Land acquisitions and rights blogs
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“Public officers are also human beings”: trust and environmental governance
8 July 2020Turning legal frameworks into real agents for environmental change can depend on understanding complex human stories. Guest blogger Paula Ungar reports from Colombia
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Stopping land and policy grabs in the shadow of COVID-19
1 June 2020Reports suggest the COVID-19 fallout is providing opportunities for elites to seize lands and rewrite regulations. We need effective responses to secure land rights and lay the foundations for a just recovery
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Curbing the impacts of COVID-19 on Nepal’s small-scale farmers and seizing opportunities for food system reform
11 May 2020Guest blogger Jagat Deuja puts forward practical measures for minimising damage to Nepal’s small-scale farming sector and ways to build resilient food systems in the longer term
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COVID-19 and global economic ordering: radical shift or more of the same?
24 April 2020The fallout from COVID-19 has triggered narratives about profound changes to economic ordering. A closer look provides a more complex picture, particularly for countries in the global South.
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Mining reforms have left Colombia’s artisanal miners behind
15 April 2020Following a recent visit to California, Colombia, Jimena Sierra and Brendan Schwartz discuss the impact of the government’s push to promote large-scale mining on artisanal and small-scale gold miners
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Land rights and investments: why business standards are not enough
16 March 2020International standards can help businesses fill gaps in national law, but addressing issues at scale requires systemic governance reform
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Resettlement from large dams – what have we learned?
30 October 2019Millions of people are displaced by large dams around the world. How can researchers help safeguard against the long-term trauma of resettlement?
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Climate justice and the IPCC special report on land
13 August 2019The IPCC’s new report detailing how climate change is impacting land is a significant warning for climate justice, writes IIED director Andrew Norton
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Development finance and land rights: how we can do better
22 March 2019Ahead of the World Bank conference on land and poverty, Lorenzo Cotula and Brendan Schwartz discuss how development finance institutions can better address land rights issues
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Strengthening women’s voices in land decisions: what works?
31 January 2019Philippine Sutz draws together key lessons from Ghana and Tanzania on how to get women’s voices heard in local land governance
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Incendiary observations from the 4th FLARE conference
22 October 2018Researchers into forest livelihoods recently met in Copenhagen to share ideas on how to support forests, sustainable forestry and forest peoples. Duncan Macqueen reports back on some of the highlights
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Supporting small-scale farmers in negotiations with agribusiness
25 May 2018Unequal bargaining power often characterises the relationship between small-scale rural producers and agribusinesses. A recent IIED webinar discussed ways to protect and support farmers when negotiating with companies
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Legal activism key to securing land rights in new investment phase
28 March 2018In the face of rapid changes, how can people in low- and middle-income countries ensure they get the best deal to protect their land?
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Creating a global 'land rights family': from knowledge to action
14 March 2018Community land rights are the focus of two new initiatives. The first, launched with an 'action shop' in Kenya, enables civil society organisations to share knowledge and chart new paths; the second supports communities to seek legal redress for violated rights
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Getting community voices heard in investor-state arbitration
5 March 2018During investor-state arbitrations, the rights and interests of local communities are often overlooked. A recent webinar discussed mechanisms that are getting the concerns of local communities on the table
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Forest rights create new livelihoods in Myanmar
5 December 2017In Myanmar, the National League for Democracy (NLD) is transferring the rights to forest land – and all its potential bounty – to local communities. Duncan Macqueen explains how this important move, supported by peer-to-peer learning, is helping to establish new long-term livelihoods
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Legal empowerment: what we do, what we've learned
14 November 2017If you missed the recent policy forum on legal empowerment, fear not: here Lorenzo Cotula recaps on what characterises IIED's approach and shares his top three lessons learned
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Responsible investment provisions in international investment treaties: where next?
16 October 2017Lorenzo Cotula discusses how international investment treaties could promote more responsible investment and argues that, while some innovative practices are emerging, there is still much to do
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Using legal tools to make agribusiness investments more accountable
19 June 2017A range of tools and approaches can support rural communities to exercise their rights and give them greater control over agribusiness deals that could affect their future, as a recent IIED webinar explored
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Using community by‑laws to protect indigenous and rural land rights
1 December 2016A recent IIED webinar explored how developing community by-laws that suit local needs can be a powerful way of protecting the lands of indigenous peoples and rural communities
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Rainfall, grazing, families and land in Dlonguebougou
9 November 2016As part of research recording 35 years of change in one village in Mali, IIED senior fellow Camilla Toulmin highlights five key observations from a recent field visit
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Using online technology to empower communities facing land deals
4 August 2016Online databases are proving a useful tool for communities facing large-scale agricultural investments and associated conflicts, as a recent IIED webinar discovered
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Commodity cycles, economic treaties and pressures on land rights
25 May 2016The commodity slump has cooled the global land rush. But land rights are still under pressure, requiring action at local to global levels
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Next steps to strengthen global land governance
15 May 2016In 2012 there was a milestone international agreement on voluntary guidelines on the governance of land and tenure. The authors of a new progress report review the lessons learned about implementing the guidelines, and offer some recommendations for the future
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Enhancing women's role in land management decisions
24 March 2016Large-scale agricultural investments impact upon men and women in different ways, yet women's voices and interests are not always heard in decisions about land. An IIED webinar examined how this could be changed