Public Statement

New York, 10 July 2017 – Fifteen indigenous peoples’ representatives from various Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Malaysia are participating in the HLPF this year taking place at the UN Headquarters in New York from 10 to 19 July 2017 under the theme “Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world”. They are among the 2000-plus participants from various sectors, including governments, private sector and civil society.

21 June 2017: A policy brief by the Global Donor Working Group on Land discusses renewed global commitment to strengthen tracking of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 1.4.2 on land tenure security.

Mumbai's 150-year-old Bhendi Bazaar quarter is embarking on a unique community-led modernisation that could be a model for inner-city redevelopment across India

MUMBAI, June 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - All her life, home for Robab Nallwalla has been a one-room flat in central Mumbai, a space she shares with her parents and her brother - and more recently, her brother's wife.

The single room, similar to nine others on the dingy floor with no lift, was cramped and noisy, not a place she could invite friends to.

NEW DELHI, Jun 12 2017 (IPS) - In Meghalaya, India’s northeastern biodiversity hotspot, all three major tribes are matrilineal. Children take the mother’s family name, while daughters inherit the family lands.

Because women own land and have always decided what is grown on it and what is conserved, the state not only has a strong climate-resistant food system but also some of the rarest edible and medicinal plants, researchers said.

 Globally, principles for responsible investment in agriculture and food system, requires respecting, protecting, and promoting human rights, including the progressive realization of the right to adequate food, in the context of national food security. This is in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments and protocols.

International principles, protocols that safeguard land rights

In a joint initiative between the Land Portal Foundation and the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) called Enhancing Land Portal as an Effective Tool for Strategic Promotion and Campaigning Around SDG Land Monitoring Initiatives, the Land Portal  is looking for a Consultant to review and develop content on land and the SDGs as well as presenting it online in a clear and communicative way.

These innovations did not exist in 2010 when heavy flooding devastated the area, destroying crops, ecosystems and more than 20,000 homes.

The town of El Torno, in Colombia's northern province of Sucre, was seriously affected by flooding, which destroyed crops and homes, but today the community of 600 residents is an example of resilience and sustainable adaptation to climate change.

Today, on Earth Day, we examine how climate-smart solutions hold the key to lifting people out of poverty.

We have been sharing the faces of the hunger crisis  in East Africa — bringing you the human stories that have sprung from devastating climate disasters in countries like Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

The effects of climate change on vulnerable areas throughout Fiji could be reduced if the island nation adopts several more land planning measures, says a local researcher.

its4land is an EU-financed project to assist Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia in mapping land tenure more quickly, cheaply and transparently. It will end in three years’ time; right now, the Africans and Europeans are in the phase of needs assessment. The focus is not on technical requirements, but on operational priorities and managerial context. The first results indicate that low-cost geospatial technologies will be helpful, not least because they also benefit priorities other than improving cadastral services.

On March 20, 2017, a group of individuals from a broad range of institutions and organizations that focus on improving land governance around the world hereby commit to promote and bolster data-sharing efforts within the land sector, with the hope that such action will catalyze positive changes in the area of land governance and lead to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These individuals agreed on the following declaration: