Despite global progress in strengthening land tenure and its governance, over one billion people worldwide – approximately one in four adults – fear losing their rights to some or all of their land and homes within the next five years. This finding is contained in a UN-backed report, which emphasizes the need for stronger political commitments and inclusive policies regarding land rights amidst growing attention to climate change, biodiversity conservation, gender equality, and rural transformation.
Modern.az reports, citing a new UN report, that over the past two decades, governments have adopted national and international frameworks on issues such as land policy in Africa and the responsible governance of land, fisheries, and forests. As a result, more than 70 countries have made efforts towards land reform.
However, progress is already lagging. According to a report prepared by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Land Coalition (ILC), and CIRAD, a French agricultural research and cooperation organization, only 35 percent of the world's land currently has officially documented ownership or use rights. Additional evidence includes more than 1.1 billion people feeling “land insecure” as they anticipate losing their homes or property in the coming years.
FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero Cullen stated: “Land insecurity is one of the most damaging forms of inequality, and its consequences are lower productivity, poor resilience, and worse nutrition. Secure land tenure enables sustainable investments; it is the difference between short-term survival and long-term food security.”
The tenure and governance status is described as the first comprehensive global study designed to track how land is owned, used, and governed. This study shows that states legally own more than 64 percent of the world's land. It is known that slightly more than a quarter of all land is privately owned, whether by individuals, companies, or collectives. The ownership status of the remaining 10 percent or more is unknown. Specifically, approximately 18 percent, or 2.4 billion hectares, of the world's land is owned by individuals and corporations. When agricultural land is considered, the largest 10 percent of landowners control approximately 90 percent of all land under cultivation.
FAO stated that these areas contain approximately 45 gigatons of irrecoverable carbon. This carbon cannot be recovered in time to prevent climate damage found in forest biomes, or it is equivalent to 37 percent of the global total carbon,” FAO reported. In other words, any carbon released cannot be reabsorbed quickly enough to prevent global warming.
The UN agency noted that human activities such as urbanization, oil and gas extraction, and mining also contribute to the reduction of arable land. “Paradoxically, some climate solutions aimed at renewable energy, biofuels, conservation, and carbon offsetting also do not yield significant results,” FAO added. (AzərTac)
