With the aim of promoting the 2014 International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), the International Land Coalition (ILC) has published seven research papers focusing on land rights and family farming, and the role of farmers and small-scale food producers in people-centered land governance.
3 November 2014: With the aim of promoting the 2014 International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), the International Land Coalition (ILC) has published seven research papers focusing on land rights and family farming, and the role of farmers and small-scale food producers in people-centered land governance.
The papers, developed under the project on ‘Family Farming and People-centred Land Governance: Exploring Linkages, Sharing Experience, and Identifying Gaps,’ comprise both English- and Spanish-language studies, and include country-level and regional studies. Most papers are accompanied by a policy brief summarizing their key findings.
The studies cover: participatory land use planning to support Tanzanian farmer and pastoralist investment; negotiating sustainable livelihoods in rural North-West China; community-focused land governance in Portuguese-speaking countries; land ownership challenges faced by rural women; customary and state laws of land governance; and multifunctional contributions of family agriculture in Colombia.
A paper summarizing the preliminary findings of the project concludes that: the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure and the African Union’s Land Policy Initiative (LPI) Framework and Guidelines “are becoming real instruments for effective dialogue in moving towards more effective and people-centred land governance, and promoting policy change for more inclusive and sustainable agricultural development.” The brief identifies as existing challenges: incoherent institutional frameworks for land governance; lack of formal recognition and support for functional customary tenure and land management systems; and poor alignment of agricultural development strategies with land policies.
A synthesis paper reviewing and analyzing the ILC-supported research projects is forthcoming.
IYFF was launched on 22 November 2013. ILC supports the coordination efforts of the IYFF Civil Society Programme, which are led by the World Rural Forum. [ILC Global Research Project on the IYFF Webpage]