Land and Climate

Climate change can destabilize existing land and resource governance institutions and associated property rights across the spectrum of landscape types. Transformed climatic conditions, manifested in either rapid-onset or slow-onset ways, can change how land and natural resources are accessed and used as geographical shifts in resource productivity, resource scarcity, and therefore land use patterns occur [1].

In addition, where there are insecure land and resource tenure regimes, such as leasehold rights, rural households are disinclined to invest their time and money for improving their agricultural and water management practices as well as conserving forests, ultimately leading to poor adaptive capacity in the face of climate variability. Here, “tenure regimes” refers to the rights, rules, institutions, and processes under which land and resources are held, used and managed