Land tenure and rural development

Presentation at VIth annual Donor Meeting on Rural Development

Outcomes of International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD)

more info: > www.icarrd.org

International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development

Porto Alegre, Brazil, 7 – 10 March 2006

1300 participants including

96 Government delegations

130 Civil Society and farmers organizations

African countries participation:

35 countries African countries attending

14 national reports (governments)

10 country case studies

see: www.icarrd.org > Documents+ > National reports

ICARRD : Major themes

Policies for securing access to land / promoting agrarian reform

Need to strengthen rural producers and communities capacity to interact with the State

Building local capacities to improve access to land, water

Agrarian reform, social justice and sustainable development

Outputs of the Conference

State of the Arts in Agrarian Reform and Rural Development through • 30 case studies • 40 national reports• technical papers• 27 special thematic sessions on various topics

of AR and rural development

A Final Declaration, including principles and commitments for action

Partnerships projects

Key topics, themes, lessons learned

Ag.Reform/ sound land tenure systems essential for conflict reduction/prevention, food security, agricultural growth and poverty alleviation

Ag.Reform / sound land tenure not enough: often necessary but not sufficient condition

Diversity of situations: no blueprint, only context-specific solutions, better when negotiated

Responsability of the State. Political will is needed

Land tenure/ land policy are political issues

Key topics & themes (cont’d)

Key role of Civil Society to interact/ negotiate with the State, and build collective capacities of farmers

Implementation matters: • good governance of local land institutions; • how to make rights real: capabilities, capacity of local actors

and groups to negotiate, to assert and secure rights;

• land administration; access of the poor to legal information and State institutions;

• building and developping capacities and human resources for land tenure (State, NGOs, CSOs, farmers organizations)

Ways forward

Key principles in ICARRD follow-up :

Build partnerships and promote dialogue/ negotiation, at various levels: local, national, international

Renewed and increased partnerships with Civil Society actors

Taking into account the diversity of situations and demands

Joint efforts : IFAD – FAO – others Multistakeholder engagement and partnerships:

NEPAD, AU, UN/ECA, Afr.Devt Bank

Ways forward (cont’d)

Some key challenges :

Build Systematic interventions (analysis – pilot – mainstream)

Protect rights: women, youth, indigenous groups, common properties

Strengthen institutional arrangements: decentralized accountable land administration

Promoting balanced inclusive policies: smallholder and commercial sector growth

Supporting participatory negotiated territorial processes

Land and the MDGs

Land tenure a key challenge for MDGs :

Build source of food security (MDG1)

Economic asset for poverty reduction, income, livelihoods, investment (MDG 1)

Source of shelter (urban and peri-urban) (MDG 7)

Socio-cultural dimension and gender equity (MDG 3)

Land, MDGs, key challenges (cont’d)

Reaching for balance :

Build Pro-poor and commercial development Decentralized land institutions Broadened land access, security and equity Post conflict settings Urban and peri-urban land administration Strengthening land sector in post conflict Urban-rural land issues Statutory and customary rights: emergent land

markets, commoditization of customary land tenure

Thank you !

> ICARRD global platform

www.icarrd.org