Land regeneration requires secure access to land. When conducting interviews for a project, insecure land access surfaced again and again as the main barrier why ecological farmers are not willing to invest deeply into land regeneration. So I started looking for innovative approaches to land ownership, and collected this compendium – as inspiration, starting point, background research.
With Canada’s strengthening role of First Nations, I can imagine combining these strategies with First Nation governance. With a retiring generation that is better endowed than any generation before and any generation thereafter, I can imagine ways how to involve this generation in new forms of land access. But before dreaming, it’s worth doing some research of what works, and how these projects are structured legally and financially.
My favorite two approaches are both German. The Ackersyndikat is a snowball that transitions land into the commons. Still young, it stands on the shoulder of a giant: It is build after a successful housing self help group called Mietersyndikat (or renter’s syndicate). And there is the Kulturland cooperative, an investment scheme that transfers land to a charity while maintaining cooperative use rights. Both could be adapted to Canada’s regulatory context with relative ease; I believe we could do better by including First Nations.
I hope this compendium is inspiring, enjoy and dream! And – collaborate, learn to lead, and just act now.
Thorsten
Looks amazing! Look forward to reading.