Plurality of Knowledge: The Future of Land Governance in Shifting Global Contexts

Over the five-year period, significant changes have been observed in both global and local contexts. Complex and interrelated crises threaten development achievements and challenge the resilience of people and governance agents. Themes central to the LAND-at-scale learning agenda have experienced shifts: land and housing rights are increasingly insecure (2024 PRIndex Report), climate change increasingly affects people's ability to build livelihoods from their land, and growing numbers of people are displaced due to conflict, violence, political or economic instability. Despite many efforts, women still face inequality regarding their rights to land and resources. Recently, the Global North has begun to renege on its efforts to curb climate change, its financial support to the Global South, and anti-immigration voices are becoming stronger. Democracies and human rights are under pressure globally. In a connected world, such global shifts impact local levels. In this rather grim reality, how can academics, practitioners, CSOs, policy makers, and human beings contribute with their plurality of knowing, seeing, and imagining, to a more just, inclusive, and sustainable land governance?

Knowledge management is a way to bring these different stakeholders together with the aim of strengthening the implementation of land governance projects and programmes and informing policy in both the Global South and North. Dedicated components focus on generating, managing, disseminating, and using knowledge, with an emphasis on learning and adaptive programme management. This conference will zoom in on how the plurality of knowledges has shaped and changed the implementation of land governance activities. With an integrated KM-strategy, implemented with and by LANDac and its partners, knowledge management and learning have been at the heart of the LAND-at-scale programme since its inception. The aim was to contribute towards the impact both at the global programme level and of the local in-country projects. The LAND-at-scale knowledge management programme brought together academia, practitioners, CSOs, policy makers, and donors. This has taken shape in several collaborations, such as between LANDac partners and the donor, and between the knowledge management partners and implementing organisations across different countries. At the country level, practitioners from different backgrounds and with different ways of thinking jointly worked towards shared outcomes. At the LANDac conference, the focus will be on reflecting on the lessons learned from such collaborations and their impact. Additionally, the conference will look forward to see how these experiences can inform future land governance interventions in a glocal world where interconnected global and local issues are being reshaped.

Event image and description based directly on original source.