General

Under the theoretical debate on the dilemmas of common poor resource (CPR) management, the Nile Basin can be considered as a classical example. Hydropolitics in the Nile Basin has been comprehensively studied during the last decades. Issues concerning new land acquisitions are beginning to be researched. Academically, studies merging the two ´fields´ is virgin territory. This research aims to investigate the water and land nexus in the Nile Basin and seeks to understand how the current surge in land acquisitions and investments by foreign countries, sovereign wealth funds and private corporations, as well as domestic investors, will affect transboundary water interaction in the region. The research will identify the key land acquisitions, contractual conditions, type of water (irrigation from the transboundary river, groundwater, rainwater and etc.) and analyse the impact on the regional political stability and development. The significance of the project is a result of its unique contribution to merge the areas of land acquisitions and hydropolitics in the regional level, something that has hitherto not been done. In addition, the study seeks to broaden the theoretical understanding of how CPR dilemmas can be understood. From a policy perspective, the recent political changes in the region and the current impasse in the transboundary agreement in Nile basin call for greater understanding of this new dynamic.

General

The pressure on exploitation of natural resources and especially utilization of forests has increased sharply in Tanzania and Mozambique in recent years. Rising demand of food, energy and other commodities because of population growth and increase of illeg al logging have caused negative environmental and social issues. Particularly, because the land use planning and general management regarding the equitable use of natural resources has been weak. Another rapidly increasing pressure is the growth of large l and based investments including those in the forest sector with many involving expansion in plantation forests. Mozambique and Tanzania are particularly experiencing such large investments in a context where tenure rights are weak for communal land and ass ociated resources, despite their importance for livelihoods and adaptation to change, and the incidences of conflicts over land are rising. The aim of the programme is to strengthen civil society actors in influencing land investments and natural resources related decision making and policy in Tanzania and Mozambique as well as increase dialogue with annual seminars between Nordic investors and donors and the local stakeholders in CEA region to influence current and future investments, especially in the for estry sector, to be ecologically and socially responsible and beneficial to humans and the environment in Tanzania and Mozambique.Beneficiaries: The forest and community natural resource management forums and CSOs in Tanzania and Mozambique. Local communit ies with village forests in Tanzania and Mozambique. Implementor: WWF Coastal East Africa: http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/east_african_coast/Cooperation partners:Tanzanian Natural Resources Forum http://www.tnrf.org/enMJUMITA: http://www.mj umita.org/ORAM Zambézia - Rural Association for Mutual Support, Mozambique

General

The pressure on exploitation of natural resources and especially utilization of forests has increased sharply in Tanzania and Mozambique in recent years. Rising demand of food, energy and other commodities because of population growth and increase of illeg al logging have caused negative environmental and social issues. Particularly, because the land use planning and general management regarding the equitable use of natural resources has been weak. Another rapidly increasing pressure is the growth of large l and based investments including those in the forest sector with many involving expansion in plantation forests. Mozambique and Tanzania are particularly experiencing such large investments in a context where tenure rights are weak for communal land and ass ociated resources, despite their importance for livelihoods and adaptation to change, and the incidences of conflicts over land are rising. The aim of the programme is to strengthen civil society actors in influencing land investments and natural resources related decision making and policy in Tanzania and Mozambique as well as increase dialogue with annual seminars between Nordic investors and donors and the local stakeholders in CEA region to influence current and future investments, especially in the for estry sector, to be ecologically and socially responsible and beneficial to humans and the environment in Tanzania and Mozambique.Beneficiaries: The forest and community natural resource management forums and CSOs in Tanzania and Mozambique. Local communit ies with village forests in Tanzania and Mozambique. Implementor: WWF Coastal East Africa: http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/east_african_coast/Cooperation partners:Tanzanian Natural Resources Forum http://www.tnrf.org/enMJUMITA: http://www.mj umita.org/ORAM Zambezia - Rural Association for Mutual Support, Mozambique