Upcoming Event: Landowners or Labourers? A panel on the rural development choices facing leaders of developing countries, 5 February 2013

The State of Rights and Resources 2012-2013

Landowners or Labourers? - A panel on the rural development choices facing leaders of developing countries

5 February, 2013. 10am at The Royal Society - Kohn Center, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London

The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) are pleased to invite you to a panel discussion on the current state of rights and resources around the world, and new analyses on the mounting risks of local land rights insecurity for investment and development.

Panelists:

Li Ping - Senior Attorney, Landesa, China

Alfred Brownell - Executive Director, Green Advocates, Liberia

Samuel Nguiffo - Director, Centre for Environment and Development, Cameroon

Maung Maung Than - Project Coordinator/Consultant (Capacity Building Programme for Community Forestry in Myanmar), RECOFTC - The Centre for Peoples and Forests

Joji Cariño - Coordinator of the IIFB Working Group on Indicators, Tebtebba, Philippines

Saskia Ozinga - Campaign Coordinator, Climate Change, Export Credit Agencies & Forest Peoples, FERN, UK

Jeffrey Hatcher - Director, Global Programs, RRI, US

Moderated by: 

Fred Pearce - Journalist and author of 'The Land Grabbers'

Opening Remarks:

Tom Griffiths - Coordinator - Responsible Finance Programme, FPP

Andy White - Coordinator, RRI

RRI will launch its annual report on the state of forest land rights and resources in 2012, looking forward to 2013. In 2012, a key choice facing developing countries was revealed ever more starkly. Would they choose a development path built on inclusiveness and respect for the rights of their citizens, or would they opt instead for extractive exploitation of their people's land and natural resources? The report identifies this and other key choices and challenges that emerged in 2012 for forest rights and tenure globally.     

In addition, RRI will launch a new report, The Financial Risks of Insecure Land Tenure: An Investment View, prepared by The Munden Project. This paper investigates the real financial consequences of investing in land with disputed tenure rights. The findings demonstrate that companies and their investors face substantial risks when they overlook or underestimate the land tenure contestation in rural areas.

Download the Agenda.

*Please RSVP by 31 January* to Madiha Qureshi, RRI: [email protected]

This event will be webcast live in English, French, and Spanish from 10:00- 12:00 GMT on Tuesday, February 5, 2013. (Watch it in French or Spanish)

Please contact Madiha Qureshi at [email protected] with questions.

We look forward to seeing you there.