Image: Jesi Townsend/UWCThe University of the Western Cape's Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) hosted an international conference to commemorate its 30th anniversary.
The Land, Life, and Society conference brought together over 250 academics, researchers, civil society partners, and supporters to debate critical global issues, including land rights, inequality, and climate change.
The conference, which took place from 7 to 9 October 2025, is a precursor to the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD+20), which will be hosted in Cartagena, Colombia, in March 2026.
Opening the conference last week, UWC Rector and Vice-Chancellor Prof Robert Balfour said PLAAS has been marked by three decades of rigorous, meaningful public engagement, which has been led through scholarship. This, he said, has made a tangible difference in the lives of community members, activists, academics and the University’s students.
“Our student body is truly an international student body. I’m thrilled to welcome so many compères, colleagues, and people in solidarity with us from across Africa and beyond,” said Prof Balfour.
The conference, he emphasised, happened during a time of profound socioeconomic and environmental change.
“Across the world, questions about land and sustainability continue to influence the direction of our shared future,” said Prof Balfour.
Image: Jesi Townsend/UWCThe three-day conference delved into numerous adjacent topics including land redistribution, the impacts of industrial-scale farming and extraction, indigenous peoples' struggles for land, small-scale fisheries, critical minerals and the green economy. PLAAS has created critical evidence-based research on these sectors for the three decades it has been in existence, influencing policy in South Africa and on the African continent.
Within the South African context, Prof Balfour said land remains bound to the memory of dispossession and to the ongoing struggle for inclusion and redress.
“The tensions over land ownership and access remind us that democracy is not complete until it addresses the material conditions that allow people to live with dignity. In this context, the purpose of the conference is to think critically about policy and practice. While also opening up a space for new ideas.
“Through dialogue grounded in research and lived experience, we can imagine forms of land governance that will secure livelihoods and protect ecosystems,” said Prof Balfour.
Image: Jesi Townsend/UWCLand Reform and Rural Development Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso opened the conference on 7 October, acknowledging the concerns of the delegates present about confronting land resource struggles and forging a path towards justice, sustainability, and dignity for both rural and urban communities.
Nyhontso said that for South Africans, the question of land is deeply personal, political, and historical.
“We meet today on land which once belonged to the Khoi and the San, who were dispossessed through colonial conquest. We carry the legacy of centuries of forced removals, segregation and apartheid where land was not only an economic asset but also a tool for exclusion and domination,” said Nyhontso.
He said South Africa’s land reform process, since 1994, has rested on three pillars: Restitution, redistribution, and tenure reform.
“Restitution has sought to restore land or provide compensation to those properties removed under apartheid laws. Redistribution has aimed to give land to the landless and land poor, create opportunities for black farmers and address historical imbalances. Tenure reform is aimed to secure the rights of those living under insecure arrangements, whether farm dwellers, labour tenants, or residents of communal areas,” he said.
“We've made progress. Millions of hectares of land have been transferred. Countless families had their rights secured, and communities have seen the return of ancestral land. Yet, we know this is not enough. Land inequality remains stark. Too much land remains concentrated in a few hands.”
The minister highlighted that women, youth and farmworkers remain marginalised and that rural poverty and land insecurity remain deep. But amidst this, Nyhontso said there is resistance. Women are leading land occupations, young people are mobilising for climate justice, and indigenous communities and peasants are defending commons and territories.
“We see academics, activists, and policymakers forging new alliances for justice. This is why this conference matters. It is not only a scholarly meeting; it is a space where evidence meets struggle, where knowledge meets power, and where we prepare together to influence Cartagena next year and beyond,” said Nyhontso.
The conference featured 10 simultaneous discussions and included a field trip for international delegates, culminating in the Cape Town declaration. The declaration was debated during the conference, and a final version was drafted on October 10. This declaration will be the key message PLAAS and the Land, Life and Society meeting delegates will take to ICARRD+20 in 2026.
The conference was also addressed by Colombia’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister Martha Carvajalino Villegas. PLAAS celebrated its 30th anniversary with a gala dinner on 7 October 2025, attended by the Rector and Dr Umesh Bawa.
