A more holistic approach to land governance: Recalibrating rights and obligations

December 2021
Lorenzo Cotula (Land Portal blog)

In many parts of the world large-scale projects such as agribusiness plantations, mines and infrastructure have heightened the policy imperative to recognise the rights of socially, politically and juridically marginalised people – from small-scale farmers to forest dwellers, pastoralists, artisanal fishers and people living in informal settlements, including many who identify as Indigenous Peoples. Yet effective responses to land justice issues often require not just securing certain precarious rights, but also addressing imbalances between the rights and obligations of different groups. Includes between extraction and stewardship, the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure, bundles of rights and obligations, from concepts to context.