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Doing Business on Uneven Ground

Doing Business on Uneven Ground

Advancing land equality is key to addressing climate change and farmer rights

A timely new report from Oxfam and the International Land Coalition takes up the challenge of "land inequality" in food value chains. 'Doing Business on Uneven Ground' examines how food companies can continue to source agricultural commodities and reduce and remove emissions while advancing land equality.

Above: “Women are traditionally the ones who are connected to the land, family and nature.” Tania Hernandez Tellez, 41, is a social leader with a rural women’s association in Colombia’s Putumayo region. Photo: Andrés Cardona/Oxfam

Report Summary

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Full report

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It presents eight land-focused ‘essential issues for business action’—and corresponding recommendations—that leading companies can integrate into their existing sustainability efforts.

The recommendations are actionable and clear.

One is for companies to commit to promoting more local control of land across operations and value chains (corresponds with Essential Issue #1).
Another is to engage directly with relevant associations of small-scale farmers, Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), and/or women’s networks as key parties in the design and implementation of landscape management approaches (corresponds with Essential Issue #5).
Related to land-based climate solutions, a key recommendation is that companies should apply robust safeguards, such as ensuring related land acquisitions do not result in forced evictions but instead help secure women’s and IPLCs’ land rights (corresponds with Essential Issue #4)