Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal.

As part of the efforts to find sustainable solutions to complex land tenure issues, multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) create an inclusive forum where actors can discuss problems and propose solutions to improve governance of tenure and provide better access to natural resources. This publication highlights how MSPs at regional, national and local level demonstrate forward thinking, including innovative practices and approaches to respond to the above mentioned social challenges, for the benefit of all.

The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) were endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security in May 2012. These Voluntary Guidelines have been described as a catalyst leading to improvements in conditions under which land is held or occupied in agricultural sectors. The Voluntary Guidelines address problems of weak governance of tenure and the growing pressure on natural resources, providing the basis for countries to achieve food security for all.

FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) were endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security in May 2012. These Voluntary Guidelines have been described as a catalyst leading to improvements in the conditions under which land is held or occupied in the agriculture sectors. The Guidelines address problems of weak governance of tenure and the growing pressure on natural resources, thereby assisting countries to achieve food security for all.

Livestock mobility was an essential characteristic of Kazakh livestock production systems, allowing animals to take advantage of spatial and temporal variability in climate and vegetation, optimising forage intake over the year. These systems broke down following the end of the Soviet Union. In this paper we examine the extent and determinants of the recovery of mobile livestock husbandry in south-eastern Kazakhstan, using surveys and semi-structured interviews with livestock farmers and rural households (holding livestock but not registered as farms).