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Displaying 331 - 335 of 337Applying the VGGT to the responsible development of a large-scale oil palm plantation in Sierra Leone
General
Natural Habitats Sierra Leone (NHSL) acquired an oil palm concession of over 40,000 hectares from a previous owner, planning to produce organic palm oil from plantations to be developed within it. The concession covered the entire Makpele Chiefdom, located in Pujehun District in Eastern Sierra Leone, and originally included the buffer zone of the Gola Rainforest National Park (GRNP). The company south the participation of families and local community members through leasing part of their land to the company, and by operating as outgrowers or employees. To help ensure that the development would be inclusive, sustainable, transparent and respectful of human rights, NHSL requested the international NGO Solidaridad West Africa, to assist in applying the VGGT based Analytical Framework for Land-Based Investments in African Agriculture to the project. In doing this, Solidaridad identified the land tenure related risks for local communities and for the investment, and helped NHSL to develop risk mitigation strategies. The principal measure was to establish a local multi-stakeholder platform (MSP) as the forum representation of all community groups, negotiation with the company, for mediation between rival local land owners associations that had emerged, one opposed to the oil palm investment, the other in favour of it. The project also mapped the land areas identified for leasing to the company, and assessed the livelihood and food security implications of releasing this land with the local communities. The project trained all parties (land owning families, farmers and community members, and company staff as the leaseholder) in land tenure awareness, negotiating and contracting. Women’s participation was promoted actively, both at community level and in the MSP, and women developed an active voice. As a result of the project the total concession size was eventually reduced to approximately 2,300 ha and new leasehold arrangements were negotiated with the land holding families concerned, and escalating conflicts between stakeholders at community level and with the company were overcome. In addition the project also trained and formalised the land rights of approximately 3,000 out grower farmers on an additional oil palm production block in a neighbouring district which NHSL had also acquired 30% of whom were women. Solidaridad intend that lessons learned from the innovative approach be used to promote industry-wide adoption of the VGGT, nationally, regionally wtihin West Arica, and internationally. Grantee’s products and project documentation Solidaridad - The LEGEND Project: Accomplishments and Lessons Natural Habitats Sierra Leone company perspective: The LEGEND project: accomplishments and lessons Solidaridad’s learning report on applying VGGT principles to the Natural Habitats investment: Application of the New Alliance Due Diligence Tool: lessons from green field oil palm investment in Sierra Leone Solidaridad learning story on reduction of the NHSL concession size Solidaridad learning story on participatory mapping LANDac policy brief: Negotiating and implementing large scale land deals in Sierra Leone: Improving transparency and consent Natural Habitats Group in Sierra Leone: Evolution of Company Perspectives, Policies and Practice
Country Study 2:
Somalia - no central government, but still functioning
Somalia is the longest known case in modern times of a country whose central state has ceased to exist for many years. Although Somalia is often said to be a country in chaos and anarchy, a new form of social organization emerged here some time ago. Indeed, many Somalis appear to have adapted well to their country's statelessness.
Urban and rural areas: A changing relationship
The relationship between urban and rural areas has undergone great change in recent years. It is now often difficult to clearly define the borders between the two; instead we find a continuum ranging from agricultural zones to suburbs, informal settlements and urban centers. But do countries and development cooperation policies have the instruments needed to promote a dynamic and balanced development of urban and rural areas and open up opportunities for the people who live there?
The future of rural areas from the German Development Cooperation perspective
Few aspects of development policy are better furnished with empirical evidence than the interplay between support for agriculture in the context of rural development and the reduction of poverty and hunger. It is therefore surprising that German Development Cooperation has today largely disengaged from activities in this area: Despite the evidence that practically nothing is more effective and sustainable than combating poverty where it is most often found, namely in the rural areas of poor countries,we fail to take that route.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification - UNCCD: The Rio conventions' poor little sister.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is one of the three conventions agreed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. But from the very outset it has led a marginal existence, because industrialized countries feel far less concerned with desertification than developing countries. Moreover, the Convention?s targets are not binding and are open to a variety of interpretations by the Parties.The conflicting interests of environmental and
development policy are weakening its position further.