Workshop on Land Tenure for Drylands Development

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Analysis of International Development Agency Land Policies:
An ILC Working Paper PDF 39KB

Analyse des politiques foncières des agences internationales de développement:
un document de travail de la Coalition internationale pour l'accès à la terre (ILC) PDF 44KB

Comparing international agency perspectives of land issues: Analysis of written policy papers PDF 98KB

Agenda

Presentation by International Land Coalition

An expert workshop on Land Tenure for Drylands Development was held in Nairobi, Kenya on 28th February - 2 March 2005, organised by United Nations Development Programme - Drylands Development Centre (UNDP-DDC, Nairobi), International Land Coalition Secretariat (ILC) and the Collective Action and Property Rights Initiative (CAPRi), a system-wide initiative of the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research Centres (CGIAR), based at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI/ Washington, DC). The meeting discussed and debated land tenure policies for complex and multi-users and/or "common property" arrangements in arid and semi-arid regions, particularly in Africa and the Near East .

The workshop discussed and debated the specificity of land tenure arrangements as it relates to the nature and requirements of dryland livelihood systems. Participants addressed how to best influence policy by opening up the policy debate on land tenure amongst both donors and government challenging the emerging land tenure policies favouring high potential areas ( i.e . rainfed areas) which may be inappropriate to drylands livelihood systems.

In preparation for the workshop, ILC wrote a comparative review of land tenure policies of the major actors (World Bank, EU, bilaterals, etc.) that highlights their divergence or convergence, and to what degree they take into account the types of issues which are dominant in dryland socio-ecological systems. A UNDP-DDC commissioned paper on Land tenure in the Drylands, a synthesis of regional studies, was also used as a background discussion for the workshop.

The outcomes of the workshop included:

• Terms of Reference for a draft document on Capacity Building for Land Tenure Policy Analysis for UNDP Country Offices and other users and will be discussed at the workshop. This product will be distributed as a guidance note to support country field offices as part of UNDP-DDC's mandate in the area of sustainable land management.

• The facilitating organisations drafted a plan for working through existing land tenure networks (ILC, CAPRi, others) in order to make better known the specificities of land tenure in drylands, including a strategy for influencing land tenure policy debates at the national, regional and international level allowing for the specificities of dryland livelihood systems.

• The workshop is feeding into a UNDP-wide program on land tenure for sustainable land management, in partnership with other actors working at the interface of land tenure, poverty reduction, environmental sustainability and national development strategies.

Workshop invitees consisted of regional partners of the ILC, UNDP-DDC Regional Team Leaders from Africa and the Near East , and from selected UNDP Country Offices, CAPRi representatives, experts on land tenure with regional or subregional experience, donors, policy makers and other development partners.

For further information, you may contact the following focal points:

• UNDP-DDC, Nairobi , Eric Patrick
• ILC Secretariat at IFA), Rome Jing de la Rosa
• CAPRi , Secretariat at IFPRI, Washington, DC Ruth Meinzen-Dick