Land Tenure
Status report by Department of Environment, GNCTD on environmental clearance to mining projects in Delhi, 29/04/2025
At present there is no State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA)/State Level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) existing in Delhi, stated the report filed by the Department of Environment, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD), April 30, 2025. All cases related to environmental clearance are being dealt with by …Perceived tenure (in) security in the era of rural transformation: gender-disaggregated analysis from Mozambique
This study examines the drivers of tenure insecurity in Mozambique using data from the National Agricultural Survey (TIA) 2014 as well as a follow-up supplemental survey with detailed land tenure gender-disaggregated data from three groups: namely, principal male, principal female, and female spouses. Perceived risk of land loss (collective tenure …Missing Pathways to 1.5°C: the role of the land sector in ambitious climate action
This report examines three overlapping crises: climate change, biodiversity loss and the growing land and other rights abuses against Indigenous Peoples and local communities. It challenges the assumption that need to look to geoengineering solutions such as Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) to deal with the climate crisis and …A better world: life on land
A book highlighting how communities and countries are practically putting life back into the 2 billion hectares of land we have degraded was launched today to mark the Forest, Food and Land Challenge Coalition event taking place at the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAC), 12 September 2018, in San Francisco, …At a crossroads: consequential trends in recognition of community-based forest tenure from 2002-2017
Despite the substantial forest area held, claimed, and managed by Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and rural women, the vast majority of the world’s forests formally remain under government administration as national or provincial forests, protected areas, or forests allocated to third parties under concessions. Given evidence that deforestation rates are …The convergence of peasant struggles worldwide
A plethora of problems face Southern and Northern family agricultures in the current neo-liberal era of financial capital domination worldwide, and has paved the way for the revival of peasant struggles for their social emancipation and legitimate right of access to land and food. Obviously, such struggles also concern all …Legislative best practices for securing women’s rights to community lands
This brief highlights key attributes of national constitutions, laws, and regulations that play a fundamental role in protecting indigenous and rural women’s rights to community forests and other community lands. These legislative best practices were derived from a 2017 analysis of over 400 national laws and regulations, Power and Potential, …Joint ventures in the Flag Boshielo Irrigation Scheme, South Africa: a history of smallholders, states and business
The report analyzes the changing tripartite constellations between South African black smallholders, the pre- and post-apartheid state, and the country’s large-scale agribusiness and irrigation industry. A recent mode of farming is the ‘joint venture’, in which smallholders hand over land and share in the net profits, while a strategic partner …African Transformation Report 2017: agriculture - powering Africa’s economic transformation
The second African Transformation Report provides a data-rich assessment of the state of agriculture in Africa, its impact on macro-economic outcomes and its recent performance. It focuses on land tenure systems and the kinds of reforms that would enable customary tenure systems to better support commercial agriculture. It advocates the …Securing community land rights: priorities & opportunities to advance climate & Sustainable Development Goals
This report discusses the critical role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the context of emerging climate and development priorities, and the unprecedented opportunity to scale up the recognition and protection of community land and resource rights—both for the benefit of rural peoples and for the realization of global …Power and potential: a comparative analysis of national laws and regulations concerning women's rights to community forests
Up to 2.5 billion people hold and use the world’s community lands, yet the tenure rights of women—who comprise more than half the population of the world’s Indigenous Peoples and local communities—are seldom acknowledged or protected by national laws. Although gender norms and women’s forest tenure security vary widely across …Tenure and investment in Africa: synthesis report
This document provides a synthesis of the findings from an investigation of tenure risk in East, West, and Southern Africa. The analysis shows that a majority of tenure disputes are caused by the displacement of local peoples, indicating that companies and investors are not doing enough to understand competing claims …From risk and conflict to peace and prosperity: the urgency of securing community land rights in a turbulent world
Amid the realities of major political turbulence, there was growing recognition in 2016 that the land rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities are key to ensuring peace and prosperity, economic development, sound investment, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Despite equivocation by governments, a critical mass of influential investors …Getting into a bind: how the trade and investment regime blocks the development of agroecology and access to land
On World Food Day, a new report from Friends of the Earth International finds that current strategies to raise investment in agriculture are most likely blocking rather than aiding the achievement of food security and food sovereignty. One key reason is that trade and investment agreements focus on attracting agribusiness …Climate benefits, tenure costs: the economic case for securing indigenous land rights in the Amazon
A new report offers evidence that the modest investments needed to secure land rights for indigenous communities will generate billions in returns—economically, socially and environmentally—for local communities and the world’s changing climate. The report, Climate Benefits, Tenure Costs: The Economic Case for Securing Indigenous Land Rights, quantifies for the first …Building the blocks of gender-sensitive social protection and natural resources
This paper aims at understanding: how gender-sensitive and transformative instruments promote territorial development through women’s empowerment and how these instruments can contribute to food security, rural development and poverty reduction. But first, it should be borne in mind that, usually, resources accorded to development programs are limited. For this reason …Building the blocks of gender-sensitive social protection and natural resources
This paper aims at understanding: how gender-sensitive and transformative instruments promote territorial development through women’s empowerment and how these instruments can contribute to food security, rural development and poverty reduction. But first, it should be borne in mind that, usually, resources accorded to development programs are limited. For this reason …Encroaching on land and livelihoods: how national expropriation laws measure up against international standards
Encroaching on Land and Livelihoods examines whether national expropriation laws in 30 countries across Asia and Africa follow the international standards established in Section 16 of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGTs). Section 16 …Status and trends in traditional occupations: outcomes of a rapid assessment
FPP has produced a new report presenting the outcomes of preliminary research on the practice of traditional occupations in indigenous and local communities. While the rapid assessment only provides sample insights (from 17 experts in 13 countries), it brings together unique and diverse stories, experiences and views on these occupations …Common ground: securing land rights and safeguarding the earth
Up to 2.5 billion people depend on indigenous and community lands, which make up over 50 percent of the land on the planet; they legally own just one-fifth. The remaining five billion hectares remain unprotected and vulnerable to land grabs from more powerful entities like governments and corporations. There is …Foreign investment, law and sustainable development: a handbook on agriculture and extractive industries
As foreign investments in agriculture and extractive industries increase pressures on land and natural resources, the effective use of legal tools, by government and advocates alike, has become an important ingredient of public efforts to ensure that foreign investment contributes to sustainable development. This handbook is about how to use …