Guest commentary by Tiernan Mennen, Director, Land Tenure and Resource Rights Practice, Chemonics International, Inc.

In Cote d'Ivoire, a UN-imposed embargo on the export of Ivoirian diamonds to other countries has been in place since 2005 due to concerns regarding the control of diamond-mining zones by former rebel groups as well as weak internal controls over the country's diamond mining sector. Given these concerns and the role USAID's Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) program has played in helping to improve countries with their Kimberley Process compliance, USAID commissioned an assessment of the land tenure and artisanal mining sector in Cote d'Ivoire in September 2012.

A recent paper from the Global Canopy Programme, "Land tenure and fast-tracking REDD+: time to reframe the debate?" rightly points out that legally defensible and enforceable land rights are an essential condition for effective, equitable implementation of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus augmentation of carbon stocks). The authors assert that clear land tenure and usage rights determine who should be compensated for reducing deforestation or held accountable for continuing it.

Remarks by Gregory Myers, during negotiations for the Voluntary Guidelines for Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests on March 8, 2012 Ministers, Excellencies, honorable representatives of member countries, civil society participants and guests: This morning we begin our session with recognition of International Women’s Day. Each year the United Nations declares an International Women's Day theme.

USAID Land Tenure and Property Rights Division Chief Dr. Gregory Myers's Remarks from Partners’ Support to the Voluntary Guidelines & Land Governance: Exploiting Synergies & Measuring Impact. Remarks posted as written. Madam Chair (Rachael Turner), thank you for the opportunity to speak today. On behalf of the United States, I would like to thank the U.K. Department for International Development for their excellent leadership as the inaugural Chair of the Global Donor Working Group on Land.

The Botswana High Court recently issued a landmark ruling: four sisters are permitted to inherit their family home even though a customary rule prohibits women from inheriting property. The High Court ruled that the customary rule violated women’s equal rights. Remarkably, the High Court issued its decision in the face of strong government support of the customary rule. The details of this watershed case are featured in a recent article by City Press.

On April 30, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah will attend a land restitution event in Colombia, where he will witness the transfer of land titles to individuals who have been displaced by the country’s internal conflict. Inequitable land distribution - an estimated 0.4% of the population owns 62% of the country’s best land - was a fundamental driver of the long-running conflict, which has caused an estimated 4 million Colombians to become internally displaced.

In December 2009, Kenya adopted a new National Land Policy with the purpose of resolving the myriad of land tenure problems throughout the country. The policy calls for the recognition of customary community lands and land governance, addressing inequitable land distribution rooted in historical injustices, instituting a transparent and accountable system of land administration, and ensuring the effective protection of women’s rights to land and related resources, including the provision for joint spousal registration and documentation of land rights.

The poor in Mozambique survive off the land, but what would the consequences be if the land was privatised? This paper looks at how Mozambique is approaching issues surrounding land usage and ownership as market reforms take place and the land becomes increasingly susceptible to being opened up to the market.A historical background to the issue of land use and ownership in Africa is given, from colonisation to the impact of globalisation and the market in present day Africa.

Malawi has pursued an agricultural-led development strategy since its independence in 1964. This agricultural-led development strategy was based on the promotion of a dual agricultural system comprising estate (large-scale) production mainly for cash (export) crops and smallholder agricultural production mainly to support the food security needs of the population. In the post-independence era, the objectives of an agricultural strategy were four fold: To raise agricultural productivity and accelerate growth and export performance.

This paper looks for the possible explanations for the land productivity differential between high caste and low caste farm households in Nepal. The paper indicates that caste position still plays a vital role in rural areas of Nepal.The paper finds that: land productivity is higher among low caste households. However, in case of owner-operated plots, the land productivity differential between low caste and high caste is found to be insignificant after controlling for land quality and household characteristics. This difference remains highly significant in case of rented in plots.

The project will contribute to the intensification of rainfed agriculture, the expansion of agricultural exports, the alleviation of poverty, and improved land use. It will pursue these aims by strengthening the capability of the Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO) to implement a series of land reform and development projects on encroached public lands and by demonstrating the viability of a land reform and infrastructure development model in an initial set of nine land reform areas (LRAs) of 192,000 ha affecting some 35,000 low-income families.