Author Archive for Nicole Tomita

About Nicole Tomita

2020 was a tough year on many fronts, and land rights were no exception. COVID-19 hindered land rights advocates from doing field research, meeting with government officials, prioritizing policy initiatives, and obtaining funding. Despite these headwinds, we have seen important advances, and the field continues to grow. Here are eight breakthroughs in 2020 to celebrate.

Land-related risks are vastly underappreciated by corporate and environmental attorneys representing clients around the globe. This article seeks to raise the profile of land issues so that attorneys can better advise clients who might unwittingly trip into significant legal, financial, and operational peril by not fully appreciating how land risks lurk in supply chains and operations.

The ideal of a married woman decorated with sindoor, sakha, and bichiya is romanticized through legend and folklore; steeped in this culture, women themselves see value in these rituals. Millions of women in India do not even imagine that these discriminatory and patriarchal rituals are not supernaturally ordained and blind them to the reality that the revered status given to suhagins causes untold suffering to any woman (widow) who does not fit the ideal.

Access to land is both a critical component and a fundamental barrier to productive youth engagement in agriculture. If properly harnessed, Africa’s nearly 420 million youth—including more than 200 million who reside in rural areas—will be the continent’s greatest asset and its engine to grow agricultural productivity and food security while reducing poverty.