July 2021

Legal tools newsletter

The Legal tools newsletter is sent out every three to four months to keep you updated on Legal Tools for Citizen Empowerment, a collaborative initiative to strengthen local rights in natural resource investments.

In this issue we focus on resources to strengthen local rights, voices from civil society and the living income differential.

Screen capture of the Responsible Land-Based Investment Navigator.

How to navigate your way through land rights: two resources

Dear Colleague,

As part of their post-pandemic economic recovery strategies, many countries are redoubling their efforts to promote land-based investments, for example in agriculture, mining and infrastructure. With these investments often come issues around rural peoples' land rights, and disputes over the distribution of costs and benefits between companies, governments and local communities.

As part of the Advancing Land-based Investment Governance (ALIGN) project, and in collaboration with the Land Portal Foundation, we recently launched the updated Responsible Land Based Investment Navigator – a platform where governments, civil society and private sector actors can identify and access practical guidance on how to protect land rights in investment processes. With over 200 resources categorised into 18 different topics and 10 audience groups, we hope to provide all actors engaging with these issues with the tools and information most relevant to their work.

Additionally, in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Strategies Group (SDSG) and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), we also launched the Community Development in Mining Collection, a new resource for tracking community development legislation in the mining sector worldwide. With almost 300 pieces of legislation from 54 countries accessible via an interactive map and a searchable list, this free public resource aims to inform research and debate about policy design and improve local development outcomes in mining.

We hope these resources will be of help for actors working to strengthen local rights in investment processes – from governments to civil society all the way to the private sector. We will be using them in our work to provide support to governments, civil society organisations and grassroots groups, both under the ALIGN project and within the wider work of the Legal Tools team. Please feel free to get in touch with any feedback or suggestions for additional materials to add to the two platforms.

– Nathaniah Jacobs
Senior Researcher, Legal Tools team

Blogs

Women working the land in Mbadakhoune, Kaolack region, Senegal.

Study shows how training is shaping women’s awareness of their land rights

A recent study of two villages in Senegal showed how training women on land access is helping them claim their land rights, but approaches need to consider complex local realities if they are to reach women from different groups and geographies.

A woman working at a market selling produce. Producer agency could include rejecting globalised supermarket chains in favour of localised alternatives, like farmers' participation in informal markets local to regional.

Agricultural contracts and farmer agency: a shift in perspective

Support initiatives should assist farmers’ own efforts to renegotiate trading relations, rather than assuming producers gain most from integration in agribusiness-led activities.

The Bełchatów coal-fired power station in Poland; the largest thermal power station in Europe.

We need to rethink investment treaties to ensure a rapid and just energy transition

Guest blogger Kyla Tienhaara argues it’s time to reconsider investor-state dispute settlement; inaction risks rising costs of shifting from fossil fuels to green alternatives.

Project updates

ALIGN: Advancing Land-based Investment Governance

The ALIGN project provides on-demand technical support to governments, civil society and grassroot groups to address land-based investment issues. IIED and CCSI are currently addressing requests for support from governments and civil society organisations in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. Several other requests are in the pipeline, from diverse countries in Africa and Asia. For enquiries on the ALIGN technical support facility, please contact align@iied.org.

Artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC

Emmanuel Umpula, Director of African Resources Watch, was featured in a Radio France Internationale story (in French only) on artisanal cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Legal Tools team and African Resources Watch are conducting joint research on how to improve the governance of artisanal cobalt mining in DRC.

Land tenure reforms in Guinea

The Collective of NGOs for the Defence of Community Rights (COD-DC), a coalition of civil society organisations in Guinea, presented its recommendations for Guinea’s land reform to the media (in French only) in Conakry. The policy proposals – which include decentralising land administration, recognising customary land tenure and the safeguarding of women’s land rights – were drawn from a Policy Brief (in French only) the COD-DC developed with IIED. We continue to support the COD-DC’s efforts to harmonise the country’s mining, agriculture and land legislation with international human rights standards.

Events and webinars

Cocoa producer agency and the living income differential: lessons from civil society organisations

On 2 June, an IIED webinar discussed the challenges around, and opportunities for, producer voice and agency in the design and implementation of the new Living Income Differential in Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire. A full recording of the event is available in English and in French.

Strengthening women’s voices in public and private governance

On 13 April, IIED and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) held a webinar on strengthening women’s voices in public and private governance. IIED’s Philippine Sutz, Emilie Beauchamp and Anna Bolin gave a presentation arguing that good governance must involve the active participation of local women in decision-making, and identifying the critical factors enabling such participation.

Publications and briefings

Covid-19 and Land-based Investment: Changing Landscapes

This ALIGN report explores issues emerging from the socioeconomic and financial pressures created by the pandemic, and how these issues may result in longer-term shifts relevant to land-based investments.

Land reform in Cameroon: a coherent vision from civil society

This LandCam briefing summarises civil society proposals to inform Cameroon’s land law reform, and provides recommendations for Cameroonian policymakers. (Also available in French)

Ethiopian coffee marketing reforms and smallholder coffee producers: A socio-legal empowerment lens

This report examines coffee marketing reforms in Ethiopia, focusing on the participation of and outcomes for smallholder coffee farmers. The report highlights policy implications for enhancing smallholders voices in agricultural policy reforms.

Academic publications

The right to land

This chapter, forthcoming in a book about the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), reflects on the significance of the affirmation of the human right to land.

EU–China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment: An Appraisal of its Sustainable Development Section

This open access article from the Business and Human Rights Journal reviews the sustainable development section of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) between China and the European Union.

Labour Rights in Special Economic Zones: Between Unilateralism and Transnational Law Diffusion

This open access article from the Journal of International Economic Law discusses labour rights in special economic zones (SEZs), drawing on the case studies of Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Kenya – three countries reflecting different generations of SEZ legislation, types of SEZs, and regulatory approaches.

Rethinking investment law from the ground up: Extractivism, human rights, and investment treaties

Drawing on a longer journal article, this piece from Investment Treaty News discusses how extractive industry investments can expose systemic tensions in the governance of foreign investment, reshaping how we understand – and address – investment relations.