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Command over property is arguably the most severe form of inequality between men and women today. Despite their prevalence, gender differences in rights to land are some of the most poorly documented dimensions of gender inequality and figure in few statistical systems. Land rights increase women's power in social, economic, and political relationships. Rural women claim that secure land rights increase their social and political status, and improve their sense of self-esteem, confidence, security, and dignity. These rights can also increase women's bargaining power in their families and participation in public dialogue and local political institutions. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

Decentralization is often part of a number of related policy reforms, in which central government agencies transfer rights and responsibilities to more localized institutions. Although there are a number of different types of reforms that are sometimes referred to as "decentralization," most call for some kind of greater organized involvement of local people. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

Community-Driven Development (CDD) is an effective mechanism for poverty reduction, complementing market- and state-run activities by achieving immediate and lasting results at the grassroots level. Experience has shown that CDD can enhance sustainability and make poverty reduction efforts more responsive to demand. Well-designed CDD programs include the poor and vulnerable groups, build positive social capital, and give the poor greater voice both in their community and with government entities. CDD empowers poor people to decide for themselves and take charge of managing their community resources. Building on their institutions and resources, CDD treats poor people, not as targets of development, but as assets and partners in the development process. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

Poverty or well-being is determined not only by the assets and income of a household, but also by its degree of vulnerability to risks and shocks. Risks can be characterized by their frequency and probability; some occur frequently (rainfall variation), some with less frequency (elections resulting in change in government), and others rarely (revolutions, earthquakes). The more frequent the occurrence, the more likely that people know the distribution of possible outcomes and, thus, the probabilities of specific outcomes. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

Close to one billion people worldwide depend directly on drylands for their livelihoods. Because of their variable and erratic climate and political and economic marginalization, drylands have some of the highest rates of poverty, including the world's poorest women and men. Users of dryland resources — including pastoralists, sedentary farmers, hunter-gatherers, and refugees — need to be assured of appropriate and effective access to sustain their diverse livelihood strategies in their risky shared environments. Pastoral and sedentary production systems that coexist in drylands very often use common property arrangements to manage their access to and use of natural resources. However, despite their history of complementary interactions, pastoralists and sedentary farmers increasingly face conflicting claims over land and other natural resources. Past policy interventions and existing regulatory frameworks have not offered lasting solutions to problems relating to land tenure and resource access for multiple and differentiated drylands resource users. These users require flexibility of access; they adopt opportunistic strategies to cope with the uncertain conditions in which they operate. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

Collective action for water harvesting irrigation (WHI) refers to the joint or collective effort of farmers in getting and using water for crop, animal, household, or other purposes. Organized water user groups also handle external representation with government programs and external demands (either competing or complementary) for water and other resources. In water-scarce areas, the goal is for farmers to produce high crop yields with less water, which can be achieved when farmers collectively manage the water resources available to them. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

Groups are of fundamental importance to economic, social, and political outcomes. Group formation among the poor may affect poverty directly, via improved income generation, or indirectly via empowerment and political action. Groups can be important vehicles for representing and promoting the interests of their members. In a number of significant ways, however, the chronically poor are disadvantaged in group formation, and this may form a significant part of the vicious circle and dynamics of chronic poverty. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

Approximately 40 percent of the world's food and 60 percent of its grain are produced under irrigation. Between 1900 and 1950, the total area under irrigation worldwide nearly doubled, from 48 million hectares to 94 million hectares. By 2000, it had reached 240 million hectares. The expansion entailed expensive infrastructure and strained governments' capacity to afford and manage these systems. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

Governments around the world increasingly seek to manage their forests with the collaboration of the people living nearby. Forestry Ministries or their equivalents usually do this by offering local people access to selected forest products or forest land, income from forest resources, or opportunities for communicating with government forestry officials. In return, the agency obliges local people to cooperate in managing the forests around them by protecting existing forest or by planting trees. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

From fishers in the Philippines to pastoralists in Morocco and rubber tappers in the Amazon, local communities have been actively participating in the management of natural resources. Since the 1990s, there has been a growing recognition of the benefits that can be derived from transferring control over natural resources from central governments to local bodies. At the international level, this trend is seen in agreements such as the Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention on Biological Diversity that commit signatories to principles of decentralization, subsidiarity, and local participation. At the national level, many countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe have devolved management responsibilities over rangelands, forests, fisheries, and irrigation to local government authorities, resource users, or both. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

Africa's rural populations depend heavily on natural resources, which have been continuously deteriorating due to rapid population growth, increasing market pressures, high rates of poverty, and inappropriate natural resource management (NRM) policies of governments. The failure of top-down approaches to the regulation and administration of natural resources has increased attention on the role of decentralized administrative structures, user groups, and customary governance institutions. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

The foreign acquisition of agricultural land is a rend that is driven by the food and biofuel needs of wealthy nations that have the capital to invest but have sparse land and water resources to produce enough for their own needs. These deals, whether in the form of purchases or leases, have many economic, social, and political implications for both the investor and host countries. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

Traditional communal landholding has long been prevalent in the Afar region of Ethiopia, accommodating the interests of different user groups for many generations. This form of land ownership, which entails use of pastoral resources scattered over a wide area to produce livestock, is attributable to ecological conditions characterized by frequent drought. The harsh environment in which herders raise their livestock requires constant mobility to regulate resource use via a common property regime. In contrast to the mobile way of life characterizing pastoralism, agriculture as a sedentary activity is only marginally present in the lowlands of the Afar region. However, the traditional land use system is changing because of pressures from both governmental policy and natural events such as drought. Communal land ownership in Afar is under pressure as a result of state intervention (political risks) and natural challenges (natural risks). ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

Land and the institutions that govern its ownership and use greatly affect economic growth and poverty reduction. Lack of access to land and inefficient or corrupt systems of land administration have a negative impact on a country's investment climate. Well-functioning land institutions and markets improve it, reducing the cost of accessing credit for entrepreneurs and contributing to the development of financial systems. Access to even small plots of land to grow crops can also greatly improve food security and quality. Broad-based land access can provide a basic social safety net at a cost far below alternative government programs, allowing governments to spend scarce resources on productive infrastructure. Policies that foster lease markets for land can also contribute to the emergence of a vibrant nonfarm economy. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD

Common properties refers to those lands which by tradition rural communities own collectively. They usually embrace lands like forests, woodlands, pastures and rangelands, which are not logically owned on an individual or family basis. And yet it is because these lands are collectively owned which has made them so vulnerable to losses. Expansion of towns and cultivation, including by community members, have been sources of the reduced area of commons now available to communities. However, the greatest losses have incurred by the hand of governments. Because they tend to follow imported European systems of land ownership which are individual-centric, it has been easy for governments to regard communal lands as unowned lands, or 'public lands', and even to be made the private property of the state. The high value of communal lands has been the main incentive. Many commons have accordingly been designated as forest and wildlife reserves or sold or leased by governments to private sector interests for mining, logging, ranching, or agribusiness exports. This represents mass dispossession. However, more than land rights have been lost; communities have also lost their rightful share in the revenues which mining, logging, ranching or farming by government or investors earn from their traditional lands. Generally, the loss of commons is most serious for poorer families. Often their share in the commons is their only real potential capital asset. This is quite aside from the many ways in which commons support the daily livelihood of up to three billion rural families around the world. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CAPRi ; EPTD