Property Rights are Key for Landscape Management

26 June 2018, Washington, DC - While Integrated Landscape Management gains momentum as a vehicle through which diverse conservation and Sustainable Development Goals may be realized, FAO North America and EcoAgriculture Partners organized a roundtable to turn attention towards critical issues around land governance and property rights.

In his opening remarks, FAO North America Director Vimlendra Sharan emphasized that “for integrated landscape management to be practical, we need to look at land tenure and property rights.”

Sara Scherr, President at EcoAgriculture Partners, stressed that the question of property rights in integrated landscapes poses additional challenges, as interdependencies or conflict between right owners and de facto land users can emerge.

Louise Buck, Director of Innovations in Collaborative Landscape Management at EcoAgriculture Partners, highlighted that key issues realizing land governance and property rights in integrated landscapes includes the need for more nuanced approaches and an understanding of the constellation of rights.

Augusta Molnar, Senior Advisor at the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), introduced the Tenure Facility launched in 2014, which provides small grants to help civil society organizations engage with governments in their country to safeguard the rights of indigenous people and local communities.

Eileen Wakesho, Women Land Rights Lead Advisor at Oxfam, underscored that land governance and land use planning has to be cognizant of managing competing interests.

Fabiano de Andrade Correa, Legal Consultant at FAO, highlighted that the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGTs) can provide an enabling framework to recognize land tenure in integrated landscape management.

Read more about FAO's work on the Governance of Tenure.