Land is a vital resource in the social, cultural and economic activities of a country. It is a major driver in reducing poverty, conflicts and food insecurity, and has a key role in improving poor people’s sense of security and their capacity to improve their immediate living conditions and livelihood opportunities. Most of the world’s poor people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture or natural resources for their livelihoods. Rural poverty is strongly associated with weak access to land, either in the form of landlessness or because of insecure and contested land rights. Rural poverty also has a clear gender dimension, and women and girls are more likely to suffer the consequences of poverty.
In countries where prevailing land laws (and culture) mean only those people with formal land rights can access, enjoy and manage the land, poor rural people have to struggle with persistent poverty.
The Secure Access to Land and Resources (SALaR) project aims to address these issues under the initiative of the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN), as facilitated by UN-Habitat, Asian NGO Coalition of Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) and Xavier Science Foundation, Inc.
The project focuses on three selected countries: Uganda, Laos and Philippines. This is done in partnership with its goal to improve land and natural resources tenure security for smallholder rural farmers, most of whom are poor women, men and vulnerable people.