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USAID welcomes The Coca-Cola Company’s recently announced commitments to ensure that its sugar suppliers protect the land rights of local communities. Coca-Cola – the world’s largest purchaser of sugar – agreed to revise its corporate Supplier Guiding Principles to incorporate principles that recognize and safeguard local communities’ and indigenous peoples’ rights to land and natural resources. Coca-Cola also agreed to publicly advocate that food and beverage companies, traders, and governments endorse and implement the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security.

As we have argued previously, responsible private investment is necessary to enhance food security, promote economic growth and lift millions of people out of poverty. Coca-Cola’s commitments – including the commitment to cut off any suppliers that do not adhere to its revised Supplier Guiding Principles – provide an innovative model for private sector actors to ensure that their investments are responsible and their suppliers recognize the property rights of local individuals and communities. Additionally, Coca-Cola’s commitment to support implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines and increase its participation in the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) advances what the private sector is doing to engage on land governance issues that could help amplify the impact of the Voluntary Guidelines.

“We welcome Coca-Cola’s commitments to recognize the property rights of local communities and promote transparency along its supply chain. Coca-Cola and other responsible private sector actors have the ability to affect positive change by leveraging their market power to compel their suppliers to work in consultation with local communities and adhere to guidelines that protect rights and promote responsible investment. We support Coca-Cola’s commitments and hope other companies follow suit. We also acknowledge the work of Oxfam in developing this important agreement,” said Dr. Gregory Myers, USAID Division Chief, Land Tenure and Property Rights. Dr. Myers added, “We also encourage greater private sector participation in CFS. We would welcome additional roundtable discussions between the private sector, civil society and governments on responsible agricultural investment.”

Coca-Cola’s announcement followed the release of Sugar rush: Land rights and the supply chains of the biggest food and beverage companies, a report by Oxfam International that claims that land acquired for sugar production has often displaced local communities and led to land-related conflicts. Coca-Cola’s recent announcement included commitments to conduct third-party social, environmental and human rights assessments, which will include impacts related to land and land conflicts, in its top 16 cane sugar sourcing countries, beginning in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, India, Philippines, Thailand and South Africa.

According to Ed Potter, Coca-Cola’s director of global workplace rights, “our company does not typically purchase ingredients directly from farms, nor are we owners of sugar farms or plantations, but as a major buyer of several agricultural ingredients, we acknowledge our responsibility to take action and use our influence to help protect the land rights of local communities.”

See the full list of Coca-Cola’s commitments here.

A guest post by Dr. Paul Munro-Faure, Deputy Director, Climate, Energy and Tenure Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Following the endorsement of the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (commonly referred to as the Voluntary Guidelines) in 2012, FAO initiated a four-year programme for making improved governance of tenure a reality. One of the main aspects of the program is awareness raising. To that end, we have made the Voluntary Guidelines available in six official languages on FAO’s website and distributed over 15,000 printed copies to people in about 140 countries. FAO has also helped to convene ten regional awareness raising workshops over the past twelve months. We have recently begun convening sub-regional meetings, starting with a meeting in Abu Dhabi for the Gulf States and Yemen. Country level workshops will begin in the next couple of months and resources are already available to start these in more than twelve countries.

Another aspect of this programme is capacity development – preparing additional tools and aids to support implementation of the Guidelines. We are close to finalizing the initial five Governance of Tenure Technical Guides prepared by FAO and partners, which address core areas in the Voluntary Guidelines. An additional eight guides and their dissemination are under discussion with donors and stakeholders.

We have also made progress in developing e-learning programmes to disseminate and build capacity for supporting implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines. Open-source land administration software is also being made available and supported with increased functionality to requesting countries.

At the country level, we are responding systematically to requests for support in implementing the Guidelines, with discussions already underway for six countries. We are also in discussion with key stakeholders regarding partnerships targeting support for implementation of the Guidelines. We are engaged in detailed discussions on a partnership with the African Union’s Land Policy Initiative, the World Bank on mainstreaming of the Voluntary Guidelines in the Bank’s land-related portfolio, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on strengthening partnerships at the country level.

The regional workshops this past year have both re-validated and reinforced the recognition of the vital importance of the Voluntary Guidelines, showing that political momentum is developing and that governments are becoming more ready to engage. They have emphasized the importance of capacity development at the country level and the critical role for FAO in country level awareness raising and dialogue. A great deal has been achieved at the global and regional levels through enormous media coverage. We are, however, in the first stages of a long process. Awareness, capacities, momentum and support are all critically needed at levels where work is to be done – on the ground – principally at the national levels and with all stakeholder groups.

The regional workshops have prompted increasing numbers of requests for national and sub-regional workshops and that is where FAO and its partners will really make the difference. At the national levels, we can provide information on the messages of the Voluntary Guidelines and help provide space for discussion about how they can change peoples’ lives for the better.

Three quotations from those participating in the regional awareness raising workshops reflect the tenor of this groundswell of support and interest:

• “The Guidelines showcase a people-centred approach to tenure, putting a human face on the issue”
• “The Guidelines are ideas we can work towards”
• “The value of the guidelines is not only in their content but also in what they can induce”

Read more information on the Voluntary Guidelines from FAO and from USAID.

By Dr. Gregory Myers, USAID Division Chief, Land Tenure and Property Rights

USAID recently sponsored Devex’s Land Matters campaign in order to raise awareness about the importance of property rights. Throughout this campaign I stress that secure land tenure and property rights (LTPR) is the gateway to economic growth, food security, sustainable natural resources management, and other development goals.

I participated in the final event of the month-long campaign, a filmed discussion on the future of land rights, facilitated by Karol Boudreaux, Director of Investments, Omidyar Network. We were joined by Dr. Steven Lawry, Global Lead, Land Tenure & Property Rights, DAI and Tiernan Mennen, Director, South America, Chemonics. Between us, we have spent decades working on strengthening land rights. However, as we all agreed, this is the first time there has been a consensus among United Nations organizations, the World Bank, technical experts, civil society organizations, and many bilateral donors that secure LTPR is fundamental to development goals.

Currently, the U.S. Government invests more in LTPR programs than any other bilateral donor—with 44 projects in 36 countries. However, this work represents only a small fraction of the U.S. foreign aid budget, which is less than 1% of the overall U.S. budget. Consequently, we make strategic investments where small amounts of money can lead to measurable impacts and programs that can be replicated by host governments and donor partners. The investments we make in strengthening ownership rights create choices, which can lead to economic empowerment for families and communities.

One good example of our work is in Ethiopia where USAID helped 600,000 families plot their land and secure documents that prove their rights to it. Through this project, some women who leased out land found out that the area of their plot was actually twice as large as they earlier thought. They raised land rents and our analysis showed that overall, household incomes increased dramatically—by 10 to potentially 40% in the area. This led to changes in household decision making, including increased investment in children’s education.

Focusing on women’s property rights has proven to be an effective way to change lives through relatively small amounts of money. A change as simple and easy as including a line for a woman’s name on a title or deed to a house creates rights for her that lead to entirely different household economic choices. When women have access to land and secure rights, they increase their income and make investments in food and their children’s futures. Focusing on women increases USAID’s impact in a country for no additional cost.

When we multiply these efforts across Ethiopia, Africa, and the entire spectrum of countries worldwide that have weak property rights systems, we will see a tremendous impact on incomes, economic growth, and food security. Of course, the trick is finding an appropriate model for each country.

An appropriate model is both realistic and fair. USAID recognizes that private sector investments in agriculture can scale up food production, but can also create a power imbalance. Therefore, we work with governments to ensure that they recognize the land and resource rights of communities as part of or before large scale investments are made. We also help communities build their capacity to negotiate and benefit from outside investments. Then when these two sides come together, both can profit.

We have reached an historic moment where international donors are coordinating to strengthen land rights for people in developing countries. Last month, the Global Donor Working Group on Land – an organization of donors and development agencies working to strengthen land governance – held its first official meeting in Rome. I am happy to note that USAID is a founding member of this new body. One of the first tasks of the Working Group was to create a database of all donor-funded land governance programs. This donor database – which USAID played a lead role in developing – will be launched publicly in January, 2014.

It is exciting to see a consensus emerging among the global donor community that secure land tenure and property rights are the gateway to achieving international development goals, and that by working together we can insure better use of public resources and the application of data-driven best practices. In ten to twenty years I expect we’ll see new forms of governance systems around property rights emerge that are much more democratic, and equitable (particularly for women) and promote better economic returns. Vesting rights in people empowers them to make decisions about their assets, and thus their future.

If you are interested in the future of land rights, I encourage you to watch the video of the discussion. I will continue this dialogue–answering your questions–through Twitter on Thursday, November 14, 2:00 – 3:00 PM (EST) during an Ask-the-expert session hosted by @USAID. You may submit questions now by tweeting #AskUSAID.

A guest post by Dr. Paul Munro-Faure, Deputy Director, Climate, Energy and Tenure Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Last month, the 40th Session of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) was held at the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome. Land governance and responsible tenure were a strong thread of interest and discussion throughout the week-long meeting.

CFS Week provided important opportunities to review the achievements of various stakeholders in implementing the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (commonly referred to as the Voluntary Guidelines), which were endorsed by the CFS in May 2012. During the plenary session on October 9, the FAO Secretariat, members of civil society and the private sector, and representatives from the government of Brazil presented updates on their progress in supporting implementation of various aspects of the Voluntary Guidelines.

On October 7, FAO hosted a side event on progress in supporting implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines. There, FAO presented details on its programme of support for the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines. Carlos Mário Guedes De Guedes, President of the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) discussed Brazil’s enthusiastic take-up of the Voluntary Guidelines and their mainstreaming in the context of the International Year of Family Farming. Ángel Strapazzón, Movimiento Nacional Campesino Indígena, speaking on behalf of the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) working group on land, provided an update on the activities undertaken by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in support of the Voluntary Guidelines. Strapazzón noted how, with the support of FAO and the European Union, CSOs are developing capacity building material on the Guidelines, specifically dedicated to CSOs, social movements, and farmers’ organizations. Jorge Muñoz, Land Tenure Advisor at the World Bank, reported on the World Bank’s assessment of the Voluntary Guidelines’ importance and how the World Bank is mainstreaming the Voluntary Guidelines in its work.

On October 9, the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) hosted a side event on land tenure and property rights in a post-2015 agenda. The presentations and discussions centered on indicators for secure land tenure in the post-2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) framework. Representatives from DfID, USAID, Landesa and the Global Land Tools Network (GLTN) and around 70 participants discussed the need for a robust and measurable target for land tenure security and property rights and how best to galvanize support towards incorporating a land tenure and property rights goal into the post-2015 MDG agenda.

The final day of CFS Week, October 11, saw an important, but separate meeting: the first formal meeting of the Global Donor Working Group on Land, which is currently chaired by DfID. Formed in the wake of the Voluntary Guidelines negotiations, the Working Group is tasked with improving coordination of donor-funded tenure-related initiatives and activities. The group is working to create an inventory of all donor-funded land governance programs and to enhance donor communication and coordination. As the Working Group gets underway, these efforts will make a real difference in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of land governance programs and maximizing the impact of available resources.

Why are secure property rights and good land governance fundamental to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? Earlier this month, a group of experts provided answers to this question – and worked to build support for a prominent role for land tenure security and property rights in a Post-2015 MDG framework – at a side event at the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS).

According to Dr. Gregory Myers, USAID Division Chief, Land Tenure and Property Rights, “the United States views land tenure and property rights as a critical element of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Secure property rights play a central role in supporting balanced and sustainable economic growth, encouraging investment, improving agricultural productivity, limiting conflict and instability, accelerating women’s economic empowerment, enhancing democratic governance and human rights, and improving natural resource management and biodiversity conservation.”

The international community has shown an increasing recognition of the centrality of land tenure and property rights to critical development issues. Earlier this year, the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda proposed a target on “secure rights to land, property, and other assets” as a building block for people to lift themselves out of poverty. They also placed a particular emphasis on land and property rights for women.

Landesa, a USAID partner in addressing land tenure and property rights issues, recently launched a new website devoted to advocating for the inclusion of secure land and resource rights in the Post-2015 MDG framework. Landesa, one of the leading advocates for this issue, also published an op-ed last month on Why Land Rights Should be Part of the Post-2015 Agenda.

According to the op-ed, “in the past, secure land rights were often overlooked by the development community, in large part because they are an invisible infrastructure. They are a critical foundation for building peaceful and prosperous societies, but hard to see and a challenge to measure. When these rights are secure however, other development interventions can take root. Moreover, they are a gateway right: communities, families, men and women who enjoy them can use them to realize other broader and often more tangible rights and goals.”

The Post-2015 MDG framework will guide global and national development priorities and help to galvanize development efforts for years to come. As a fundamental building block to much that the MDGs seek to achieve, secure land tenure and property rights should be central to the development agenda.

USAID’s Land Tenure and Property Rights (LTPR) Division has released a new suite of tools and methodologies created under the recently completed Property Rights and Resource Governance (PRRG) Project. These tools were designed to enhance the understanding of LTPR challenges and improve programming to advance the global development objectives of the United States, including food security, global climate change, conflict mitigation and women’s economic empowerment.

The tools are intended to help USAID technical staff as well as other U.S. Government personnel and development practitioners understand:

1) USAID’s programming approach to land tenure and property rights issues,
2) Recommended interventions for different asset and social classes,
3) Considerations for sequencing interventions in order to maximize impact, and
4) Assessment and evaluation of LTPR issues and projects.

LTPR and other development professionals outside the U.S. Government are also likely to find the tools useful in their own context for the reasons listed above.

How to use the tools

The suite of tools guide users through the assessment of issues and constraints regarding LTPR and resource domains, specifically minerals, trees and forests, freshwater lakes, rivers, and groundwater. Users should begin with the Land Tenure and Property Rights (LTPR) Framework, which introduces themes, definitions, and the LTPR matrix. The matrix helps users identify the “universe” of possible LTPR constraints and interventions and the causal linkages between them. There are five matrix overlays that guide users through additional constraint and intervention considerations. These matrix overlays can be used alone or in coordination with one another to understand how LTPR issues impact projects.

• Overlay 1: Land Tenure and Property Rights Matrix;
• Overlay 2: Freshwater Lakes, Rivers, and Groundwater Matrix;
• Overlay 3: Minerals Matrix;
• Overlay 4: Trees and Forests Matrix; and
• Overlay 5: Women, Land, and Resources Matrix.

In addition to the matrices, there are two tools that offer methodologies to guide USAID mission programming. The LTPR Situation Assessment and Intervention Planning (SAIP) Tool helps USAID missions assess LTPR issues and determine how these contribute to or impede realization of development objectives. The LTPR Impact Evaluation Tool provides a methodology for designing evaluations around the outcomes and impacts of land and natural resource tenure and property rights programming.

USAID and other USG staff that have a need for LTPR technical assistance, may contact the Land Tenure Division. Development professionals seeking a more general understanding of basic LTPR issues should refer to USAID’s LTPR Issue Briefs.

The following form is for press requests only. If you have a general question, please contact us. If you are a member of the press and interested in interviewing a member of the Land Tenure and Resource Management Office, please provide your contact information and story idea below. Someone will reply to you within 1 business day.

The 2014 World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty will take place at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. on March 24 – 27, 2014. The theme of the 15th annual conference is “Integrating Land Governance into the Post-2015 Agenda: Harnessing Synergies for Implementation and Monitoring Impact.”

USAID and the World Bank are committed to strengthening land tenure and property rights to address the challenges affecting emerging economies. As in past years, USAID will serve as a conference partner and sponsor. According to Tim Fella, USAID Land Tenure and Conflict Advisor, “USAID invests in and is committed to the success of this annual conference because it is the premier land event, and one of the best opportunities to influence ideas and practice in property rights.”

Papers are invited for presentations at the conference in seven thematic areas:

• Securing and protecting land rights from a gender perspective
• Managing urban landscapes
• Attracting responsible land-based investment for local benefits and common resource management
• Maximizing benefits from spatial data
• Strengthening country level institutions
• Fostering transparency in land ownership, use, and administration
• Research on key aspects of land governance

Those who are interested in presenting at the conference should submit an initial 800 to 1,500 word abstract by November 17, 2013 (or November 10 for a group proposal) and should be willing to review up to four other abstracts. Final papers are expected to be between 6,000 and 12,000 words.

The World Bank conference will echo other global conferences this year that have featured discussions about making land tenure and property rights a central theme of a global post-2015 development agenda. Last week, a conference on community land and resource rights was co-organized by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, International Land Coalition (ILC), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Oxfam, and the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) in Interlaken, Switzerland. Thomson Reuters Foundation reported that attendees demonstrated “support for increased dialogue between conservation groups and local communities, whose interests can clash, as well as for crafting indicators to measure progress on strengthening community land rights as part of the post-2015 development framework now under discussion.”

A similar consensus is expected to emerge from the 40th Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), which will be held in Rome, Italy the week of October 7, 2013. One side event to watch will be “Land tenure and property rights in a Post-2015 Agenda – What’s best for food security, growth and poverty reduction?” hosted by the United Kingdom’s Department of International Development (DFID) with participation by USAID, MCC, Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) and Landesa. According to Dr. Gregory Myers, Division Chief for the Land Tenure and Property Rights Division at USAID, “the United States Government views land tenure and property rights as a critical element of the post-2015 development agenda. Property rights are a building block to help lift people out of poverty – especially women.”

Farmers in Burma are increasingly organizing to push for recognition of expanded rights to land and how they use it. Despite the passage of the Farmland Law in 2012, grievances and conflicts over land remain widespread and farmers face continued restrictions of their farming choices.

Farmers participating in a two-day conference last month presented a list of demands to legislators, calling for an amendment of the 2012 Farmland Law. The farmers want an end to arrests of farmers protesting forceful expropriation of and eviction from their land, as well as fair compensation for any land takings. According to one member of the group quoted in Radio Free Asia, it is difficult to resolve land disputes in court, because farmers are “treated like criminals when businessmen or developers sue them. They feel that they are being discriminated against.”

Radio Free Asia reported that the group intends to draft a more comprehensive statement on “land grabbing” within 15 to 30 days and send copies to parliament, relevant government ministries, political parties, nongovernmental organizations, and the international community.

Last month’s conference follows a “Farmer’s Forum” that took place earlier this year in Yangon, Burma to draw up a charter to submit to the government. The agreed-upon charter included rights to reasonable compensation for land expropriated by government or occupied by the military, to freely establish and register farmers’ associations, to have a voice in the amending of land laws, and the right to grow crops of their choosing.

USAID’s land tenure and climate change specialist, Peter Giampaoli observes, “The increasingly organized and public voice of farmers in Burma is an important step in raising awareness, developing alliances, and attracting the attention of government as they seek to expand and secure the land rights of smallholder farmers.”

Download USAID’s profile of land tenure issues in Burma.

Land tenure impacts investment, credit availability, poverty rates, land values, and agricultural productivity, which are all linked to economic performance. When land tenure and property rights are secure, individuals can make investments, secure credit, sell land, and make longer term decisions about agricultural practices. On the other hand, in developing countries that have a large informal sector, and in which land tenure is insecure, people lack opportunities to invest in or profit from land, and their transactions are not protected by the state. In order to increase GDP, governments should formalize property rights to encourage more of these transactions.

Formalization does not mean that everyone holds a legal title to their land or home. USAID endorses the principle of “secure enough” tenure, in which there is a continuum of rights that can be strengthened through a variety of affordable and sustainable approaches. These approaches may include public recognition of customary or indigenous rights to an area, certificates that secure the rights to use or manage resources, a community-managed titling process, or more formal strategies such as land titling or creating public land registries.

When governments seek to stimulate economic growth through outside investment in large land areas, the lack of secure tenure presents a problem for the existing individuals or community holders who occupy that land but are not recognized as rightful holders of property. These people are at risk of displacement and being denied fair, prompt and adequate compensation for resources and livelihoods lost. For this reason, USAID supports the United Nations-negotiated Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security and forthcoming Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment. When applied correctly, these guidelines will improve the security of property rights for all, facilitate the development of more economic opportunities for small, medium and large-scale producers, and contribute to food security and economic growth.

In rural areas, secure land tenure may lead to economic growth by: allowing farmers to invest in better seeds or tools, see returns on those investments, and pass land to their heirs; making it easier to gain credit to finance investments in agriculture or other entrepreneurial activity; freeing farmers to choose whether they want to use their land for agriculture or lease it to someone else and pursue an alternate livelihood; and attracting external investment necessary for broad-based economic growth.

In urban areas, municipalities need to invest in infrastructure and public services in order to meet the needs of rapidly growing populations. However, the rate of urbanization in cities around the world is too fast to meet the demand for housing or basic services, and public spending is curtailed by weak city and municipal tax bases. One way to increase both the tax base and land tenure security is by recognizing informal settlements and incorporating them into urban plans. This approach has been used successfully in a pilot project in Afghanistan, for example, and USAID continues to work there to build capacity in land use planning and land registration systems.

Learn more about how economic growth and land tenure are connected in the new Land Tenure, Property Rights, and Economic Growth Issue Brief.