Land acquisitions and rights blogs
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Legal empowerment as action research
11 January 2022Recognising legal empowerment as collective reflection and action led by those whose rights are at stake changes the role of researchers and the methods used to support, and learn from, processes of change
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Women claim their space in land governance
18 November 2021Guest blogger Megan Huth details how USAID is employing a novel approach to ensure that rural women participate in decisions about land and natural resource use in Liberia
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In her name: securing land tenure for women in Zambia
15 October 2021Gender expert Thais Bessa describes how inclusive technology, a gender-responsive documentation process and shifting gender norms are empowering women through secure land rights
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Zambia’s chiefs champion gender equality in land and natural resource governance
6 September 2021Guest blogger Zenebech Mesfin describes the efforts of Zambian traditional leaders to promote gender equality in the management of land and natural resources at the national level
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Traditional leaders in Zambia shift gender norms and strengthen women’s land rights
1 July 2021Guest blogger Patricia Malasha describes how community-level dialogues uprooted harmful gender norms that hinder women’s rights to land
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Study shows how training is shaping women’s awareness of their land rights
27 May 2021A recent study of two Senegalese villages showed how training women on land access is helping them claim their land rights. But disparities in results between locations and the use of customary practices as the preferred way of accessing land highlighted that CSOs’ strategies and approaches need to reflect local realities, and ensure women from different groups and geographies also benefit
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What role do local governance frameworks play in strengthening women’s voices in land governance?
8 March 2021Across East and West Africa, IIED and partners have been developing and testing approaches to strengthen women’s voices in local land governance. Philippine Sutz reflects on the role and impact of local governance frameworks as these approaches are implemented in different contexts
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Ensuring women’s participation in land governance: “bringing the law home” in Tanzania
20 January 2021Despite Tanzania’s progressive legal framework on land rights and governance, many women are often left out of community decision-making due to social and cultural norms that persist in some areas of the country. Isabella Nchimbi discusses a participatory initiative in Tanzania that’s helping women make their voices heard when it comes to land governance
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Unpacking regulatory chill: the case of mining in the Santurbán páramo in Colombia
21 December 2020Do international investment treaties put a 'chill' on environmental policy? To answer this question, we need to see the state as a complex web of actors, not a unitary whole
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What happens when the landgrabbers leave? An account from Kilwa, Tanzania
14 December 2020An encouraging story from Tanzania about how four communities regained control of their lands
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Can promotion groups help strengthen women’s access and control over land?
24 November 2020In Senegal, women’s ‘promotion groups’ have traditionally been vehicles for helping women share resources, ideas and experiences to increase income. But they are also – somewhat expectedly – enabling women to access and control land, although with limitations. Guest blogger Ibrahima Dia discusses
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Blog series probes principles: what works for women’s land rights?
15 October 2020A new blog series featuring voices from East and West Africa will take a closer look at a set of principles we think strengthens women’s land rights. Here, IIED’s Philippine Sutz tells us what to expect
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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?