To see the full list of RRI impacts and activities from July to September” click here.

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Dear Colleagues and Friends”

This past quarter we have seen a welcome new wave of global attention and response on “land grabbing.” In the month of October alone” we saw the FAO meeting in Rome to discuss the implementation of its Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure; Oxfam's global call for a moratorium on World Bank investments in land intensive large-scale agricultural enterprises; and Cornell University's second Conference on “Global Land Grabbing.” The last was a follow-up to a 2011 academic workshop in England in which 120 papers were presented on contentious land deals happening across the globe. The global conversation on land rights security has now entered a new phase of maturity” putting the thrust on the growing numbers of instances where civil society has challenged economic and political actors to take action on global land acquisition.

And it's about time that it did. The urgency of the developing world's land acquisitions problem is highlighted by the number of confrontations between communities and the rapidly expanding palm oil sector. In Liberia” where 75% of the total land is either already allocated to agribusiness or in the pipeline to be awarded in concessions by the government of Ellen Sirleaf Johnson (according to a study by the Liberian Land Commission)” a new complaint has been filed against a palm oil producer. RRI collaborator Green Advocates filed this complaint against Golden Veroleum” a company with a proposed concession of about 33″000 ha.” on behalf of the indigenous Butaw Kru tribes and several other communities  who were allegedly evicted by the company to clear massive tracts of land for farming without compensation or consent.

As past experiences challenging and forestalling Sime Darby's expansion in Liberia” and winning over 16″500 ha. of logging concessions back for displaced communities in Cameroon show: proactive and consistent advocacy can result in success on the ground.

At the same time” while large-scale land acquisitions gain attention in the media and by high level actors” the silent yet growing undercurrents of women's rights have continued to rise as well. In fact” some of the most encouraging progress this quarter was made in women's land rights in Asia and Africa through new analyses by RRI.

Women's land rights and engagement with the private sector are two key areas of focus  in the coming year. Mindful of the crucial role played by women and the potential role of public-private partnerships in achieving forest tenure reform and sustainable development” RRI aims to translate its work in research” analysis and advocacy into global movements” affecting real change and action for forest communities across the developing world.

– Rights and Resources Initiative 

To see the full list of RRI impacts and activities from July to September” click here.