Guest commentary by Anna Knox, Chief of Party, USAID's LAND project in Rwanda.

USAID’s Land Tenure and Property Rights (LTPR) Division has released a new suite of tools and methodologies created under the recently completed Property Rights and Resource Governance (PRRG) Project. These tools were designed to enhance the understanding of LTPR challenges and improve programming to advance the global development objectives of the United States, including food security, global climate change, conflict mitigation and women’s economic empowerment.

In Cote d'Ivoire, a UN-imposed embargo on the export of Ivoirian diamonds to other countries has been in place since 2005 due to concerns regarding the control of diamond-mining zones by former rebel groups as well as weak internal controls over the country's diamond mining sector. Given these concerns and the role USAID's Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) program has played in helping to improve countries with their Kimberley Process compliance, USAID commissioned an assessment of the land tenure and artisanal mining sector in Cote d'Ivoire in September 2012.

Project paper

Project paper

The objective of the Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands (LADA) project was to develop tools and methods to assess and quantify the nature, extent, severity and impacts of land degradation on dryland ecosystems, watersheds and river basins, carbon storage and biological diversity at a range of spatial and temporal scales. This builds the national, regional and international capacity to

This publication seeks to assist government and institutional policy-planners and decision-makers in identifying places where energy crops could be grown and in understanding the geographic (agro-ecological

and economic) context of bioenergy supplies, at country and regional levels. It will not only increase awareness about the environmental challenges

related to the production systems of bioenergy crops, but will also contribute to the development of new production practices and technologies for sustainable agricultural intensification and diversification

LADA (Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands project) is a scientifically-based approach to assessing and mapping land degradation at different spatial scales ? small to large ? and at various levels ? local to global. It was initiated in drylands, but the methods and tools have been developed so as to be widely applicable in other ecosystems and diverse contexts with minimal required adaptation.

Over the past 30 years, the natural environment of the Asia-Pacific region has been subjected to increasing degradation of both land and water resources thereby threatening livelihoods, food security, people's health and long-term sustainable development. Pressures on these resources are more severe compared to other regions in the world. Some 850 million hectares, representing more that 28 percent of the region's land area, are affected by some form of land degradation.

Concentration of land ownership, lack of access, insecurity of tenure and lack of efficiency and transparency in land administration services, are among the obstacles towards responsible governance of tenure of land and other natural resources in Latin America. These issues have been the subject of discussions and policy recommendations during many international forums, such as the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in March 2006.

FAO and its development partners are working together with countries to prepare Voluntary Guidelines that will provide practical guidance to states, the private sector, civil society, academia, donors and development specialists on the responsible governance of tenure. By setting out principles and internationally accepted standards for responsible practice and associated technical guidance, the Voluntary Guidelines will provide a framework and point of reference that stakeholders can use when developing their own policies and actions.

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and other development partners are working together with countries to prepare Voluntary Guidelines that will provide practical guidance to states, civil society, the private sector, donors and development specialists on the responsible governance of tenure. By setting out principles and internationally accepted standards for responsible practices, the Voluntary Guidelines will provide a framework and point of reference that stakeholders can use when developing their own policies and actions.