July 23, 2024

Unravelling Land Tenure and Climate Change for
Insights into Food Security

Institute for Global Environmental Strategies
Kei Kurushima

What is Food Security?
◆ Food security exists when all people, at all
times, have physical and economic accessto sufficient safe and nutritious food thatmeets their dietary needs and foodpreferences for an active and healthy life. 1996 World Food Summit (FAO, 2008)◆ People are "food secure" when they haveaccess to sufficient, safe and nutritious
food to meet their dietary needs for an
active and healthy life. –WFP 2021

End hunger, achieve food security
and improved nutrition andpromote sustainable agriculture

Target 2-1• By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by allpeople, in particular the poor and people invulnerable situations, including infants, tosafe, nutritious and sufficient food all yearround.

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Food Security is an urgent issue in Asia-Pacific
Of the 3.83 billion people in the world who depend on the agri-food system
for their livelihoods, 2.36 billion are in Asia, which is half of Asia’s
population (FAO, 2023a).
370 million or half of the world’s undernourished people live in Asia and thePacific region, 85 percent of which are in South Asia (FAO, 2023b).
➢ Solving the situation in the Asia-Pacific will contribute significantly tofood security for the world.
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Climate change is affecting the Food Security• Climate change is already affecting food security throughincreasing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, andgreater frequency of some extreme events (IPCC, 2019).
• It is estimated that 500 million smallholder farms in thedeveloping world are supporting almost 2 billion people, whoare vulnerable to climate change (FAO, 2015).
• Climate change will also have broader impacts througheffects on trade flows, food markets and price stability andcould introduce new risks for human health (FAO, 2015).

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Think Globally and Act LocallyAt the Asia and the Pacific Food Security Forum organized by ADB in April 2024, President
Asakawa stated:"Some people do not fully understand the link between climatechange and food crises, such as the effects of floods anddroughts, but from the farmers' perspective, climate change is aserious risk that threatens their livelihoods.”➢ While the entire food system needs transformation, addressing the specific risks andsolutions from the perspective of individual farmers can drive significant change globally.

This research delves into the risks and challenges that farmers encounter.
5Land Tenure and Food Security• Considering risks and solutions from individual farmers' perspectives can drive significant change.
• Viewing land tenure security as the foundation of sustainable agriculture is essential.
• Farmers are vulnerable, not just to the direct impacts of climate change but also to shifts in land
use resulting from climate change and climate policies.
“Land tenure dualism” (Coulibaly et al., 2021:2) is a major
issue in developing countries. Most forests are publiclands, but many communities live in those forests, andsome of the lands are used for agriculture (Gilmour, 2016).
➢ Less than 30 percent of people have tenure rights
to the land they use (World Bank, 2017).
➢ State-owned lands include communities' forests
and agricultural lands, creating a divergence
between the system and the actual land use.
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Paddy field in private land

Maize field in state-owned “forest”

7Land Tenure is also important for Climate Change◆ "Land tenure is a key dimension in any discussion of land-climate interactions, and will influence theprospects for both rural adaptation and land-based mitigation. Both climate change and climate
action will have possible impacts on land tenure and thus land security, especially of poor people.”◆ “Evidence suggests that policies which pay attention to interactions of land and climate and system
linkages are more likely to create co-benefits between mitigation, adaptation, and development”(IPCC, 2019)➢ However, guaranteeing land tenure is often challenging, as it requires
significant changes in social systems and laws.
A solution to this problem is community-based land management,
which recognizes land rights according to the actual situation.
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Examples of Community-Based Land Management
Community-Based Forest Management Agreement

Policy for Ensuring Community-Based Agricultural(CBFMA) in Philippines

Land Management in Thailand••

Agreement

betweentheDepartmentof•

In Thailand, community forests have been usedEnvironment and Natural Resources (DENR)

to manage forests and agricultural lands, but theand People's Organization (PO) to manage andlack of sufficient rights to agricultural lands has

utilise forestland, which has a term of 25 years

led to the development of a community-basedwith an additional 25 years upon renewable.

management policy specifically for agricultural

Major paradigm shift in forest management

lands.

from a centrally controlled approach benefiting•

While cultivation occurs on individually owned

the privileged few towards a more participatory

farmland, the community collectively manages“people-oriented” strategy (Dugan and Pulhin,the land with a common rule, promoting greater2007).

sustainability and economic opportunities.

9Paddy field in private land

Maize field in state-owned “forest”

10What effects do Community-based Land Management have?
The Community-based land management has led to the following benefits:
1. Strengthen community ties and the formation of new activities, such as organic farming groups.
2. Increase public recognition of land rights, which facilitate long-term investment planning andexpanded farming activities.
3. The mandate to plant trees on a portion of the farmland produces additional positiveoutcomes.
➢ As rural areas experience development and societal transition, securing land tenureis essential for sustainable agriculture and livelihood.
➢ Farmers are aware of the impact of climate change on agriculture, and climateresilient practices will be promoted through securing land tenure.
11Conclusion and Way Forward• The Asia-Pacific faces higher food insecurity than any other region, necessitating global andregional initiatives to transform the entire food system.
• Small-scale farmers are at risk due to land insecurity, worsened by climate change impacts,

which creates social inequality and affects sustainable food production.
➢ Taking inclusive and local action is essential for food security and climate-resilient agriculture,and community-based land management will enhance the synergy of rural development.
➢ To promote decentralised agriculture through community-based land management,
institutional support of the national government and cross-learning among ruralcommunities is essential.
12References• Coulibaly, B., Sagoe, G., & Shixiang, L. (2021). Towards poverty alleviation in developing countries: An empirical
study of the impact of land tenure reforms in Kati, Mali. PloS one, 16(3), e0246502.
• Dugan, P., & Pulhin, J. M. (2007). Forest harvesting in community based forest management in the Philippines:
simple tools versus complex procedures.
• FAO (2015) “Climate change and food security: risks and responses”.
• FAO (2023a) “Almost half the world’s population lives in households linked to agrifood systems”
https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/almost-half-the-world-s-population-lives-in-households-linked-toagrifood-systems/en• FAO (2023b) Asia and the Pacific – Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2023: Statistics and trends.
Bangkok, FAO.

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