This issue of Land Reform, Land Settlement and Cooperatives contains an interesting and wide-ranging set of contributions providing insights into land related issues ranging from Italy to the Central Andes, and from the historical development of sustainable tenure practices to aspects of agriculture sector planning. The eight articles featured open with that of Lavigne Delville, which addresses issues relating to insecurity of tenure in West Africa, and identifies what the paths of change currently appear to be.

Land consolidation can be an important tool for increasing agricultural competitiveness and improving rural conditions. Farmers can become more competitive when they decrease fragmentation and increase the size of their farms, and rural communities can benefit when consolidation projects include components to improve local infrastructure and the environment.

أضحت حيازة الأراضي سيئة التنظيم مشكلة أساسية، خاصة في أفريقيا جنوب الصحراء الكبرى وجنوب شرق آسيا، حيث تهدد الأمن الغذائي وسبل كسب العيش المحلية وإدارة الموارد الطبيعية بطريقة مستدامة، وأثارت نزاعات حول الأراضي والتعدي على حقوق الإنسان. والمجموعات الاجتماعية المهمشة مهددة بصفة خاصة، بما في ذلك السكان الأصليون، وغيرهم من أصحاب الأراضي العرفيين، والنساء، الطبقات الدنيا، والأقليات العرقية.

This report contains the results of a study of gender and access to forest and tree resources, women and men’s use of common lands and botanical resources, and the importance of these resources for the livelihoods of people in highland Ethiopia.

This guide proposes tools and approaches to improve forest tenure governance and practical actions to realise this objective. It is intended for government policy-makers, or other public sector, private sector or civil society stakeholders concerned with forest governance and tenure reform.

Le présent manuel sur La parité hommes-femmes et l'accès à la terre a été rédigé pour aider les administrateurs fonciers dans les gouvernements et leurs homologues dans la société civile jouant un rôle dans l'accès à la terre et dans l'administration foncière dans le cadre du développement rural. Les questions de parité hommes-femmes sont fréquemment omises ou sous-estimées et cela a souvent des répercussions négatives.

The paper looks at land tenure in Mozambique, where ever since independence in 1975, property in land has been vested in the state, and despite the political and economic shift to a multiparty system and market economy, this underlying principle has remained in place: no land may be sold, mortgaged, or otherwise encumbered or alienated. Local traditional land management systems meanwhile have retained a robust role as the de facto land management system of Mozambique.

Le présent guide sur Le régime foncier et le développement rural a été préparé pour familiariser les lecteurs avec les questions clés liées au régime foncier, et plus particulièrement celles concernant l’insécurité alimentaire et le développement rural. La négligence dont fait trop souvent l’objet le régime foncier lors des interventions de développement rural a souvent des effets néfastes très durables. Il est essentiel d’analyser les aspects pratiques du régime foncier pour déterminer quelles sont les personnes qui ont accès aux terres et sous quelles conditions.

This case study looks at the land tenure in Namibia, where for a century of colonial rule indigenous Namibians were dispossessed from rights to both land and resources – by German and then white South African settlers establishing commercial farms and related businesses. Access to freehold tenure was reserved for white settlers and tenure security for indigenous Namibians largely disappeared. In non-white areas, rights were provided under indigenous tenure systems whose legal status was somewhat murky. Urban tenure was denied as blacks were not allowed ownership of residential land.

Данные руководящие принципы являются первым всесторонним глобальным правовым документом, посвященным вопросам системы владения и пользования ресурсами и ее регулирования, который был подготовлен на основе межправительственных переговоров. В них установлены принципы и международно признанные стандарты ответственной практики пользования земельными, рыбными и лесными ресурсами, а также контроля за ними.

The goal of this exercise is to identify some of the tools a development agent needs for achieving effective local participation in policy development. The intended audiences are FAO professionals and their colleagues, in other agencies and in the field programs. This paper uses an analogy of walking and climbing to separate the familiar project experiences (the walking) from the less-known territory of policy influence (the climbing).