West Africa
In the Headlines
2 February 2012Land Rights, A Global Issue
In a Letter to the Editor, Pablo Farías, the foundation’s vice president of Economic Opportunity and Assets, points out that the land rights of rural people around the world are being denied by governments eager to sell land for profit. Farías was responding to a recent New York Times Op-Ed calling for the legal empowerment of rural communities in Liberia and other poor African countries. Under our Expanding Community Rights Over Natural Resources initiative, Ford is working to support the development of improved natural resource policies and programs that offer people more ownership over the land on which they live.
More Information
- Read the original Op-Ed, "A Nobel Laureate’s Problem at Home"
- Learn more about the upcoming Rio+20 conference on sustainable development
- Explore our Expanding Community Rights Over Natural Resources initiative
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Rural Land Grabs
January 29, 2012To the Editor:
Silas Kpanan’Ayoung Siakor and Rachael S. Knight have it right about land rights, but Liberia just brushes the tip of the tree (“A Nobel Laureate’s Problem at Home,” Op-Ed, Jan. 21).
The rights of rural people everywhere are under assault by governments seeking profits from forested lands looked upon as open wilderness. But from the Amazon to Indonesia, more than a billion people live and depend on remote landscapes. When governments ignore these populations and hand concessions to business, conflicts erupt, livelihoods are disrupted and the environment suffers.
Studies show that when the land rights of rural communities are recognized, far more sustainable land uses evolve. In fact, land rights are central to limiting climate change, with countries like Mexico, where 60 percent of forests are managed by local people, leading the way.
At the Earth Summit in Rio this summer, leaders would do well to endorse community land rights not just in Liberia but around the world.
PABLO FARÍAS
Vice President, Economic Opportunity and Assets, Ford Foundation
New York, Jan. 25, 2012