Brendan discusses three tools that can help communities and civil society organizations influence private sector actors investing in projects that have an important land footprint
Brendan Schwartz is a Senior Researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Together with Rachael Knight, he's co-leading the joint ILC, NAMATI and IIED Community Land Protection Learning Initiative. The Initiative is designed to build a supportive cross-regional community of practice that facilitates learning between community land rights advocates . It equips ILC members with the practical skills to support communities to document and protect their indigenous and customary lands while strengthening local land governance, natural resource management, and the land rights of women and members of marginalized groups.
THE COMMUNITY LAND PROTECTION LEARNING INITIATIVE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ILC MEMBERS TO LEARN FROM PEERS HOW TO PROTECT COMMUNITY LAND
Investment chain mapping
This guide is for organisations and individuals working to support communities whose land rights, lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by agricultural investments. It provides guidance on strategies for holding the actors involved in agricultural investments accountable for human rights violations and all sorts of malpractices. It is informed by experiences and lessons learned from activists and practitioners throughout the world. It draws on real life examples of investment projects that have affected local communities and the different strategies used to challenge or change those investments.
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Following the money: an advocate’s guide to securing accountability for agricultural investments
Contract analysis
As foreign investments in agriculture and extractive industries increase pressures on land and natural resources, the effective use of legal tools, by government and advocates alike, has become an important ingredient of public efforts to ensure that foreign investment contributes to sustainable development. This handbook is about how to use law to make foreign investment work for sustainable development. It aims to provide a rigorous yet accessible analysis of the law regulating foreign investment in low and middle-income countries – what this law is, how it works, and how to use it most effectively.
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Over the past few years, agribusiness, investment funds and government agencies have been acquiring long-term rights over large areas of land in Africa. Together with applicable national and international law, contracts define the terms of an investment project, and the way risks, costs and benefits are distributed. Drawing on the legal analysis of twelve land deals from different parts of Africa, this report discusses the contractual issues for which public scrutiny is most needed, and aims to promote informed public debate about them.
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Community-Company Land Negotiations
The "Community-Investor Negotiations Guide" provide communities and frontline advocates with concrete strategies to protect themselves from unjust land-based investment projects and ensure that the community’s long-term prosperity is at the center of all negotiations.
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Redress for land rights violations
A recent wave of large-scale commercial investments in agriculture, extractive industries and other land-based sectors has compounded the ‘global resource squeeze’ in low- and middle-income countries. But many communities affected by land rights violations struggle to assert their rights or obtain redress. Demand for legal support outstrips resources and what is available is not always appropriate. Pursuing litigation often presents significant obstacles and risks to the communities involved without offering any certain outcomes. To complement litigation efforts, this policy briefing suggests that an alternative and flexible mechanism to defending land rights is more effective — tailored to the local context and supporting communities to make informed decisions about what forms of redress to pursue. This approach should strengthen land governance processes in the longer term — but requires investment and commitment from donors, local partners and other legal empowerment practitioners.
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Redress for land and resource rights violations: a legal empowerment agenda
learn from other participants
