Annual farmland investor conference, now celebrating its 10th anniversary

The Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) project and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) welcome you to join us for our Second Regional Land Forum, to be held in Bangkok on 28-30 May.

What will be happening there?

We will launch the new Mekong region State of Land report prepared by our partners from the Centre for Development and Environment of the University of Bern, with support of RCSD, FAO, EFICAS, MRLG). The first of its kind, this report presents a comprehensive overview of land resources, distribution and governance conditions in the Mekong region, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam. The 2018 State of Land will serve as a benchmark of current conditions, and set a baseline for future measuring and reporting of progress in land governance in the Mekong region.

What else?

Similar to the First Regional Land Forum, we are inviting land professionals and practitioners at both the local and global level to present the latest information and current progress on key topics addressing smallholder tenure security. These include:
– community access to land and forests, including mechanisms for better recognition of customary land rights;
– successful techniques for community empowerment and policy advocacy;
– putting a gender lens on land issues;
– new instruments and global finance measures towards responsible agricultural investment;
– land conflict resolution and mitigation strategies; and more.

Other events include a master class on Land Conflict Transformation and an academic sharing session.

We’ll also be inviting donor partners to outline their priorities and activities on land issues in the region, with the opportunity to “pitch” proposals to be taken up in country agendas or for potential funding.

With this event marking the end of MRLG Phase 1, we expect to share some of the novel solutions to difficult regional land governance problems that are emerging in the region. We are also excited to introduce Phase 2, and to continue working together to ensure that all smallholders both women and men have secured and equitable access to agricultural land and forest, particularly indigenous and ethnic minority communities.

We’d like to acknowledge our initial partners supporting the event organisation: the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), the University of Bern, the Research Centre for Social and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Deutsche Gesellscha& f?r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and the Independent Mediation Group.