Bold new reforms needed Africa's land use, conference concludes

Abstract

Land issues should no longer be considered as too politically sensitive, to the extent that States remain inert and miss out on opportunities to use the indispensable factor of production for the benefit of their people, a landmark policy conference concluded today. At the close of the four-day encounter on Land Policy in Africa, the close to 400 delegates from Government, civil society, the private sector, academia and local leaders on the continent, said bold new steps must be taken by Governments in conjunction with civil society and the private sector to make the use of land profitable to both the state, investors and disadvantaged groups such as indigenous people, women and youths. A major point of the Inaugural Conference of Land Policy in Africa was the launch of the LPI’s Guidelines on Large Scale Land Based Investments in Africa. It is a policy and process template to help African Governments strike a balance between the interests of big business on land development, the state, communities and the environment.