"Africa takes first important step in tackling large scale land-based investments"

Continental efforts to adopt land policies that leverage on land as a strategic resource for inclusive and sustainable development took a step forward with the official launch of the African Union Guiding Principles on Large Scale Land Based Investments in Africa (LSLBI). The launch...starts a decade during which African countries are expected to draft policies that recognize the strategic importance of land and encourage its efficient use in Africa’s efforts for structural transformation, industrialization and inclusive development. “This set of principles will equip African countries and enable them to manage land in a transparent and sustainable manner and to negotiate investments with knowledge of resources available on one land as well as the rights attached to it,” said Joan Kagwanja, Chief of the Land Policy Initiative, housed by the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa.