Despite the fact that urban farming is widespread in many African cities there is not yet a clearly defined view on how to deal with these activities in urban planning and management. On the basis of field interviews in the rapidly expanding metropolitan area of Kampala (Uganda) three different urban farming types were identified: subsistence farming, garden farming and commercial farming. These three urban farming types have their own spatial organisation logic and each interact in a specific way with urban expansion.

Common wisdom suggests that foreign land ownership should facilitate the transfer of agricultural technology from developed to developing countries, attract foreign capital flow to developing countries, and enhance the process of capital accumulation. The goal of this paper is to dispute this claim and describe a particular feedback mechanism through which the foreign land ownership can become a barrier for growth and development.

A number of international donors, national governments and project proponents have begun to lay the groundwork for REDD+, but tenure insecurity – including the potential risks of land grabbing by outsiders and loss of local user rights to forests and forest land – is one of the main reasons that many indigenous and other local peoples have publicly opposed it. Under what conditions is REDD+ a threat to local rights, and under what conditions does it present an opportunity?