Accountability

The year 2021 remained a challenging year for members of ILC Asia to further advocate people-centred land governance at the national and regional levels. The instability caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was inevitable, but despite so, ILC Asia members continued to contribute to the global land rights movement by identifying advocacy spaces in various thematic areas.

In March 2021, the Asia Working Group on Women’s Land Rights, led by our member ALRD, organised an official side event at the virtual 65th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65), attracting more than 50 participants from across the globe. The event provided a space to advocate why land matters for rural women across Asia, especially in the face of food insecurity.

At the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit in July 2021, ILC Asia members co-convened an Independent Dialogue with the involvement of member organisations that worked on promoting family farming and sustainable food production.

As ILC enters the new ILC Strategy 2022-2030, our members in Asia believe in contributing to the global land rights movement by amplifying their voice in various advocacy spaces that position land rights as a solution to address global challenges like the climate crisis, food insecurity, and shrinking democratic space, among others.

At the centre of it all, ensuring meaningful participation of people in decision-making processes is imperative, especially when it comes to protecting their land rights and access to natural resources.

2019 was a strong year for ILC Asia. Despite the numerous challenges that our members faced, we continued to create an impact at the local, national and regional level on the communities we worked with. The year largely gave us an opportunity to expand our network by collaborating with government officials in member countries, giving us room to push for policies that put people at the heart of land governance.

This report highlights the transformative achievements that ILC platforms at the country and regional levels made towards realising people-centred land governance. Our members involved in the National Engagement Strategy (NES) platforms created change by engaging as interlocutors directly within government-led land reform policy process. In Nepal, the Land Use Act was passed to regulate land governance and ensure sustainable use of natural resources, after members worked seven years for its approval.

At the regional level, our members continued to enhance collective regional and international efforts to influence public policies. The Asia Rangelands Platform achieved the recognition of pastoralist grazing lands in Gujarat, India and evolved into the South Asia Pastoralist Alliance (SAPA).

The next big step for ILC is to maintain our significance as a key actor in the land movement. By having our members as ILC Ambassadors, we are confident that although it takes strenuous efforts to achieve land governance that prioritises local communities, we are making significant progress.

In 2018 ILC Asia members made great strides in successfully organising the triennial Global Land Forum in Bandung, Indonesia. Despite the many challenges faced by our members in pushing for people-centered land governance, ILC Asia welcomed nine new members, making our coalition a strong movement of 54 civil society organisations.

The work of our country-focus initiative or what we call the National Engagement Strategy (NES) has continued to strengthen its operation by expanding its network. In India, Indonesia and Nepal the concept of 'multi-stakeholder platform' has begun to gain ground as more members are keen on collaborating with intergovernmental organisations.

ILC Asia members are positive that the constant transformation and development of our platforms will lead to better achievement of people-centered land governance in Asia in the coming years.