News on Land

Land and human rights are closely tied. Land use planning approaches can only be robust and have a meaningful impact if they integrate the interests of vulnerable and marginalised members of communities into their schemes.  

In 2006, Société Camerounaise de Palmeraies (Socapalm), a subsidiary of plantation giant, Socfin, embarked on an ambitious endeavor – the cultivation of palm plantations within Dibombari’s lush rainforest expanse in Cameroon. Yet, beneath the veneer of progress lies a tapestry of troubling accusations. Allegations of forcible land displacement, pollution of vital water sources, the decimation of delicate ecosystems, and the sacrilegious intrusion into ancestral lands cast a dark shadow over the company’s operations.

War and drought is emptying Somalia’s countryside, creating a surge in urbanisation and cementing a permanent demographic shift that will have far-reaching implications for the country’s future recovery, say aid and development experts.  

The right to land is a fundamental prerequisite to the other rights (economic, social, and cultural) that depend on land, and which determine the living conditions and social integration of Ethiopia’s rural and urban communities. In recent times, high rates of population growth, unregulated urban expansion, and poor use of resources have led to land degradation, loss of biodiversity, and disputes over access. An integrated and participatory approach to land management is considered essential if resources are to be used sustainably and equitably in the future.

Minorities, women, and persons internally displaced face severe land tenure issues in post-conflict Iraq.

            

Land rights are among the fundamental rights of women. Supporting women to secure their land rights ensures equity in ownership, and improved livelihood opportunities for rural women. It further contributes to food security, addresses poverty, provides a basis for climate action, and promotes long-term equitable economic growth. However, a lack of awareness about land legislation and limited social freedoms in rural societies hinder the realisation of these rights. Three land-governance-focused projects implemented by GIZ Ethiopia and Djibouti , in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity International project Stand for Her Land (#S4HL) and the Women Land Rights Task Force (WLRTF), are working to improve women’s land rights in Ethiopia.

2023 marks two decades since the adoption of the Maputo Protocol. The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol) is arguably the most progressive legally binding instrument on women’s and human rights instruments globally. A total of 44 African countries have signed and ratified it.

While land that is legally designated or owned by indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local communities worldwide between 2015 and 2020 has risen in acreage, in sub-Saharan Africa the opposite applies, says a report by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI): It decreased by 2.4 million hectares (Mha) – from 9.6 percent of land across the 23 countries in Africa analysed as of 2015 to 9.4 percent of land across the same countries in 2020.

In southern Cameroon, about 150km from the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, a bitter story from the colonial era is playing out. Rubber companies are once again destroying rainforests and communities.

"They come here promising us everything," said one affected Ugandan. "We believed them. Now we are landless, the compensation money is gone, what fields we have left are flooded, and dust fills the air."