The State of Land Information in South Africa

Challenges finding information in food and agriculture on the Web: what can we do better?

Wednesday, 23 September
(2020-09-23)
15:00 - 16:30 UTC

Panelists will be from FAO, CGIAR, Land Portal Foundation, USDA and Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences.

As COVID-19 has hobbled governments around the world, environmental protections have diminished or disappeared altogether, leaving the door wide open for abuse, corruption, land grabs. Indigenous peoples and their territories are prime targets to pillage during this vulnerable period.

Indigenous Peoples and local communities manage more than half of the world´s land. These biodiverse ancestral lands are vital to the people who steward them and the planet we all share. But governments only recognize indigenous and community legal ownership of 10 percent of the world´s lands.  Secure tenure is essential for safeguarding the existing forests against external forces. This is specifically true for forests managed by Indigenous Peoples, where much of the world’s carbon is stored.

Wednesday, September 2nd, 9:00 AM-10:30 AM EST (3:00 PM – 4:30 PM CEST)

Three-quarters of emerging infectious diseases are zoonoses, meaning they can be transmitted from animals to humans, with Ebola, SARS, MERS and now COVID-19 being examples. Scientists are warning that deforestation, industrial agriculture, illegal wildlife trade, climate change and other types of environmental degradation increase the risk of future pandemics.

This series of three webinars features indigenous and non-indigenous leaders in a virtual roundtable to discuss both the key effects that COVID-19 is generating in their communities as well as possible solutions and the way forward.

Global commitments to women’s land rights have never been stronger, yet there are gaps in rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of particular strategies to strengthen women’s land rights in practice. In this webinar we will host a forward looking discussion on gaps and opportunities for research on what works to improve women’s land rights.

Acknowledging the centrality of land issues to end hunger and achieve sustainable development, countries have agreed to meet ambitious land targets by 2030. Five years into the SDGs, persistent land insecurity, land evictions, threats to land rights defenders and other challenges show that the land promises are not being delivered.

Join us for the online launch of Prindex, the world’s first global survey measuring how secure people feel in their land and property rights. Having previously published data and analysis for 33 countries, Prindex is now poised to release its full global dataset of 140 countries. 

LANDac – the Netherlands Academy on Land Governance for Equitable and Sustainable Development – brings together researchers, policy makers, development practitioners and business professionals in the field of land governance and development.

Informal settlements in areas that are already disaster prone are an increasing problem. Climate adaptation is also often used as an excuse fo evictions to redevelop sites in a more climate-proof manner in what is often referred to as ‘climate gentrification.

In this webinar, LANDac, the LANDdialogue and the Land Portal Foundation will take stock of the emerging insights on the immediate and mid- to long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on equitable and sustainable land governance.