CSOs develop tool to guide investors on use of land

PELUM Uganda, in Partnership with Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), has developed an Investor Compliance Monitoring Tool (ICMT) to monitor responsible use of the land in Uganda.

The ICMT is purposed to provide an opportunity for Investors, land users, government representatives and regulatory authorities, as well as Civil Society (CSO) partners active in the area of investments in land to measure and assess the compliance for responsible investments based on the international principles in responsible investments in land.

“This tool is here to reinforce compliance of investors who are engaging in production in the different value chains of agriculture so that tool emphasis adherence to good principles of food security, sustainability effective utilisation of the local resources, but also response for human rights such as labour rights,” Moses Onen, the manager advocacy of PELUM Uganda, said.

He made the remarks on Friday in Kampala, during the lessons learnt workshop on the ICMT.

According to Onen, the tool looks at investment in totality as it complies with issues of human resources, environment safety, mitigation of climate change, respect of cultures of different communities for which investments on land are made among other issues affecting land use.

“The tool seeks to identify gaps within those areas, but we also journey with them (investors) and build their capacities on how to address these issues," he said.

Commercial investments in agriculture and forestry are increasingly exerting pressure on land as a resource.

According to the land use advocates, these investments can lead to loss of access to land, conflicts and forced evictions, thereby restricting and preventing inclusive and sustainable development pathways.

“Commitments have been made for sound land governance, but there are still considerable challenges for its implementation. Therefore, there is need to have a common understanding on the Investment Compliance Tool for all the relevant stakeholders in responsible governance in land under the GIZ support,” Onen said.

Name and shame

On his part, Daniel Kirumira, the head of component responsible governance of investments in land at GIZ, implored local government to use the tool to monitor compliance on land use by investors for naming and shaming those violating best practices for land use.

According to Kirumira, local governments can use the tool for periodical data collection and dissemination for decision-making where there is abuse of land use.

“You would decide as individual districts to name and shame. CSOs have a way of land observatory where they see for them name and shaming is okay, now the tool could be used to do compliancy assessment and then do name and shame,” Kirumira said.

The tool, which has been piloted in the districts of Kasanda and Dokolo, has undergone several improvements in terms of its simplification to enhance friendly usability by the different audiences and stakeholders.

It seeks to promote capacities of local land users, especially agricultural smallholders and vulnerable groups to defend their legitimate rights to land and advocate for their needs in land investment processes are strengthened through participatory approaches.