Land Portal: What do you feel are the aims of the Conference and what do you hope to achieve? 

Originally published at: https://apparelinsider.com/land-grabs-the-new-red-flag-for-uzbek-cotton-...

Written by Lynn Schweisfurth

تُعرَّف تنمية القدرات بأنها "العملية التي يحصل من خلالها الأفراد والمنظمات والمجتمعات على القدرات و العمل على  تقويتها والحفاظ عليها لوضع أهداف التنمية الخاصة بهم وتحقيقها بمرور الوقت" منظمة التعاون الاقتصادي والتنمية (2006).

تعد تنمية القدرات أمرًا مهمًا للغاية في المنطقة العربية لنضمن أن إدارة الأراضي و مواردها  تتماشى مع تحديات العصر الحالي،

تعاني المنطقة العربية من العديد من التحديات في قطاع حوكمة الأراضي وإدارتها . والأهم من ذلك ، أن انعدام أمن الحيازة في
المنطقة العربية هو الأعلى بين المناطق الأخرى في العالم ، كذلك في مؤشر البنك الدولي لممارسة الأعمال التجارية ، تحتل المنطقة
المرتبة الأدنى بين المناطق الاخرى ، باستثناء بعض دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي. يؤثر انعدام أمن الحيازة سلبيًا على العديد من
جوانب الاقتصاد بما في ذلك العمران ، والتنمية الزراعية ، والقطاع الخاص ، وتمكين المرأة ، على سبيل المثال لا الحصر. وفوق

Capacity development is defined as ‘‘The process through which individuals, organizations and societies obtain, strengthen and maintain the capabilities to set and achieve their own development objectives over time” OECD (2006). Capacity development is very important in the Arab region to ensure that the management of land and land-based resources matches the challenges of current times. It is also an important aspect for establishing a well-functioning land sector.  Despite this, capacity development alone cannot enhance land governance .

The Arab region suffers from many challenges  in the land governance and land management sector. Most importantly, tenure insecurity in the Arab region is the highest in the world.  In the Worldbank’s Registering Property- Doing Business indicator, the region ranks  lower than any other region, with the exception of some Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Tenure insecurity negatively affects many aspects of the  economy including urbanization, agricultural development, the private sector and women's empowerment, just to name of a few.

2020 was a tough year on many fronts, and land rights were no exception. COVID-19 hindered land rights advocates from doing field research, meeting with government officials, prioritizing policy initiatives, and obtaining funding.

Despite these headwinds, we have seen important advances, and the field continues to grow. Here are eight breakthroughs in 2020 to celebrate:

#1: New laws and policies

By Navene Elangovan for Channels News Asia (CNA) Singapore

The data revolution – characterised by the transition to big data, open data and new digital data infrastructures [1] – is projected to make an astonishing 44 billion terabytes of digital data and information available by the end of 2020 [2]. Despite this plethora of information now available to us, about 1 billion people in 140 countries still feel insecure about their land and property rights [3].

Land technology is moving at warp speed. How will the Biden administration and Samantha Power ensure women benefit?

Today Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States.

Hit hard by the pandemic, Asia's indigenous and local communities face fresh government-led efforts to exploit their land and resources

In addition to its devastating toll on public health, COVID-19 has exacerbated global food insecurity and economic crises. These costs have been particularly acute for Indigenous Peoples and local communities on customarily governed territories and lands.

Article written by Radha Krishna Khadka for Online Khabar, originally posted at: https://english.onlinekhabar.com/history-of-land-rights-movement-in-nepal.html

Photo: A rally organised in Surkhet district headquarters Birendranagar demanding establishment Organised Settlement Commission on September 07, 2017

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