By: Nyima Sillah
ActionAid – The Gambia in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has yesterday validated the draft Empirical Assessment of Grievance Mechanisms for Land and Natural Resources Related Dispute in The Gambia.
The summit was funded and implemented by the United Peace Building and government key stakeholders, while the event was held under the project entitled addressing conflict over Land and Natural Resources in The Gambia.
Speaking at the Ceremony, Chairperson of ActionAid-The Gambia, Ousman Cham said:” the population of the Gambia at independence was about 405,000 and today the population stands at over 2 million. Yet the issue of land remains the same. This has placed huge pressure on land demands for competing needs such as farming, livestock grazing, housing, industry and roads.”
He said it is indeed very critical that any land issue is resolve with urgency in order to avert deeply rooted conflict that can wipe away all the democratic gains achieved over the years. “We are all aware of the facts that people who depend on agriculture and related activities constitute over 70% of the total population,” he disclosed.
He continued that “access and ownership of land and control over natural resources for smallholder farmers must be protected and key decisions around land governance should be taken by the communities as practically possible.”
Representing the FAO country representative, Mustapha Ceesay, said the United Nations Secretary-General’s peace building Fund is an instrument for conflicts resolution, and the initiative calls for greater national leadership and a shift from response to prevention.
“Between 2010 and now, the UN have invested more than $800 million globally, in conflict resolution over land and natural resources. Conflict prevention is more cost-effective and warrants more investment and scaling-up. This is in line with the globally SDG targets, the NDP and the national SDG priorities of The Gambia,” he said.
According to him FAO being the UN agency mandated with agriculture, livestock, fisheries and natural resources management have been commissioned by the UN Secretary-General’s peace Building Fund, to lead efforts in conflict resolution over land and natural resources.
The study did a Situational Analysis of LNR in The Gambia, looking at issues related to Land, Forestry and Fisheries.
