The 2025 Conference on land Policy in Africa kicked off on Monday in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, with a call for advancing sustainable land management policies and addressing the legacy of colonial land dispossession that continues to affect access and ownership across the continent.
Speaking at the event, Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic commission for Africa (ECA), emphasised the enduring impact of colonial-era land seizures, which concentrated fertile land and resources in the hands of colonisers and their descendants, while historically marginalised communities continue to struggle for equitable access.
“Indeed, land governance, justice and reparations are not debates of the past; they are imperatives for Africa’s renewal and the restoration of fairness in global systems,” Gatete said.
He said addressing these disparities is critical for food security, sustainable livelihoods, and the preservation of indigenous knowledge systems.
The executive secretary said more than just geography, land represents sovereignty, identity and security. It anchors livelihoods, underpins food systems and defines belonging.
According to UNECA executive secretary, so many people in Africa do not have access to land and these disparities are the enduring legacy of structural imbalances that continue to shape Africa’s role in the global economy.
Delegates are set to examine emerging best practices in land policy, strategies to strengthen transparency in land governance institutions, and improvements in data monitoring and evaluation. Cross-cutting issues such as youth, gender, climate change, agriculture, and reparations are central to the discourse.
Organised jointly by the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the four-day hybrid conference is under way under the theme “Land Governance, Justice and Reparations for Africans and Descendants of the People of the African Diaspora.”
MG/as/APA