reason, traditional land ownership rights can often be established only with testimony from neighbors, village elders, or clan representatives. Issuing land titles or
land certificates is a lengthy and costly process and, for most of the rural population,
simply prohibitive.
The GIZ project “Responsible Land Policy in Uganda” is working in this area to
ensure systematic documentation of the land rights of those living in rural areas. It
strives for the land documentation of customary ownership rights of 5000 households in the Teso subregion and of 75,000 land parcels in Central Uganda on private
Mailo land. Examples from other countries demonstrate a positive impact of land
tenure on national security and food security: once farmers have rights to cultivate
land for a longer period, they are inclined to make long-term investments into
improved agriculture productivity and soil conservation.
The German response to food security challenges is the special initiative ONE
WORLD – No Hunger, launched in early 2014. With annual funding of 1.5 billion
Euros, we aim to fight hunger and malnutrition and to enable future generations to
feed themselves. It is implemented in Benin, Madagascar, Laos, Peru, and Uganda.
The aim of the program in Uganda is to achieve land documentation for 80,000
households and to reduce land-related conflicts.
This initiative also presents immense potential for upscaling, and we invite other
donors and agencies to join forces with us.
In addition, Germany has enthusiastically supported the international Initiative on
“Economics of Land Degradation (ELD).” In October 2015, the ELD Initiative
together with UNEP published the report “The Economics of Land Degradation in
Africa,” focusing on croplands. By providing continental level empirical analysis of
a cropland area of 105 million hectares across 42 countries in Africa over a span of
15 years (starting from 2016), the fundamental objective was to align empirical data
and economic valuation to help inform policy decisions in the future. The study
provides detailed evidence that sustainable management of land and soil is economically a better alternative—as compared to degrade first and repair later. Thus, taking
action against soil erosion from the 105 million hectares of croplands in 42 countries
over the next 15 years will generate benefits of about 2.48 trillion USD or 62.4
billion USD per year in net present value.
With Agenda 2030, access to reliable data has become even more important than
before. Monitoring of SDGs’ targets like land degradation neutrality relies on data.
Data is also needed to provide a sound knowledge base for the actual implementation
of measures to reach the goals. Fortunately, data availability is not the main issue
anymore. A wealth of data is available from the rapidly growing archives of earth
observation satellites, as well as from research institutions and governmental and
intergovernmental institutions. However, the pressing issue is the access to data and
the sharing of data. At the international level, the European Commission’s INSPIRE
directive and the emerging Global Soil Information System of the Global Soil
Partnership are two important initiatives to improve data access. At the national
level, governments are facing the need to establish domestic spatial data infrastructures and to regulate the access to data.
vi
Foreword
land certificates is a lengthy and costly process and, for most of the rural population,
simply prohibitive.
The GIZ project “Responsible Land Policy in Uganda” is working in this area to
ensure systematic documentation of the land rights of those living in rural areas. It
strives for the land documentation of customary ownership rights of 5000 households in the Teso subregion and of 75,000 land parcels in Central Uganda on private
Mailo land. Examples from other countries demonstrate a positive impact of land
tenure on national security and food security: once farmers have rights to cultivate
land for a longer period, they are inclined to make long-term investments into
improved agriculture productivity and soil conservation.
The German response to food security challenges is the special initiative ONE
WORLD – No Hunger, launched in early 2014. With annual funding of 1.5 billion
Euros, we aim to fight hunger and malnutrition and to enable future generations to
feed themselves. It is implemented in Benin, Madagascar, Laos, Peru, and Uganda.
The aim of the program in Uganda is to achieve land documentation for 80,000
households and to reduce land-related conflicts.
This initiative also presents immense potential for upscaling, and we invite other
donors and agencies to join forces with us.
In addition, Germany has enthusiastically supported the international Initiative on
“Economics of Land Degradation (ELD).” In October 2015, the ELD Initiative
together with UNEP published the report “The Economics of Land Degradation in
Africa,” focusing on croplands. By providing continental level empirical analysis of
a cropland area of 105 million hectares across 42 countries in Africa over a span of
15 years (starting from 2016), the fundamental objective was to align empirical data
and economic valuation to help inform policy decisions in the future. The study
provides detailed evidence that sustainable management of land and soil is economically a better alternative—as compared to degrade first and repair later. Thus, taking
action against soil erosion from the 105 million hectares of croplands in 42 countries
over the next 15 years will generate benefits of about 2.48 trillion USD or 62.4
billion USD per year in net present value.
With Agenda 2030, access to reliable data has become even more important than
before. Monitoring of SDGs’ targets like land degradation neutrality relies on data.
Data is also needed to provide a sound knowledge base for the actual implementation
of measures to reach the goals. Fortunately, data availability is not the main issue
anymore. A wealth of data is available from the rapidly growing archives of earth
observation satellites, as well as from research institutions and governmental and
intergovernmental institutions. However, the pressing issue is the access to data and
the sharing of data. At the international level, the European Commission’s INSPIRE
directive and the emerging Global Soil Information System of the Global Soil
Partnership are two important initiatives to improve data access. At the national
level, governments are facing the need to establish domestic spatial data infrastructures and to regulate the access to data.
vi
Foreword