This report argues that land reform, both tenancy reform and redistribution of ceiling surplus lands to the landless, is important to poverty alleviation.The paper argues that in addition to production benefits, land reform helps to change the local political structure by giving more voice to the poor. Re-distributive land reform, whether through market-assisted land reform programmes or otherwise, should remain a substantive policy issue for poverty reduction.

This paper examines the marginalization of women's land rights by governmental institutions and rural women's movements in Brazil.

Malawi’ s smallholder agriculture is facing a crisis, particularly in the more populated south. There is an insidious combination of land shortage, continuous cultivation of maize, declining soil fertility, low yields, deforestation, poverty and high population growth rate. Smallholder farmers are doing what they can to maintain household livelihoods under these difficult circumstances, however many of their actions, which are necessary for short term survival, such as the cultivation of hillsides, are not sustainable in the long term.

This document summarises the proceedings from a conference organised by International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) , Natural Resource insitute (NRI) and the Royal African Society in November 2004.The conference brought together a wide range of interest groups including, African policy makers, academics and civil society representatives, as well as representatives of the private sector and international agencies, to debate the way ahead for land rights and land reforms in Africa.

The main objective of the paper is to explore possible institutional arrangements among the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), Philippines, implementing agencies in a post-2008 transition scenario for CARP. There were three reasons cited for the implementation of the agrarian reform program, namely: (i) to increase productivity, (ii) to reduce inequality particularly in the countryside, and (iii) to address one of the main causes of the persistent Communist insurgency in the country.

The author explores the socio-economic dimension of forest resource use and management in the Mahabharat hill track of Arghakhanchi district in west Nepal.Analysis focuses on:various attributes of forest resources use and variation between regions, socio-economic and demographic groupslocal forest management systems and practices forest resource use and its related managementeconomic status of households focusing on the poverty-environment nexus.Major findings and conclusions from the overall study include:the extent, depth and severity of poverty is high - the incidence of poverty is foun

You can carry out your own analyses on poverty and ecosystem services with the GIS data made available, some of them being publicly released for the first time. All data are accompanied by metadata.

• Population & poverty
• Agriculture
• Land cover & land form
• Base data

Inequalities are linked with poverty and sustainable development, and have patently hindered development and stalled progress. Acting together, these inequalities further entrench the deprivation suffered by certain groups and individuals and manifest themselves clearly in the way space is used. The fight against inequality requires the establishment of a new governance paradigm which coordinates efforts, strengthens formal coordination mechanisms, establishes joint responsibilities and provides the resources and incentives necessary at every level of government.

The World Bank (2015) classifies Kenya as a lower middle income country and one of East Africa‘s fastest growing economies. According to Society for International Development (SID) however, Kenya remains one of the most unequal societies when compared to of Uganda and Tanzania (SID, 2004). Inequality therefore remains a key challenge to Kenya. In order to respond to this challenge, there is need for a clear understanding of the causes, nature, effects and manifestations of socio-economic inequalities (SID, 2006).

The government of (post)socialist Laos has conceded more than 1 million hectares of land—5 percent of the national territory—to resource investors, threatening rural community access to customary lands and forests. However, investors have not been able to use all of the land granted to them, and their projects have generated geographically uneven dispossession due to local resistance.

Up to 2.5 billion people hold and use the world’s community lands, yet the tenure rights of women—who comprise more than half the population of the world’s Indigenous Peoples and local communities—are seldom acknowledged or protected by national laws.

WEBSITE INTRODUCTION: This thematic study presents a country-level overview of customary tenure arrangements in Lao PDR. It examines the extent of customary tenure and land formalization in the country, key policy changes that have impacted on customary arrangements, the degree to which customary land is recognized legally and in practice, and explores opportunities for better recognition. Customary tenure covers a wide range of land types and resources, and provides livelihood security for a majority of the Lao rural population, particularly ethnic minorities and women.