Land

In 2015, Both ENDS and 14 organisations from nine African countries gathered in Cameroon to compare notes, inspire each other, and answer some key questions about their efforts to restore forest ecosystems for the benefit of local communities.

The organisations are using a diversity of approaches, from nurturing natural tree regrowth in arid drought prone regions to carefully planning and planting (partially) man-made forests that mimic natural forests by composition and structure, known as analog forestry. What are the results of these different approaches? What can be learned from experiences with them?

Who decides how land and water is used and distributed? Who benefits and who loses out? And what are the consequences for the environment? These are some of the key questions that Both ENDS has asked in different contexts and countries across the globe. And they are precisely the questions the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (known as PBL) wanted to ask in relation to large-scale agricultural development and natural resource management projects in Sub-Sahara Africa.

PBL is the Netherlands’ institute for strategic policy analysis in the fields of the environment, nature, and spatial planning. It conducts research and collaborates with key European and international bodies, such as the environmental directorate of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). To find the answers it was seeking in Africa, PBL deferred to the expertise of Both ENDS and its partners. As part of a programme on sustainable African food production systems, PBL commissioned Both ENDS to analyse the strategies of local and national governments, international and local companies, local populations and their representatives and civil society organisations in Sub Sahara Africa in distributing and trading land and water. The result, published in 2015, is Governance of land and water distribution for agricultural development and nature conservation in Africa, written by Both ENDS based on of 9 case studies complied by scientists and (local) experts working in the region.

The report describes the dilemmas faced by the respective governments to achieve economic development while simultaneously addressing acute problems of extreme poverty and undernourishment suffered by large segments of the population. The report also tells the story of ambitious foreign funded agricultural development and conservation projects situated in fragile ecosystems among traditional rural societies.

It doesn’t exist yet, but the threat of “El Canal” – a 260 kilometre canal through the heart of Nicaragua – is already wreaking havoc on farming and fishing communities, including indigenous people.

At a minimum, tens of thousands of people would have to be relocated for the canal, which is being financed by a Chinese investor. Legislation for the project was hastily approved by the Nicaraguan government, despite the fact that it clearly violates the Nicaraguan Constitution and the country’s indigenous and land rights laws.

In 2015, Both ENDS conducted a field trip to the region, meeting with Nicaraguan partners and communities to assess their needs and develop joint plans for raising awareness about land rights.

Thanks to the new Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA), a strategic partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs led by Nicaraguan-based Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres (FCAM), Both ENDS will be expanding its collaboration with Central American organisations.