Few development challenges in Africa are as pressing and controversial as land ownership and its persistent gap between rich and poor communities. With a profound demographic shift in Africa from rural areas to the cities where half of all Africans will live by 2050, these gaps will become steadily more pronounced as governments and communities rise to the challenge of growing enough aff ordable nutritious food for all families to thrive on the continent. In some countries in the region, these gaps—allied as they are with high

This technical guide on Governing land for women and men aims to assist implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (FAO, 2012b) by providing guidance that supports the Guidelines’ principle of gender equality in tenure governance. At the beginning of each module, reference is made to the relevant provisions in the Guidelines.

Decisions about resource tenure – or who can use what resources of the land for how long, and under what conditions – are among the most critical for forests and livelihoods in many contexts.

Rangelands provide numerous goods and services that have great economic, social, cultural, and biological value. Inhabitants of rangelands have engineered pastoral, hunter-gatherer, and farming systems that have sustained their livelihoods in these usually dry environments for centuries. Primarily, rangelands are grazing-dependent systems, characterised by dry periods and droughts. However, these characteristics should not be a barrier to development and can be managed through careful planning and management of resources.

community development, forestry, human capital, labor productivity, property rights, risk, vertical integration

This publication is part of the Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Defenders Network (IPHRD Net) efforts to inform actors and stakeholders of the efforts of indigenous women and their communities to address violations of their rights, particularly their collective rights as indigenous peoples. The IPHRD Net is supported by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).

Over the years, PINGOs Forum has been concerned with the future of Pastoral and HunterGatherer communities with regard to changing patterns of traditional land use and livelihoods options. The information gathered from the past studies have risen much concern on the side of PINGOs Forum that perhaps climate change may have a serious bearing in the land use patterns and livelihoods of Pastoralists and Hunter-gatherers. As a result of this concern, PINGOs Forum decided to embark on a study to observe changes that have occurred in land use patterns in recent years.

The first draft of the Tanzanian constitution incorporates many provisions that will improve the rights and interests of pastoralists, huntergatherers and women in these communities.

 However, there remain some important outstanding issues that must be addressed in order to ensure adequate reform that protects these marginalized groups’ interests

In northern Tanzania, new grassroots groups called Women’s Rights and Leadership Forums (WRLFs) are mobilizing women and men in pastoralist communities to promote and defend local land rights. This briefing highlights some of the WRLFs’ achievements and strategies; asks how these forums, which appear to be a part of an emerging grassroots social movement for land rights, can be further supported; and explores whether such forums could be replicated elsewhere in the region

La reglamentación inapropiada en la adquisición de tierras se ha convertido en un problema grave, sobre todo en África subsahariana y Asia sudoriental, donde amenaza la seguridad alimentaria, los medios de vida locales y la gestión sostenible de los recursos naturales y ha provocado conflictos por la tierra y abusos contra los derechos humanos. Los grupos sociales marginados están particularmente amenazados, especialmente los pueblos indígenas, otros propietarios consuetudinarios, las mujeres, los miembros de castas inferiores y las minorías étnicas.

Programmes to reduce emissions from deforestation and ecosystem degradation, such as REDD+ and other forestry incentive programmes, including Payment for Environmental Services (PES), could represent an opportunity to strengthen processes of conservation, sustainable usage and poverty reduction in the Mesoamerican region, particularly in indigenous territories and communities.

The land project of Uttaran combines a variety of interventions that, as a whole, should lead the reduction of extreme poverty and conflicts related to land and property ownership. This  document describes an M&E framework that will serve to document the progress of project interventions as well as describe or estimate impacts on land and property rights for all citizens especially the poorest part of the targeted community.