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This policy brief examines the legal complexities and risks associated with foreign investment in African farmland, specifically focusing on the often-overlooked issue of water rights. It highlights a systemic imbalance where foreign investors' statutory rights frequently override the customary water rights of local communities, exacerbated by poor state enforcement and restrictive investment contracts.

Mali is highly vulnerable to climate change due to its economic dependence on agriculture, political fragility, and low development levels. While the government has developed a comprehensive suite of climate policies and a pioneering national climate fund, actual integration into sectoral and sub-national planning remains weak. Adaptation efforts are heavily skewed toward agriculture, leaving other vulnerable sectors like fishing and specific groups like northern pastoralists underserved.