By Cynthia Adzika, Giulia Barbanente and Audrey Nepveu
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Challenges in the governance of land water and fisheries
Conflicts over access to scarce land, water and fisheries resources contribute to the challenges and widespread fragility of the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. These resources are under additional pressure from climate change, displaced people, and encroachment on land used by local communities through concessions and investments in medium and large-scale mechanized farming, mining and urbanization. These land-use changes sometimes lead to the pollution of water resources to the detriment of smallholder farmers, agropastoralists and pastoralist communities.
Additionally, native or traditional systems for governance of tenure have over time been weakened by fragmented state regulations where the different resources are treated in silos by different administrations. This creates inconsistencies in resources management with disregard to the fact that resources are naturally integrated in ecosystems used by local communities for their livelihoods.
Land and forest resources are fixed, while water and fisheries resources are moving and have changing availability, which needs to be considered in the allocations governed by tenure arrangements. The different resources therefore require different governance and tenure frameworks, which often contributes to the fragmentation in natural resources management and little effort has been made to come up with innovations integrating the various frameworks.
To achieve the SDGs, the NENA region (as well as other regions) can no longer afford to deal with each natural resource in silos and systems that are not communicating or facilitating their integrated governance and management. Frameworks are needed to facilitate decision-making fostering synergies and mitigating the risks of trade-offs between sectors and impacts on the livelihoods of different communities.
There are good examples of integrated land and water tenure governance and resources management at community and intercommunity level that are able to support peaceful co-existence and increase sustainable productivity of shared resources. However, these models are not sustained or scaled through supporting governance frameworks at the different levels of government administrations. The tenure security supporting these models are therefore in constant risk of being eroded or even overwritten by sectors with more power to influence land and water allocation and use decisions
Lessons, recommendations and the way forward
Lessons showcased during the Land and Water Days event highlight the importance of a strong intercommunity governance of natural resources, the interdependency of the tenure to different natural resources, as well as the importance of improved integrated government frameworks at different administrative levels. Through intercommunity governance, issues can be identified locally that need to be solved at a higher geographic or administrative level. These can inform dialogues fostered by platforms (such as the natural resources fora) where communities, local governments and all sectors in state governments can discuss the concrete issues encountered by the communities, and seek solutions from a higher administration level. To achieve this, broader landscape approaches to governance of tenure are needed involving all resources users, in particular, including more vulnerable groups in order to secure their continued access to resources. Policy and regulation leverage is needed to scale up local solutions on land, water and fisheries governance and to ensure long term tenure security for vulnerable rural populations.
Experiences demonstrate that even in fragile contexts, with pressure from people displaced by climate events and violent conflicts (characteristic for part of the NENA region), it is possible to establish intercommunity conflict resolution mechanisms around natural resources that foster peaceful co-existence. However, because of the dynamic and fragile context, these mechanisms need to be backed-up by a government framework, and a minimum of resources in order to be sustainable in the long term.
To contribute towards achieving the SDGs, it is crucial to create natural resources governance and tenure systems that secure access and give incentives for their management to the millions of smallholder farmers, fishers and pastoralists depending on these resources for food production throughout the NENA region.
Find out more:
Conflicts over access to scarce land, water and fisheries resources contribute to the challenges and widespread fragility of the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. These resources are under additional pressure from climate change, displaced people, and encroachment on land used by local communities through concessions and investments in medium and large-scale mechanized farming, mining and urbanization. These land-use changes sometimes lead to the pollution of water resources to the detriment of smallholder farmers, agropastoralists and pastoralist communities.
Additionally, native or traditional systems for governance of tenure have over time been weakened by fragmented state regulations where the different resources are treated in silos by different administrations. This creates inconsistencies in resources management with disregard to the fact that resources are naturally integrated in ecosystems used by local communities for their livelihoods.
Land and forest resources are fixed, while water and fisheries resources are moving and have changing availability, which needs to be considered in the allocations governed by tenure arrangements. The different resources therefore require different governance and tenure frameworks, which often contributes to the fragmentation in natural resources management and little effort has been made to come up with innovations integrating the various frameworks.
To achieve the SDGs, the NENA region (as well as other regions) can no longer afford to deal with each natural resource in silos and systems that are not communicating or facilitating their integrated governance and management. Frameworks are needed to facilitate decision-making fostering synergies and mitigating the risks of trade-offs between sectors and impacts on the livelihoods of different communities.
There are good examples of integrated land and water tenure governance and resources management at community and intercommunity level that are able to support peaceful co-existence and increase sustainable productivity of shared resources. However, these models are not sustained or scaled through supporting governance frameworks at the different levels of government administrations. The tenure security supporting these models are therefore in constant risk of being eroded or even overwritten by sectors with more power to influence land and water allocation and use decisions
Lessons, recommendations and the way forward
Lessons showcased during the Land and Water Days event highlight the importance of a strong intercommunity governance of natural resources, the interdependency of the tenure to different natural resources, as well as the importance of improved integrated government frameworks at different administrative levels. Through intercommunity governance, issues can be identified locally that need to be solved at a higher geographic or administrative level. These can inform dialogues fostered by platforms (such as the natural resources fora) where communities, local governments and all sectors in state governments can discuss the concrete issues encountered by the communities, and seek solutions from a higher administration level. To achieve this, broader landscape approaches to governance of tenure are needed involving all resources users, in particular, including more vulnerable groups in order to secure their continued access to resources. Policy and regulation leverage is needed to scale up local solutions on land, water and fisheries governance and to ensure long term tenure security for vulnerable rural populations.
Experiences demonstrate that even in fragile contexts, with pressure from people displaced by climate events and violent conflicts (characteristic for part of the NENA region), it is possible to establish intercommunity conflict resolution mechanisms around natural resources that foster peaceful co-existence. However, because of the dynamic and fragile context, these mechanisms need to be backed-up by a government framework, and a minimum of resources in order to be sustainable in the long term.
To contribute towards achieving the SDGs, it is crucial to create natural resources governance and tenure systems that secure access and give incentives for their management to the millions of smallholder farmers, fishers and pastoralists depending on these resources for food production throughout the NENA region.
Find out more: