Since President Soeharto stepped down, decentralization has offered a better governance system for this nation of more than 220 million people of varied ethnic groups spread over more than 15,000 islands. Despite its potential, implementation of decentralization has been riddled with unexpected problems. Decentralization turned out to have created problems, ranging from conflicts among people who refused regional fragmentation, conflicts between newly-created districts and the original, larger district from which they were created, and between local and central government.

Ever since the oil, financial and food crises of 2008, sub-Saharan Africa has witnessed a marked increase in large-scale investment in agricultural land. The drivers of this investment are varied and include growing food, water and energy insecurity as well as social and economic interests of investors and recipient countries. The shape of these investments and their eventual outcomes are equally influenced by the existing land and water governance systems in the host countries.

The desire for research to be policy relevant has caused many social science studies to have “engineering” dimensions. With respect to the engineering of property rights, economic approaches indicate that we require knowledge regarding the makeup of current property rights structures, how changes to current structures affect the use and management of natural resources, and how property rights have evolved.

Climate change could have a critical impact on agriculture in Nepal due to dry-season water shortages, and changes in the variability of water availability and associated uncertainty. This makes water storage systems (most notably ponds and tanks) increasingly important.

The brief illustrates two communities’ efforts through collective action to secure property rights over their land. As conflict over natural resources and the need for sufficient farm land continue to increase, both men’s and women’s groups tried to negotiate their rights to manage natural resources to maintain their livelihoods. The groups also tried various governmental schemes and other approaches to secure their rights over land.

Los derechos de tenencia de la tierra y los derechos de carbono son temas fundamentales que deben ser tomados en cuenta para lograr una reducción de emisiones, asegurar una distribución transparente de beneficios y determinar las responsabilidades de la no permanencia (no cumplimiento) en el contexto de las estrategias y proyectos REDD+.

India registered rapid economic growth over the past couple of years, with the GDP growing 7.6 percent in 2015-2016. While economic activity remains buoyant, however, the country still has a long way to go. The government must capitalise on the current economic momentum and use it to accelerate its reform agenda. One of the areas requiring regulatory attention is the property market. Despite a push for reform through the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP), India’s current land title system remains plagued with deficiencies.

Proceedings of the workshop which focused particularly on gender analysis of rights to land and water, the implications of privatization and water markets for women's access to resources, how women (as well as men) can participate fully in collective action projects and the relation between problems like water scarcity and pollution, multiple uses of water in irrigation systems and gender.

Women’s participation in decision making at the user-group level and in forest committees has been demonstrated to have a positive impact on forest sustainability. For example, women’s participation enhances forest regeneration and reduces illegal harvesting through improved monitoring. Their presence in forest user groups increases the groups’ capacity to manage and resolve conflicts, which in turn increases the likelihood that resource users will comply with and respect harvesting and use rules.