An Update from LEI

The webinar discussed ideas of shaping land administration design with a better-informed political economy approach. The webinar pre-meetings with each of the panellists leading up to the event along with the research on this topic are incredibly thought provoking. LEI are keen to continue contribute in this space, not only from insights of Tony Burns’ PhD candidacy, but also through reflections on LEI projects. As a start, and given the nature of the project, we have revisited the Mekong Region Land Governance project in a paper by LEI and our MRLG Team Leader, Micah Ingall’s, that was recently accepted at the FIG Congress, Warsaw. Tony and Kate Rickersey will be presenting this in a session on the 13th of September to be broadcast virtually. We are interested in your feedback if you’d like to take a read of the paper “ Thinking and Working Politically in the Land Sector in Mekong Region”.

You can watch the recorded webinar via YouTube by following this link: Smarter Design of Land Administration Reform – YouTube

Large-scale land investments across Africa and Asia have often caused repercussions to food security and supply issues. They have often compromised the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, exacerbated land tenure conflicts and caused environmental degradation. Addressing investment practices – through inclusive business and sustainable agroecology – has the potential to achieve more sustainable food systems and is the core focus of the recently launched Transformative Land Investment (TLI) project.

LEI was established in 2001 with a goal of being inspirational in developing outcomes for its clients and stakeholders in the land sector, our motto being “sustainable development from the ground up”. We are proud that LEI has crossed a milestone in our history, celebrating 21 years of operation. We have maintained long relationships in countries where much of our work began: Indonesia, Philippines and in particular Lao PDR, where we continue to this day. Throughout the period we have encountered and grown alongside many counterparts, colleagues, and clients, learning, and evolving along the way.

For many Australians, Nauru is known only for its divisive history (and present) ‘hosting’ refugees that have made it to our shores. Others may recall a past that ransacked the nation’s ecology for its high-quality phosphate. Phosphate mining has stripped the elevated inland (‘Topside’) of its tropical forests to leave behind a pinnacled-desert, rendered largely uninhabitable. The nation’s 12,000+ people are left to live and work along the lower-lying thin strip of coastline around the island.

This paper was recently published in the December issue of the Coordinates Magazine co-authored between Land Equity International and Planet Partnerships. It is an updated version of the earlier work published under the 2020 World Bank Annual Land and Poverty Conference and the 2020 FIG working week – both events having been cancelled due to the COVID Pandemic.

Recently, we virtually “met up” with Stella Rose Akutui, the Capacity Building and Networking Officer with LANDnet. Stella has been one of many amazing Ugandan women driving the women’s land rights agenda – we celebrate her achievements and the avenues around which Uganda is leading the thinking and action on land rights in Africa.

Dramatic population growth rates and rising demand for increasingly limited resources have pushed land governance and administration to the fore across Africa.  The East African Community (EAC) comprises of the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. The sustained growth of the region; exponential developments in technology associated with land governance and administration; the entry of new actors; and the broader social, political and economic dynamics of the region present a mix of challenges and opportunity.

The Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) project, together with our partners at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Land Portal, will organise the 3rd Mekong Regional Land Forum (MRLF2021) in the coming weeks, entitled “Land tenure in Mekong forest landscapes: advancing the recognition of customary rights and responsible investment practices”.  This forum will bring together reform-minded actors within and beyond the region to engage in in-depth, interactive debate on issues that cut to the core of the most pressing challenges facing tenure security in forest areas and the impacts of  agribusiness investment.