Paper written in response to 5 questions asked by the Forum organisers. Under what circumstances can land tenure reform contribute to rural poverty reduction and sustainable natural resources management? How can land tenure reform be carried out in a manner that is pro-poor? What types of actions should donors support in order to promote pro-poor land tenure reform? What actions should be taken to address the particular problems faced by women, indigenous groups and pastoralists in gaining secure access to land?

As human rights defenders around the world put their lives on the line to challenge dictators, destructive multi-national corporations, religious conservatives, and oppressive regimes, there pervades a well-resourced and coordinated strategy of defamation, criminalisation and violence deployed to intimidate, marginalise and silence peaceful, powerful activists. The human cost has been high. More than 300 human rights defenders were murdered in 2017. Yet, in spite of this violence, there are more HRDs, working on more issues, in more countries, than ever before.

Land is often a critical aspect of conflict: it may be a root cause or trigger conflicts or may become an issue as the conflict progresses. Conflicts lead to forced evictions; the people who are displaced by conflict need somewhere to live and some land to farm or to graze their animals, often leading to further disputes over the use of land and other resources.

Deciding whether or not to allow an investor to use community lands and natural resources is one of the most important decisions a community can make.

When negotiations are conducted fairly and inclusively, investments may result in the creation of jobs, provision of much-needed infrastructure such as schools, roads and clinics, and rental payments that have the potential to support the community’s long-term prosperity and wellbeing.

Deciding whether or not to allow an investor to use community lands and natural resources is one of the most important decisions a community can make.

When negotiations are conducted fairly and inclusively, investments may result in the creation of jobs, provision of much-needed infrastructure such as schools, roads and clinics, and rental payments that have the potential to support the community’s long-term prosperity and wellbeing.

Data and information on land are fundamental for enabling smallholder farmers to gain secure access and control over their land, which provides the basis for investing in their operations.
This briefing paper outlines the importance and benefits of increasing the availability and accessibility of land information in support of improved food security and nutrition.

As climate change makes precipitation shocks more common, policymakers are becoming increasingly interested in protecting food systems and nutrition outcomes from the damaging effects of droughts and floods (Wheeler and von Braun, 2013). Increasing the resilience of nutrition and food security outcomes is especially critical throughout agrarian parts of the developing world, where human subsistence and well-being are directly affected by local rainfall.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has emerged as a global fish producer, owing to the rapid growth of aquaculture in Southeast Asia and its large offshore fishing fleet. Fish is a regional commodity that is traded globally, and this region is at the frontline of the global trend toward meeting seafood demand by 2050. Fisheries and aquaculture are increasingly becoming a primary source of protein and micronutrients, foreign exchange, livelihoods and well-being for the population in the region.

This paper investigates the patterns and determinants of change in income strategies ("development pathways"), land management, resource and human welfare conditions in Uganda since 1990, based upon a community-level survey conducted in 107 villages. Six dominant development pathways were found, all but one of which involved increasing specialization in already dominant activities. Of these, expansion of banana and coffee production was most associated with adoption of resource-conserving practices and improvements in resource conditions and welfare.

The 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report-the eighth in an annual series- presents a multidimensional measure of national, regional, and global hunger. It shows that the world has made some progress in reducing hunger since 1990, but still has far to go. The 2013 GHI report focuses on resilience in theory and in practice. The relief and development communities have long struggled to understand why some people fare better than others when confronting stresses or shocks.

Der Bericht zum Welthunger-Index 2013 – der achte in einer jährlich erscheinenden Serie – stellt die Entwicklung des weltweiten, regionalen und nationalen Hungers mittels eines mehrdimensionalen Indexwertes dar. Er zeigt, dass die Weltgemeinschaft bei der Bekämpfung des Hungers seit 1990 gewisse Fortschritte gemacht hat, dass aber noch viel zu tun ist.