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Food security and the sustainable production of food for the human population is a critical issue politically and economically. Benton, Cornell & colleagues have developed and validated a conceptual framework to underpin sustainable agriculture, recognising that land can be specialised to producing food or "ecology" and does not need do both equally everywhere. This challenges current approaches to land management and is influencing the development of new policies for sustainable agriculture (UK, EU, G-20), the food industry's approach to, and public perceptions of, sustainable agriculture. The profile of this work directly contributed to Benton being appointed as the cross-government "Champion" for Global Food Security.
NRI's research in Africa has been influential in shifting thinking, policy and practice on customary land tenure and promotion of land tenure security. In particular it has promoted the recognition that customary tenure systems can sometimes provide a high degree of tenure security and do not need to be replaced wholesale, and that a variety of alternative approaches to conventional land titling are available. This led international agencies to develop new approaches and guidelines for land policy and set the stage for a new generation of land tenure projects and programme interventions in Africa, to which NRI is also actively contributing.
Research on modelling wildness has resulted in the development of a wildness mapping tool for Scotland's national parks which provides a basis for supporting decision making relating to planning applications that are potentially detrimental to wildness. The methodologies developed have been adopted by Scottish Natural Heritage to map wildness and wild land across Scotland. In 2013, the Scottish Government proposed that the identified `core areas of wild land' should be protected through Development Plans and spatial frameworks for onshore wind energy; this proposal is currently out for consultation. These methodologies have also been used to map wildness and identify priority sites in Europe.
Professor Patrick McAuslan's research changed the international development community's view about the role of land law reform in sustainable development and poverty alleviation. Until his research identified how policy-makers should and could use land law reform to achieve their development aims, international agencies did not consider that land law reform had a significant role in furthering economic and social development.
McAuslan disseminated and continued his research during many consultancy assignments for the World Bank (WB), the EU, UN agencies, DFID and other international development bodies. He also reviewed planning and land law in many countries, often significantly shaping the resulting legislation.
With national and international impact, Home's research on land titling and Islamic land law has helped develop donor aid policy, through UN-Habitat initiatives on post-disaster issues and Islamic land law, and World Bank initiatives on the rule of law in Africa. Impacts of his research within the UK include his contribution to the UK Government's Foresight Land Use Futures Project (2010), and to current policy discussions on future new housing provision. The case study title comes from a well-known story illustrating the legally dubious origins of land ownership in land-grabbing.
Research at Newcastle has been used to improve the governance of common land both locally and nationally. Locally: (i) by landowners to develop new models for community management of common land; and (ii) by the Foundation for Common Land and its constituent stakeholder groups to inform the development of self-regulatory commons councils under Part 2 Commons Act 2006. Nationally: (i) by the National Trust to develop new models for community management of its extensive common land holdings across England and Wales; and (ii) the research has influenced the development of policy by the Government Office for Science, and by the UK statutory conservation bodies, for the improvement of the environmental governance of common land.
Professor James Hunter's research focuses on the relationship between land and people in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. This research established that land reform could lead to the economic and social regeneration of rural communities and has had considerable impact on public policy debate in Scotland during the REF 2014 period. In particular, Hunter's recent research into community ownership of land led to his appointment (2012-13) to the Scottish Government's Land Reform Review Group (LRRG) by Scotland's First Minister, the Right Hon. Alex Salmond and his activism has led to changes in Scottish Government policy. Moreover, Hunter's research has informed community buyout schemes, leading to a range of economic, social and environmental impacts.
This Unit's staff and associates have considerable expertise in land management, focussing on two issues faced in Africa; the management of communal rangelands and the management of native species for the benefit of local communities. Coventry University is a recognized centre of global knowledge on Prosopis, a series of economically and ecologically important tree species, but also widely-considered potentially serious weeds in many countries. Underpinning research carried out at Coventry was pivotal to the correct identification, evaluation and subsequent management and utilisation of the most common tropical species, Prosopis juliflora and Prosopis pallida. Other research, on the management of common rangelands, has provided an understanding of the way common land rights are expressed in communal areas and the social, political and ecological factors which govern them.
The Unit's research has led to economic impacts, including for The Mesquite Company (Texas) who generate USD 150,000 each year from the sale of Prosopis products. The research has also had impact on public policy and society in Kenya and South Africa. In Kenya, the Government changed its approach towards Prosopis from eradication towards management and lifted a blanket-ban on the use of plant-based charcoal as a result of the Unit's research. This enabled the Green Power Station (currently employing 2000 people) to be established. In South Africa, policy debate has been informed by research on the governance of common land. The research has also had impact on creativity, culture and society, informing public and political debate in South Africa, Kenya and India. Beneficiaries include businesses developing new products and producing energy; local communities in South Africa and Kenya, and the South African and Kenyan Governments.
Whitehead's research on gender, economic liberalisation and land changed the way in which international organisations (the UN, the World Bank and the EU) approach the gendered impacts of land policy. Her work changed policies and programmes to improve women's and poorer people's access to land rights. In particular the International Development Law Organization and national governments in sub-Saharan Africa have acknowledged her findings in their development of best-practice guidance. In Ghana this has helped to deliver changes on the ground by transforming the `Ghana Land Administration Project' to incorporate a gender perspective and civil-society participation in local land administration, advocacy and debate.