Reference guide on infrastructure set against land governance
The past years Both ENDS and its partners have witnessed a surge in large infrastructure projects including dams, mines, highways, airports, ports, land reclamation, canals and urban renewal projects. Yet, the land assigned to these projects is often inhabited and used for agricultural purposes. Therefore, land governance issues play an important role in these infrastructure projects. Worldwide some 15 million people are displaced annually through infrastructure projects, a number which is expected to rise as investments in infrastructure are increasing.
Infrastructure and land governance issues
We do not see infrastructure in itself as necessarily negative. Infrastructure is closely related to socio-economic development. As the Habitat agenda III stresses, many people worldwide have a serious lack of access to adequate infrastructure. So when does infrastructure become problematic?
In countries where the rule of law is weak and people do not have security of tenure, eminent domain (the right for states to acquire property against the will of its owner in order to fulfil some purpose of general interest) can become a dangerous tool. Eminent domain in itself is necessary, otherwise it would hardly be possible to construct a road for example. The tension is in what exactly justifies expropriation for a public good: How is the project implemented in relation to human rights? What is the quality of participation? The quality of compensation? Also: for whom is the infrastructure? What alternatives are there for implementation in a way that is more responsible?
Knowledge gaps on land governance
Both ENDS, together with our local partners, aims to prevent land rights violations in infrastructure projects. Yet, we see that knowledge on infrastructure and land governance falls short in many cases. In order to learn from and get inspired by other cases and understand how international frameworks and guidelines try to protect land rights, we have set up this reference guide: a list of must-reads on land governance and infrastructure. We hope that it will help both civil society organisations on the one hand, and investors, companies and governments on the other hand, to increase their understanding of local land governance issues that may arise in infrastructure projects.
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Dossier /
The Netherlands and the SDGs: A better world starts with yourself
In 2015, the member states of the United Nations committed themselves to the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Unlike their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the SDGs recognise the importance of equality within and between countries, of decision-making processes in which all people are included and heard, and of legal systems that are independent and accessible to all.
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Publication / 1 september 2017
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Publication / 1 september 2017
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News / 15 november 2018
All Eyes on the Amazon: the future of protecting forests in Brazil
On Wednesday, November 14, Dutch Newspaper De Volkskrant published a joint op-ed by Both ENDS, Hivos, Greenpeace Netherlands and Witness about the deforestation in the Amazon region which is still going on rapidly, having disastrous consequences for the indigenous people who live in the area, for biodiversity and for the climate. The Netherlands is one of the largest buyers of Brazilian agricultural products such as soy and beef, and should ensure that deforestation, land grabbing and human rights violations do not occur in these production chains. Unfortunately, this is not at all the case yet.
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News / 28 september 2017
Both ENDS at UNCCD COP13: don’t forget about the people
This September, Both ENDS participated at the 13th Conference of the Parties of the UNCCD in Ordos, Inner Mongolia in China. We were part of the Drynet delegation, a network of CSOs, to bring local realities to the international UNCCD discussions.
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Blog / 25 september 2017
Bringing good practice to the UNCCD conference
Access to, ownership and control over land is inherently part of a successful implementation of land degradation neutrality (LDN) and sustainable land management. Sustainability often means investing for the long term, and insecurity withholds land users to do so. In particular women's land use rights are fundamental as they are the ones working on the land and thus putting LDN into practice.
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News / 7 oktober 2018
Our Director ranking 52nd on Dutch ‘Sustainable 100’-list
We are very proud that our director Daniëlle Hirsch has been included again in the ‘Sustainable 100’ (an annual ranking list published by Dutch newspaper Trouw), and has gone up more than 40 spots compared to last year! Danielle was included in the list because of the many things she does with her organisation as a whole, but she got the higher ranking for the way she combines her criticism of the destructive role of the Netherlands as a trading nation and large cause of CO2 emissions in the world (often supported by the Dutch government), with a constructive attitude when it comes to finding alternatives and solutions.
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News / 26 oktober 2018
Analysis of the UN’s review of progress on SDG 15 ‘Life on land’
The sixth High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was held at the UN Headquarters in New York in July 2018. The HLPF provides an opportunity to review global progress towards achieving the SDGs and for countries to present their own Voluntary National Reviews of the implementation of the SDGs. At this year's HLPF, SDG 15, known as the 'Life on Land'-goal, was under review.
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Publication / 14 januari 2019
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Event / 27 februari 2019, 14:00 - 15:30
Webinar: Realizing women’s land rights in Africa
This webinar will feature experiences from several grassroots initiatives and highlight how they fight for women's improved access to and control over land and other natural resources and to scale up women's land rights.
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Letter / 22 april 2022
Letter to State Secretary Heijnen about the MTCS certificate
Both ENDS, also on behalf of FERN, NCIV and Milieudefensie, sent a letter to Vivianne Heijnen, the State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management, about the MTCS certificate. In practice, this Malaysian timber certificate appears to tolerate the violation of indigenous land rights and intimidation of indigenous organisations. The Netherlands should therefore suspend the approval of MTCS in its purchasing policy, among other things.
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Publication / 5 december 2012
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News / 30 augustus 2019
Dealing with drought: the UNCCD COP in India
Worldwide, hundreds of millions of people live in areas where the soil is depleted; often they are forced to, or the region they have been living in for generations has become increasingly arid over time. The desert is advancing and this is a global problem. Opinions about the causes of land degradation and desertification, but especially about the solutions, are very divided. To discuss this, the biennial global conference on desertification will take place from 2 to 14 September. This is where policymakers, scientists, NGOs, female and male farmers and pastoralist, herders and companies from all over the world come together. Our colleague Nathalie van Haren is present at the conference and explains why.
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Dossier /
Large-scale infrastructure
Large-scale infrastructural projects have detrimental effects on local people and the environment, while their benefits are felt elsewhere. Both ENDS is working to ensure that local people have a greater say in decision-making and is investigating the way these projects are funded.
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External link / 24 juni 2023
Women’s land rights in Mozambique (Annual Report 2022)
In Mozambique, few women can rest assured that their right to use and enjoy land is guaranteed. Forum Mulher, a network of Mozambican women's rights organisations, raised public awareness and mobilised rural women to effectively make their voices heard during the government's formal review of the legislative framework for land governance. As a result, the revised National Land Policy of Mozambique now emphasises the importance of prioritising and valuing rural peasant women in land policy and law.
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Publication / 11 juli 2019
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Dossier /
The merits of community-based restoration
Globally, the area that is suffering desertification and land degradation is ever expanding. Unsustainable and often large-scale agricultural practices, including the copious use of pesticides and fertilisers, are a major driver of land degradation, aprocess that is further exacerbated by climate change, causing more erratic rainfall patterns, longer periods of drought and unpredictable growing seasons. This is very problematic not only for the hundreds of millions of people who directly depend on land and water for their livelihoods, but also for life on earth as a whole. It is clear that this process must be stopped and reversed, better sooner than later. But how to go about it?
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News / 14 juni 2019
Both ENDS partner TUK presents symbolic tree to Dutch minister Schouten
Last Thursday June 13, Rahmawati Retno Winarni of TUK, an Indonesian partner organisation of Both ENDS, presented a symbolic tree and an appeal to the Dutch Minister of Agriculture Carola Schouten, also on behalf of 10 NGOs. The joint NGOs are pushing the EU, including the Dutch government, for strict EU legislation to prevent the destruction of forests and ecosystems and to protect human rights.
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Event / 13 juni 2022, 15:00 - 16:30
Empowering civil society and communities through open land data
Both ENDS and the Land Portal Foundation invite you to the second webinar in the Whose Land? Inclusive Pathways to Land Governance series, which will focus on the opportunities and constraints of civil society organizations (CSOs) and local communities in advocating for more open land data and in harnessing its power for improved land governance.
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News / 29 oktober 2019
What have we learned from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification?
The second United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was held from 2 to 14 September in New Delhi, India. Our colleague Nathalie has been working together with many civil society organisations for several years to show the UNCCD that large numbers of local communities around the world are working on sustainable land use and on combating desertification and land degradation, and that land-use security is essential.