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Special coverage: Land and poverty

by Stella Dawson
Friday, 28 March 2014 00:15 GMT

A selection of stories, interviews and blogs from journalists covering the World Bank's Land and Poverty conference held in Washington from March 24 to 27, as part of a journalism training programme, sponsored by the World Bank, USAID and Thomson Reuters.

An estimated 75 percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas where land is the primary source of their income, and yet most of these people have very little security over their land rights, making it harder for them to climb out of poverty.

International development agencies see land rights as a cornerstone of efforts to end extreme poverty in a world where over three billion people live on less than $2.50 a day, according to United Nations’ estimates. 

Land rights also come into sharp focus when foreign investors log forests that local people for centuries have relied upon for food and fuel, or when mining companies displace villagers from their traditional agricultural and pastoral lands. Violent conflicts frequently erupt over who owns land and who has rights to use it, especially when that land is unmapped and undocumented. 

Land experts, government officials and civil activists from all over the world are attending the World Bank Land and Poverty conference in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss these issues and share ideas on the best way to govern land and improve opportunities for countries to develop and their people to prosper.  

Following are stories from journalists who are covering the conference as part of a training programme, sponsored by the World Bank, USAID and Thomson Reuters:

NEWS ARTICLES:

Land title and land reform laws fall short in addressing poverty 

Foreign investors often blamed for Africa land grabs conducted by local ruling elites

Insecure land tenure holds back post-conflict African societies, say experts

Foreign investors often blamed for Africa land grabs conducted by local ruling elites

Consumer backlash threatens investors who ignore land rights

It takes  a few good women to fight for a secure home in Brazil’s slums

Progress on women’s land ownership stymied by local laws that conflict with constitutional laws

INTERVIEW-Zambia is making progress toward a new land policy-Minister

INTERVIEW: Uganda Land Minister promotes women’s land rights with help from World Bank

BLOGS on land issues:

How do you make people run for their lives when disaster strikes

Can you save the animals without sacrificing the people?

Women must inherit property not poverty

Urban slum planning is nothing to sniff at

Show me the money:  Do land rights really equal cash?

Let’s give women a bit more; they’ll give a lot more back

It takes a village to protect women’s land

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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