Items tagged:
Land rights
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Moving forward with communal land rights in Ethiopia: what are the legal solutions?
In Ethiopia, pastoralist communities and other communal land users face significant threats due to government policies that favour large-scale land investments and erode communal land rights. Here, Daniel Behailu and Nathaniah Jacobs discuss the importance of developing laws that recognise and respect communal land rights in Ethiopia, potential legal solutions, and why change will require community engagement and social legitimacy to work
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Navigating the challenges of land-based investment governance
IIED and Land Portal are publishing a blog series about governance of land-based investments in the global South. In this first blog, Amaelle Seigneret and Nathaniah Jacobs present a brief background to the issues – and a dedicated tool to help navigate them.
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Mediation and development-related conflict report – launch event
Certain development projects, especially those concerning the use of natural resources and land, come with a high risk of causing social tensions or exacerbating armed conflict.
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Conservation and discrimination: case studies from Nepal’s national parks
Findings of research conducted by the Community Self-Reliance Centre (CSRC), with Amnesty International, show how conservation policies entrench historical injustices and violate the rights of Indigenous and marginalised communities through abusive evictions
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Navigating the challenges of land-based investment: new blog series
IIED and Land Portal have launched a new blog series on the governance of land-based investments in the global South. The series will explore practical strategies and approaches adopted by rights defenders and others to address common challenges surrounding these investments
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Special economic zones: a rights perspective
Governments are establishing special economic zones to promote industrialisation. But the zones have raised concerns over land expropriations and poor labour conditions. IIED works with partners to generate evidence and inform policy at national and international levels.
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Archive of completed forest-climate action projects
Forests and climate have been the focus of pioneering work by IIED since the 1980s. This archive page links to past forest projects managed by IIED with a specific climate focus
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Women claim their space in land governance
Guest 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
Gender 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
Guest 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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Women’s land rights: it's more complex than just tenure
A new briefing from IIED looks at the complexities around land tenure systems in sub-Saharan Africa and how the dominant approach to secure ‘women’s land rights’ isn’t delivering the change women need
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Traditional leaders in Zambia shift gender norms and strengthen women’s land rights
Guest 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
A 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?
Across 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
Despite 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
Do 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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Helping Indigenous communities secure land rights in Nepal
A land rights project in Nepal is working with young people to map land claims and help more than 2,000 Indigenous farmers get legal title to the lands their families have farmed for generations. The project is being supported by local officials and is attracting interest from local governments across Nepal
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What happens when the landgrabbers leave? An account from Kilwa, Tanzania
An 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?
In 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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Protecting Indigenous lands: lessons from Chile
The Colla are a legally recognised Indigenous People who live in the Atacama Region of northern Chile.
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Blog series probes principles: what works for women’s land rights?
A 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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Bringing attention to what works for women’s land rights
Coinciding with the International Day of Rural Women on 15 October, IIED launches a new series of blogs exploring core principles that can help to strengthen women’s land rights in the global South
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What’s needed to halt threats to rural land rights in Cameroon
A new briefing explores the gap between statuary and customary land tenure systems in Cameroon, and suggests ways to advance land reform so that the rights of all are protected
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Strengthening land governance, local to global
Land is life for billions of people worldwide, sustaining economic activities, social identity, ecological and cultural value. IIED works with partners to secure local rights in the face of growing pressures on land
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Stopping land and policy grabs in the shadow of COVID-19
Reports 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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Land, investment and migration: a portrait of village life in Mali
In the last 35 years Dlonguebougou, a rural community in the drylands of central Mali, has experienced significant social, economic and environmental change.
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Curbing the impacts of COVID-19 on Nepal’s small-scale farmers and seizing opportunities for food system reform
Guest 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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Land rights and investment treaties
Commercial land concessions may be protected under international investment treaties, with important implications for local land relations. Securing land rights requires tackling these global dimensions
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COVID-19 and global economic ordering: radical shift or more of the same?
The 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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Land rights and investments: why business standards are not enough
International standards can help businesses fill gaps in national law, but addressing issues at scale requires systemic governance reform
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Q&A: Successful social mobilisation for land rights in Nepal
Jagat Basnet, a seasoned land rights campaigner, continues our blog and interview series exploring how social movements can support climate justice and interact with sustainable development organisations.
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Q&A: helping communities protect their land rights
Pressures on land and natural resources are growing, and many communities affected by land rights violations struggle to assert their rights. In this interview Rachael Knight talks about how IIED’s legal tools team supports grassroots advocates and communities impacted by large-scale land acquisitions
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Assisting communities to seek legal redress for land rights violations
With increased pressures on natural resources shifting resource control in favour of commercial interests, IIED is helping communities affected by land rights violations to assert their rights.
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Resettlement from large dams – what have we learned?
Millions 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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Local solutions to strengthen women’s voices in land governance
With increasing pressure on land in sub-Saharan Africa, including from commercial agriculture and mineral and oil extraction, how can the voices of women be included in local decisions over land?
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New 'Landcam' website launched
Landcam.org supports improved land governance and inclusive dialogue on land policy reform in Cameroon
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Development finance and land rights: how we can do better
Ahead 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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Archive of completed locally-controlled forestry projects
Forests and livelihoods have been the focus of pioneering work by IIED since the 1980s. This archive page links to past forest projects managed by IIED
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Strengthening women’s voices in land decisions: what works?
Philippine 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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Legal activism key to securing land rights in new investment phase
In 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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Q&A: Getting women's land rights recognised
Philippine Sutz describes work under way to help secure land rights for women in Senegal and Tanzania, and explains how accessing land gives them greater control over their livelihoods
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Creating a global 'land rights family': from knowledge to action
Community 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
During 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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IIED webinar: civil society submissions in investor-state arbitration – do they work?
This webinar discussed how civil society groups can bring forward community perspectives, human rights or environmental issues in investor-state arbitrations
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Forest rights create new livelihoods in Myanmar
In 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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Q&A: How a new law in Mali is securing villagers' rights to land
A recently passed agricultural land law gives rural communities in Mali new rights to their traditional lands. Camilla Toulmin finds out more from an expert
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IIED webinar: improving accountability in agribusiness investments
This webinar on 6 June 2017 discussed how rural people can increase the accountability in agribusiness investments, looking at examples from Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal
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LandCam: securing land and resource rights and improving governance in Cameroon
Cameroon is revising its land and natural resource laws. This project supports this effort by piloting approaches to improve resource governance in rural areas and by helping citizens participate in the policy reform process
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Cameroon's real indomitable lions are in the forest
A planning mission to Cameroon's community forests by the CoNGOs project team found the Baka people brimming with business ideas, but needing a little help from their friends
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GWI animation: how to secure land rights of people affected by dams
The Global Water Initiative (GWI) West Africa has released a new animation explaining how policymakers can work with local communities to protect the rights of people affected by large dams in West Africa
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Rainfall, grazing, families and land in Dlonguebougou
As 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 community by-laws to secure customary land rights in Kenya
This webinar on 16 November 2018 discussed how communities can use by-laws to secure their land rights
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Le projet CoNGOs: Collaboration d’ONG en faveur de moyens de subsistance communautaires équitables et durables dans les forêts du bassin du Congo
CoNGOs is an IIED-led UK consortium that aims to achieve improved governance and practice in equitable and sustainable community forestry livelihoods in the Congo Basin
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IIED webinar: using web platforms to promote transparency and strengthen land rights
This webinar on 6 July discussed how web platforms can be used by civil society organisations to support communities whose land rights and livelihoods are affected by agricultural projects
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Commodity cycles, economic treaties and pressures on land rights
The 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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Enhancing women's role in land management decisions
Large-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
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Protecting land and community resources in Africa
Rural communities across Africa face a variety of threats to their claims to customary and indigenous land and natural resources. Advocates working to support these communities must draw on a range of experience and expertise. The NGOs Namati and Natural Justice brought together experts to consider the issues and published the results in a new book of 18 case studies
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What women want
What would women in sub-Saharan Africa propose this leap year? IIED's legal tools team asked what women would like to happen when their communities are affected by land deals
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How investment treaties protect 'land grab' deals
New research examining the geographical coverage of international investment treaties raises concern about how they might affect public action to address 'land grabbing'
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Flaming parrots and palmetto palms
A new business opportunity could help protect Belize's Yellow-headed parrots and benefit local communities as well
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Comparing approaches to riverbank vulnerability in Indonesia
What lessons can be learned from two markedly different cases of vulnerability among urban riverbank settlements in Indonesia?
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Holding actors in agricultural investment chains to account
When communities lose access to land, or their livelihoods, as a result of large agricultural investment projects, what can they do? An IIED webinar examined how mapping out the investment chains and using 'pressure points' can help
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New online database of investment contracts hailed as a "game changer"
IIED principal researcher Lorenzo Cotula will celebrate the launch of the first searchable online repository of investment contracts at an event at Columbia University on Wednesday
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Getting to the root of gender equal land governance
A workshop in Senegal revealed that issues over equal access to land for men and women may not be as simple as they at first seem
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Brazil's first community protocol: the Bailique experience
A remote community in the Amazon has agreed Brazil's first community protocol, giving them an equal voice in future discussions about natural resource use
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IIED to host webinar on promoting accountability in agricultural investment chains
This webinar on 11 September 2015 discussed how communities groups can take action to get increased accountability in agricultural investment chains
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Investment treaties, land rights and a shrinking planet
Commercial land concessions may be protected under international investment law. Lorenzo Cotula argues that securing land rights requires tackling these global dimensions
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IIED animation to help communities protect legal rights
IIED has released a new animation designed to help local communities protect their rights in the face of large-scale land acquisitions
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Securing indigenous and community land rights in the future we want
Explicit inclusion of secure land rights for local communities and indigenous peoples is key to "leaving no one behind" in global Sustainable Development Goals, writes Jenny Springer of Rights and Resources Initiative
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Citizen power: Sustaining paralegal programmes to put knowledge back into communities' hands
Paralegal schemes build citizen power by helping communities develop the knowledge and capacity they need to speak up for themselves. A recent IIED webinar explored how such schemes can best be supported to make a long-term difference
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Legal tools: sharing lessons from innovation
Around the world, citizens' groups are taking action to change the way investments in natural resources are happening, to protect the rights of citizens and the environment for a fairer and more sustainable world. The Legal Tools for Citizen Empowerment initiative shares tools and tactics among practitioners
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Protecting women’s livelihoods through gender-equitable land governance in sub-Saharan Africa
As commercial pressures on land increase in East and West Africa, there is a need for evidence and action on gender-equitable land governance.
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Legal and social accountability tools in agricultural investments in West Africa
In recent years, a wave of large-scale acquisitions of farmland for plantation agriculture has taken place in Africa, Asia and Latin America, fuelled by changing agricultural commodity prices, expectations of rising land values and public policies to promote long-term food and energy security. Developing tools to improve accountability is critical in ensuring that investment processes respond to local needs and aspirations
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Introduction to legal tools for citizen empowerment
Can a half-acre of dry earth be more precious than gold? To farmers, herders and foragers in some of the world's poorest countries, the answer is very literally yes. Gold mining, agribusiness and other natural resource investments typically promise new jobs and public revenues. But they can also push poorer groups off their land and pollute their waterways
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Spreading the word about Karachi's contested land
A report on land ownership and low-income housing is influencing future urban planners
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La riziculture irriguée à grande échelle: l'État doit prendre en compte les perspectives des paysans
New report by the Global Water Initiative stresses importance of considering views of farmers in agricultural policies
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Niger hosts forum on securing land rights in irrigated areas
On 7-8 May, in the town of Konni, Niger's Minister of Agriculture will chair a national forum on legal protection of land tenure in irrigated areas. The forum will be attended by representatives from government, regional and local authorities, local groups, the private sector and civil society
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Large land deals: Complex financial flows create routes for accountability
Complex webs of finance can often create barriers but research by IIED shows understanding and harnessing this complexity can create opportunities for public accountability
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Tackling the trade law dimension of ‘land grabbing’
As trade talks regain momentum, ‘land grab’ activists are scrutinising negotiations and pioneering new opportunities for public accountability.
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Gender and REDD+
Women from poor, forest-dependent communities play a key role in the management of forests, and yet they are frequently marginalised from decision-making in communities. This is a problem as gender equity is essential for tackling more sustainable forest management, and to achieving the aims of REDD+, which aims to reduce emissions and conserve forests in specific countries
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As global agri-investment increases, policies must put local people centre stage
Agricultural investment policies favour big businesses, a new report shows. We must reshape them so investments meet local people's needs.
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Agricultural development: business as usual is not an option
Following the 2008 global food price hikes and riots, national governments and transnational corporations are increasingly interested in investing in large-scale African agricultural projects. While these land acquisitions gather pace, 925 million people remain undernourished worldwide, with 239 million living in sub-Saharan Africa. In this new context, the question is not only how sustainable large-scale industrial agriculture is, but also what model of food production and farming is most effective in addressing the question of hunger – and for whom.
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‘Land grabs’ in Africa: is there an alternative?
Millions of people across the developing world depend on land for their livelihoods, culture and identity — a connection that now risks being undermined by large-scale acquisitions of farmland in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
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Green shoots and REDD herrings
Forests continue to be trashed in many places. One recent estimate, admittedly ‘on the back-of-an- envelope’, indicates a global natural capital loss of US$2.5 trillion a year, of which forests represent a substantial part. We have all recently become used to hearing about trillions of dollars being wiped off the world’s ‘virtual economy’, but this natural capital is real, and its loss is permanent.
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Collaborative management of forests and wildlife in Vietnam
This project aimed to conserve threatened biodiversity in the Bi Doup Nui Ba National Park in Vietnam through the introduction of collaborative forest and wildlife stewardship models based on negotiated tenure and access rights
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Land and water rights in the Sahel
The Sahel Water Governance Learning Group tackled issues of governance and property rights in relation to water and land laws in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger
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Securing the commons
In much of Africa, rural populations depend on access to common property resources such as rangelands and forests for their livelihoods. Securing local rights of access to and management of such resources against encroachment or alienation by national or international actors is key to protecting the livelihoods of local people.
