In early 2015, the Netherlands Academy on Land Governance (LANDac) and the Food & Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP) developed a knowledge agenda on land governance and food security. One of the activities addressed as part of the agenda was the development of three country-specific capacity building trajectories in linking land governance and food security.
Internationally, the Netherlands is rather active in the field of land governance and food security. On one hand, the Dutch have a long-standing expertise in the different aspects of land governance and on the other hand, food security is one of the main themes of the Dutch international development agenda. A great deal of knowledge exists on the link between land governance and food security, yet it is not always clear where to find updated information or how it can be used or how it can be adapted to the country-specific contexts by decision makers and development practitioners. The capacity development trajectories are aimed to make this expertise and information widely available, to translate available knowledge into policy and practice in partner countries of the Netherlands, and to enable mutual exchange and learning between countries.
In the last few months, three (pilot) trajectories have been rolled out respectively in Uganda (October 26-30), Ghana (November 23-27) and Ethiopia (December 7-11). The meetings were organized by LANDac, the F&BKP and partner organizations in these three countries and between 20 to 25 professionals working on issues of land governance and food security in their home countries were in participation. Contributors were from the fields of academia, NGOs, multi-lateral organizations, national and local governments, farmers organizations, the Netherlands Embassy and the private sector.
The four-day learning and exchange events provided participants and their organizations with knowledge to better handle issues of land governance and food security in their countries by studying, exchanging and discussing the complex linkages between the two topics. This was done through presentations given by local experts, by field visits to land-based investments and local government offices, and by developing action plans for their respective organizations.
In the three countries, communities working on land issues and those working on food security and livelihood-related topics appeared to be largely separate communities. Participants appreciated the learning events as that these two communities were brought together by linking the discussions around land to discussions of food security, both between and within sectors. Local expertise in research and practice were linked together with global debates and available knowledge and information from the Netherlands and other countries working in the field. Context is key in uncovering the complex linkages between land governance and food security in these three countries. By better sharing available knowledge as well as bringing together different stakeholders within countries, these particular strategies could be employed when addressing food security through better land governance.
As a result, preliminary outcomes included the establishment of a private sector NGO exchange forum in Uganda, the setting up of a knowledge platform in Ghana and draft guidelines and recommendations for Dutch investors in Ghana on how to increase land governance and food security in their activities.
Main outcomes and lessons learned from the three country trajectories will be shared amongst the participants and the wider public in the coming months, including a policy brief. Please keep an eye on the F&BKP website to stay updated. A synthesis meeting for Dutch stakeholders will be organized in the Netherlands in the beginning of 2016.
More information: g.betsema@uu.nl
Last Updated: 31st July 2020 by Gemma
9/2/2016 New publication: Advances in Responsible Land Administration
Advances in Responsible Land Administration
Jaap Zevenbergen, Walter de Vries, Rohan Mark Bennett
Features
Summary
Advances in Responsible Land Administration challenges conventional forms of land administration by introducing alternative approaches and provides the basis for a new land administration theory. A compilation of observations about responsible land administration in East Africa, it focuses on a new empirical foundation rather than preexisting ideals. Presenting practical knowledge resulting from real cases, it incorporates empirical studies highlighting Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya.
The book considers contemporary change forces that include responsible technological innovation, post-conflict contexts, rural poverty, rapid urbanization, food security, and citizen participation. It covers land information system design, innovative data capture tools and techniques, and algorithms and approaches to support land consolidation and pastoralist land administration. The book also evaluates the outcomes of approaches specifically geared toward workflow design, land use changes, land tenure perceptions, conflict reduction, and governance measures.
Outlining key aspects of what fit for purpose land administration looks like, this book presents:
Advances in Responsible Land Administration is an up-to-date discourse thatpromotes the theoretical notion of responsible land administration. The book highlights real cases, provides real data, and introduces novel alternatives to conventional methodologies in land administration. Using the information in this book, you can develop a coherent theoretical foundation for further research in this area.
More information:
https://goo.gl/NJLytq
Last Updated: 31st July 2020 by Gemma
9/2/2016 Launched: 3rd edition of MOOC Natural resources and sustainable development
Just launched is a third edition of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) ‘Ressources naturelles et développement durable’ by the Université catholique de Louvain.
The course addresses the link between the exploitation of natural resources (land, water, minerals, forests, etc.) and sustainable development and helps you understand the opportunities and challenges that the presence of natural resources offer, both at local and global level. By analyzing the socio-economic and ecological effects of the current rush these natural resources will help you understand the links between the agrarian crisis, the food crisis and the environmental crisis. Learning from specific case studies, your view on contemporary global dynamics will change.
The course will be taught in French. Duration of the course is 8 weeks, with a course load of 4-6 hours per week.
More information and enrollment:
https://www.edx.org/course/ressources-naturelles-et-developpement-louvainx-louv4x-0#!
Last Updated: 31st July 2020 by Gemma
25/01/2016 Now taking place: online debate on GLTN Gender Evaluation Criteria on the Land Portal
Sharing Best Practices and Lessons Learned for Supporting Women’s Land Rights: A debate on the Gender Evaluation Criteria (GEC)
From 25 January to 5 February, the Land Portal Foundation will be holding a debate on the Global Land Tool Network’s Gender Evaluation Criteria (GEC), which were created to assess the effectiveness of land tools in supporting women’s land rights. The discussion will focus on sharing best practices and lessons learned for supporting women’s land rights.
If you are a stakeholder on land governance issues and care about improving women’s land rights, now is the time to bring your voice to this discussion.
How Can I Participate?
The debate will take place on the Land Portal in English, French and Spanish from January 25 to February 5.
If you are already registered on the Land Portal, you will need to sign in to post comments. If you do not yet have an account on the Land Portal, please create your account now. Everyone working on land issues can benefit from being part of the Land Portal community!
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by Gemma
20/01/2016 Website: Open Development Mekong
Open Development Cambodia, has launched its new Generation 2 website today, 20 January. On the new website you will find about 100 pages of briefings covering 17 development sectors, an expanded law compendium, a comprehensive listing of Economic Land Concessions, new maps, and an improved map explorer, as well as the daily news summaries. You can visit the website here: Open Development Mekong.
This makes Open Development Cambodia the first country website to interface with the new regional Open Development Mekong (https://opendevelopmentmekong.net), as part of a platform expansion that will eventually include websites for all five Lower Mekong countries. The regional platform provides a single centralized database for all five countries, offering up a facility through which data can be collaboratively aggregated to create views at both country and transborder levels. The regional platform is the result of East West Management Institute’s Open Development Initiative. The new platform’s architecture significantly expands development-related data available to the public, as well as offering improved functionality.
This year Open Development Mekong and partners are also interested in expanding their partnerships with other groups to increase the website’s offerings. If you have data you would like to share or if you are interested in working with EWMI-ODI, ODC or other OD country partners on developing particular datasets and other information at country or regional level, please contact the partners.
Posted: 19th January 2016 by Gemma
19/01/2016 Launched: Call for abstracts LANDac Annual International Conference 2016
Now available: the call for abstracts for the 2nd international LANDac conference on 30 June and 1 July 2016. Please find the complete call here: Call for abstracts
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by Gemma
15/01/2016 Overview of publications in the area of water governance
The Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitiek (German Development Institute) DIE published an overview of their 2014/2015 publications in the areas of transboundary water management, integrated water resources management, water and energy, water governance in agriculture, payments for water-related ecosystem services and other topics. The overview can be accessed here: DIE Water Publications 2014-2015_12Jan2016
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by Gemma
13/01/2016 Dynamic learning events held in Africa on land governance and food security
In early 2015, the Netherlands Academy on Land Governance (LANDac) and the Food & Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP) developed a knowledge agenda on land governance and food security. One of the activities addressed as part of the agenda was the development of three country-specific capacity building trajectories in linking land governance and food security.
Internationally, the Netherlands is rather active in the field of land governance and food security. On one hand, the Dutch have a long-standing expertise in the different aspects of land governance and on the other hand, food security is one of the main themes of the Dutch international development agenda. A great deal of knowledge exists on the link between land governance and food security, yet it is not always clear where to find updated information or how it can be used or how it can be adapted to the country-specific contexts by decision makers and development practitioners. The capacity development trajectories are aimed to make this expertise and information widely available, to translate available knowledge into policy and practice in partner countries of the Netherlands, and to enable mutual exchange and learning between countries.
In the last few months, three (pilot) trajectories have been rolled out respectively in Uganda (October 26-30), Ghana (November 23-27) and Ethiopia (December 7-11). The meetings were organized by LANDac, the F&BKP and partner organizations in these three countries and between 20 to 25 professionals working on issues of land governance and food security in their home countries were in participation. Contributors were from the fields of academia, NGOs, multi-lateral organizations, national and local governments, farmers organizations, the Netherlands Embassy and the private sector.
The four-day learning and exchange events provided participants and their organizations with knowledge to better handle issues of land governance and food security in their countries by studying, exchanging and discussing the complex linkages between the two topics. This was done through presentations given by local experts, by field visits to land-based investments and local government offices, and by developing action plans for their respective organizations.
In the three countries, communities working on land issues and those working on food security and livelihood-related topics appeared to be largely separate communities. Participants appreciated the learning events as that these two communities were brought together by linking the discussions around land to discussions of food security, both between and within sectors. Local expertise in research and practice were linked together with global debates and available knowledge and information from the Netherlands and other countries working in the field. Context is key in uncovering the complex linkages between land governance and food security in these three countries. By better sharing available knowledge as well as bringing together different stakeholders within countries, these particular strategies could be employed when addressing food security through better land governance.
As a result, preliminary outcomes included the establishment of a private sector NGO exchange forum in Uganda, the setting up of a knowledge platform in Ghana and draft guidelines and recommendations for Dutch investors in Ghana on how to increase land governance and food security in their activities.
Main outcomes and lessons learned from the three country trajectories will be shared amongst the participants and the wider public in the coming months, including a policy brief. Please keep an eye on the F&BKP website to stay updated. A synthesis meeting for Dutch stakeholders will be organized in the Netherlands in the beginning of 2016.
More information: g.betsema@uu.nl
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by Gemma
LANDac 2016 International Land Conference: 30 June – 1 July 2016
On 30 June and 1 July 2016, LANDac will be organising a new International Land Conference:
Large-scale land acquisition in the context of urban sprawl and climate change – LINKING THE RURAL AND THE URBAN
This conference is a follow-up of the 2015 LANDac International Conference Land Governance for Equitable and Sustainable Development (http://www.landgovernance.org/landac-2015-international-land-conference-report-available/). The 2016 Conference aims to connect rural land debates and the urban agenda. Topics highlighted during this conference include the following:
Please find the pre-announcement and call for abstracts here:
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by Gemma
14/12/2015 New publication: Theorising the Land – Violent Conflict Nexus
A new article will be published in the journal World Development (February 2016) entitled ‘Theorising the Land – Violent Conflict Nexus’ by Mathijs van Leeuwen (Leiden University, Radboud University Nijmegen) and Gemma van der Haar (Wageningen University). The full article can be accessed through this link: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15002338 (subscription required).
Summary
While disputes over land are prominent in many situations of protracted violent conflict, questions remain about the precise relationships between land and violent conflict. Political ecology and legal anthropology have rightly questioned dominant approaches in theorizing land-related conflict that are centered on scarcity and institutional failure. While underlining the contribution of these critical approaches, we argue that questions about what is actually at stake in so-called “land-conflicts”, and in particular how localized land disputes and large-scale violence get connected, are not yet adequately addressed. To further theorizing on this point the paper proposes to take on board advances made in the wider field of conflict studies, notably the notions of war as a “social project” and “warscapes”. We emphasize the importance of “alliances” between local disputes and broader cleavages, and of processes of “framing”. The added value of such a perspective is then illustrated by case-studies based on original fieldwork in Burundi and Chiapas (Mexico), that bring out how sense-making of social actors at different levels, including development interveners, interlocks through alliances and framing. We suggest that academic research should analyze how particular land-related conflicts are performed, stimulated, interpreted, and used. Our argument also implies that policy makers and development practitioners should be aware that their work is not neutral, and should be more attentive to how their programs feed into processes of sense-making and mobilization. More generally, the paper de-naturalizes the link between land and conflict and draws land conflict analysis into the realm of social practice.
Posted: 13th December 2015 by Gemma
LANDac 2015 International Land Conference – report available
The report of the 2015 LANDac International Land Conference Land Governance for Equitable and Sustainable Development is now available. Please find the report here:
LANDac 2015 Conference Report