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Investment in agriculture is essential to reducing food insecurity and poverty. Since 2008, demand for agricultural land in developing countries has increased sharply. Land is considered to be an attractive asset. In social terms, investments in land have produced mixed results. Such investments have the potential to benefit local communities by giving small farmers greater access to capital,…

The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (FAO, 2012 – referred to in this guide as ‘the Guidelines’) were unanimously adopted by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in 2012, with subsequent broad international recognition and support. Their strength rests on the unique inclusive and…

The year 2015 was a significant turning point for both the sustainable development and climate agendas. Two major international processes were concluded: the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the adoption of a new international climate agreement, the Paris Agreement, under…

The Government of Ethiopia and more specifically, the Rural Land Administration and Use Directorate, (RLAUD) has identified land use planning as an important tool for the sustainable development of the country. Land use planning is vital for optimising the use of the land and for reconciling conflicts between different land uses. Land use planning should be carried out at different levels – from…

Resilience-building planning in drylands requires a participatory, integrated approach that incorporates issues of scale (often large scale) and the interconnectedness of dryland ecological and social systems. In an often political environment that supports small, “manageable” administrative units and the decentralisation of power and resources to them, planning at large scale is particularly…

Sand and dust storms (SDS), also known as sirocco, haboob, yellow dust, white storms, and the harmattan, are a natural phenomenon linked with land and water management and climate change. They are a combination of different hazards, such as sand, dust and wind. The fluctuation in their intensity, magnitude or interaction with each other is what can make them unpredictable and dangerous. …