Investment in agriculture is essential for sustainable development, in particular for achieving food security, adequate nutrition, decent employment, poverty reduction and environmental protection. In seeking to attract agricultural investment, many governments and local communities have entered into Agricultural Land Investment Contracts (ALIC). Mindful of the contractual challenges involved and considering the importance of enhancing knowledge of the legal regime applicable to agricultural land investment operations, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have prepared this UNIDROIT/IFAD Legal Guide on Agricultural Land Investment Contracts (ALIC Legal Guide).

This guide provides guidance for producers, governments, legal advisors and civil society on contract farming arrangements, from negotiation to conclusion, including performance and possible breach or termination of the contract. It gives a description of common contract terms and a discussion of legal issues and critical problems that may arise under various practical situations, illustrating how they may be treated under different legal systems.

This manual has been developed for training purposes. It models the gas value chain from the upstream project to the use of gas under the form of LPG, LNG or as feedstock for local industrial or power generation uses. It allows users to assess different LNG structures that can be considered when producing LNG (see section 2 for an explanation of each structure). It provides various fiscal regime options for the upstream and mid-stream sectors to understand the impacts of changes on the government take and the private sector returns.

This manual illustrates a monitoring scheme for monitoring large-scale agricultural investments. It aims at providing orientation for establishing a monitoring scheme and implementing monitoring activities in the framework of LSAI with the collaboration of the authorities responsible for leasing out land to agricultural investors and supervising related activities. While focused on Ethiopia, it will be a useful resource for other countries too.

This guide aims to explain common topics that are addressed in natural resource contracts and to provide suggestions for improving contracts that are vague or unfavorable to host countries and to the protection of land rights. It covers a number of topics relevant to contracts:

● Environmental and social issues

● Fiscal provisions

● Transparency

● Dispute resolution

This resource is part of the CCSI’s Directory of Community Guidance on Agreements Relating to Agriculture or Forestry Investment.

The Open Up Guide on Land Governance is a resource  aimed to be used by governments from developing countries to collect and release land-related data to improve data quality, availability, accessibility and use for improved citizen engagement, decision making and innovation. It sets out:

1. Key datasets for land management accountability, and how they should be collected, stored, shared and published for improving land governance and transparency;

2. Good data policies and frameworks, including metadata, standards and governance frameworks if available;

3. Existing gaps or challenges in the policies and frameworks; and

This primer gives an accessible overview of key aspects surrounding International Investment Treaties and Investor-State Dispute Settlement, and the implications for promoting a rights-based approach to governance.

"Participatory law-making” is the process by which citizens actively contribute to policy advocacy and law-drafting. Citizen participation in law-making can improve the quality and legitimacy of policies and laws by ensuring that they reflect and protect the authentic interests of the national citizenry. In the field of land rights, participatory law-making can help ensure the recognition and protection of legitimate tenure rights. The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) call on states to develop relevant policies, laws and procedures through participatory processes that include men, women, Indigenous Peoples and members of marginalized groups.

This guide explains key aspects of law and land rights that are important for securing community ownership and control of land and resources – also referred to as secure land and resource tenure. It explains how to identify and create opportunities for law reform and offers examples of reforms that have taken place in several African countries.