Cognizant of the centrality of land policy issues in Africa, a joint initiative was undertaken by the African Union Commission (AUC), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 2006, forming the genesis of the Land Policy Initiative (LPI). Through the LPI important actions and measures have been launched including a series of regional studies on land issues across Africa accompanied by rigorous consultations and discussions at regional and continental levels.

The initiative on land policies, aims to assist African states to equip themselves with land policies that can contribute to economic development and poverty reduction as well as peace building. One of the pressing objectives of the initiative is to draft a reference framework and guidelines for land policies in Africa. The land policy framework and guidelines are not meant to impose a uniform land policy on African states, but, on the contrary, to help them develop and implement national land policies that are efficient and effective.

The present document is one of the background papers for the fourth session of the Africa regional forum on sustainable development, which is being held in preparation for the 2018 high-level political forum on sustainable development, to be held in New York from 9 to 18 July 2018. The theme of the regional forums is “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies”.

The mission was in accordance with Programme Element 20.48 of the approved United Nations Regular Programme for Technical Cooperation for the 1994-1995 Biennium which calls for the provision of advisory services and training to member countries and inter-governmental organizations in support of their efforts at developing their agricultural support services.