A terra, ao longo da história, simboliza poderio político, económico e sociocultural não só a nível dos Estados como também das comunidades e do indivíduo. No contexto actual, é um dos principais recursos para o desenvolvimento e qualidade da vida das pessoas, não só no meio rural, como também no urbano e/ou peri-urbano, caracterizando-se como factor de exclusão ou inclusão, emancipação ou marginalização social.

Revue internationale des forts et des industries forestires

Land Tenure Working Paper 11. This co-publication of FAO and UN-HABITAT seeks to better understand and define the processes, mechanisms and institutions of governance of tenure in rural and urban areas. The paper recognises that excellent land policies, laws and technical reforms have been developed. However, in many cases their implementation has slipped, stalled or even been reversed. By adopting a governance and political economy perspective, the paper offers insights for the design of reforms and for the development of land governance tools.

This guide is written for people who work in land administration and all those with an interest in land, land tenure and their governance. Although much has been written about the importance of good governance in achieving development goals, there is comparatively little material on good governance in land tenure and administration. Failings in governance have adverse consequences for society as a whole. By contrast, good governance can help achieve economic development and the reduction of poverty. Good governance matters.

In September 2008, the FAO-Dimitra project organised its third workshop with all its partners in Brussels, on the theme:“Information and communication strategies to fight gender inequality as regards land access and its consequences for rural populations in Africa”. This document presents a synthesis of the workshop’s activities as well as the different articles which were prepared for the workshop by the participants – the partners of the network and FAO colleagues.

El sector forestal en general, y el de la industria forestal en particular, no ha quedado al margen de este amplio proceso de reformas. En el presente nmero de Unasylva se analizan las vicisitudes del sector forestal en determinados pases en transicin hacia la economa de mercado.

The papers contained in this issue have been selected from those presented at a series of workshops, held in 2002 in Hungary, Uganda, Mexico and Cambodia, that were organized by the World Bank jointly with the Department for International Development (DFID), the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and with FAO, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the African development Bank (AfDB), the European Union (EU), the International Land Coalition, Oxfam, and other bilateral an

This paper focuses on legal and institutional aspects of children’s property and inheritance rights in Southern and East Africa. Chapter 2 discusses violations of children’s property and inheritance rights and discusses how the spread of HIV/AIDS has contributed to the violations. Chapter 3 assesses several norms of customary law that aim to protect children’s property and inheritance rights as well as the current practices of customary law that—in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic—serve to complicate and limit children’s ability to maintain their rights.

This thirty-page report is the third out of three reports written on forest resources in Madagascar. It is aimed at the collection, analysis of data related to the forest plantations sector in Madagascar. Different from the other two reports, it deals with issues related to village plantations and its uses by local families. The report is composed of six main topics dealing with the methodologies used, the surface of the plantations, total volume of these, the commercial aspects, the duration of rotation and the dynamics of reforestation and exploitation.

The articles in this volume supplement FAO Land Tenure Studies 10, Compulsory acquisition of land and compensation. The latter publication explains what compulsory acquisition and compensation are and what constitutes good practice in this area. This current volumes introductory article provides an overview of these issues. The issue of compulsory acquisition from a human rights perspective is also addressed here as are the concepts of market value, compensation value and just terms compensation.

The Symposium on Legal Aspects of Large Scale Investments in Land: Implications for Food Security and Rural Development was held at FAO Headquarters in Rome on March 4th 2011. The Symposium was co-hosted by FAO and the World Food Law Institute at Howard University School of Law.