Transforming Land Administration with Mobile Back Office Centres (MBOCs) in Ethiopia

On January 23, 2025, the Land Portal Foundation and Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) convened a webinar to explore the evolving landscape of agricultural investments in the Mekong region. Experts from various sectors joined to discuss the impact of industrial crops, smallholder farmer integration into transnational value chains, and the resulting economic, environmental, and social transformations.

Traditional authorities in Zambia complain that the government does not consult them when land is allocated for investment projects, while communities say chiefs are neglecting their interests. Jesinta Kunda of Zambia Land Alliance says more clarity is needed on the role of traditional authorities, in law and practice, to ensure large-scale investments in agriculture, mining and other sectors are governed better – particularly in light of the rising demand for critical minerals found in Zambia. She urges the government, traditional leaders and citizens to seize the opportunities presented by current legal reforms in Zambia to create change.

In Mali, a civil society coalition worked with communities to achieve greater transparency on gold mining contracts and to hold authorities and companies to account. Their aim: to turn Mali’s mining sector into a lever for socio-econmic development and improve living conditions around mining sites. 

Nouhoum Diakite charts a success story, with limitations…

Climate change poses an existential threat to ecosystems, with potentially far-reaching impacts on agriculture, forestry, wind and solar energy, and other land-based investments. These investments can also further exacerbate detrimental climate change impacts if they are not sustainably implemented. 

This webinar, the fourth of the Advancing Land-based Investment Governance (ALIGN) series, took place on February 9th, 2024, under the title “When carbon markets go wrong: How to ensure access to remedy for land tenure violations”. The webinar drew in 562 participants and featured panelists from policy experts to community leaders. The webinar was jointly organized by the Land Portal Foundation, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Namati and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Development (CCSI).   

Two years after international donors pledged $1.7 billion to Indigenous Peoples at COP26, a recognition of their crucial role in protecting biodiversity and carbon capture, there has been good progress in preparing the systems needed for the money to be disbursed.