Rather than scaling up, I think we should be talking about scaling out and scaling over time when it comes to inclusive, community-led land governance. I tried these ideas out with some success two weeks ago at the annual LANDac Conference in the Netherlands, specifically during a Round Table which asked “(how) can we scale bottom-up or community-based initiatives towards fair and inclusive land governance”?

At the Land Portal Foundation, we advocate for open land data and recognize the importance of land data in driving progress in support of sustainable development. We aim to engage stakeholders and develop supportive measures to advocate for the increased accessibility of land information and support capacity building in this regard. The current challenge we face is the inaccessibility of poorly managed land data, often limited to localized sources and overshadowed by information from large organizations.

In a world grappling with numerous challenges related to climate change, socio-economic issues, and migration, the significance of land cannot be overstated. Land is not just a concern for the land community but for all communities, as it holds the potential to address critical global issues. Recognizing the need for a comprehensive approach to land governance, a global land agenda is being proposed. This blog explores the origins, objectives, and actions required to pave the way for effective land governance on a global scale.

The State of Land Data: Transforming Africa Into a Powerhouse of the Future" took place on June 22 and featured five speakers. The event was organized by  the Land Portal Foundation, NELGA, GIZ and German Cooperation.  

In the context of the joint IOS-Fair Transitions-LANDac International Conference, the parallel session on Justice at the heart of land governance: Envisioning the intersections of informal justice with land conflict, climate vulnerability, and food insecurity took place on June 30th, 2023.  

This piece has been co-authored by the Land Portal Foundation, the GFAR, ANGOC and ALRD. 

// Photo credit: UN Women Asia and the Pacific

Land tenure security is one of the best incentives for the rural poor to adopt measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Despite being a part of national government planning, large-scale agricultural investments in Ethiopia have not been meeting expectations. Focusing on Gambella region in southwestern Ethiopia, this policy brief examines the reasons why, and proposes three policy actions to improve the situation.

Three policy actions required

The event “Mainstreaming the Land Rights of the Rural Poor in the Climate Agenda” took place on June 6th, 2023 and featured three speakers. The event was organized by a team of organizations, including the Land Portal Foundation, the Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAR), the Asian NGO Coalition (ANGOC) and Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD).  

In the past decade, the land rights movement, particularly the women's land rights movement, has significantly made progress in strengthening the recognition of land rights in national, regional and international instruments. Despite the progress, translating these recommendations into legislative provisions and practices in countries has been slow or minimal.

An in-depth global review of land resource resource grabbing is both timely and essential reading.

OVERVIEW

Under the umbrella of the Land Dialogues series, the second webinar of this year’s series “Indigenous Land Rights and the Biodiversity COP15: Six Months On” took place on May 25th, 2023. The webinar drew in a little over 350 participants and featured panelists from Indigenous women leaders to programme officers. The series is organized by a consortium of organizations, including the Land Portal Foundation, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Tenure Facility.  

The webinar was organized around three main themes: 

As an advocate for open land data, the Land Portal Foundation aims to improve access to land data, engage stakeholders, and support actions that promote data openness. I recently had the opportunity to introduce the State of Land Information Index (SOLIndex) and talk about the Open Up Guide at the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) Partners’ Meeting in Nairobi and show how these tools play a vital role in improving access to land information.