Celine Salcedo-La Viña

Research Associate II

Bio

Celine is a Research Associate with the Land and Resource Rights project at WRI’s Governance Center. She conducts legal and policy analysis to support LRR’s work in strengthening land and natural resources rights of rural communities across Africa. She also conducts research on the law and practice of large-scale land acquisitions, and works with partner organizations to promote gender equitable land acquisition procedures for agricultural investments in community lands in Tanzania, Mozambique and the Philippines.

Celine previously worked in the Philippines as counsel for a university and for a property development group engaged in developing industrial estates and special economic zones. She also served as counsel to a special commission investigating graft charges against former government officials and advised a regional non-profit organization promoting rice sufficiency programs in Asia. Prior to joining WRI, Celine was an intern and wrote the country profiles for Liberia and the Philippines for the USAID Land Tenure and Property Rights Portal. She also interned at Gender Action and co-wrote a paper on gender responsiveness of multilateral adaptation investments in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Celine holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of the Philippines and is currently completing a master’s degree in International Affairs at the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences/School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown University. Celine lives in Rockville, MD with her husband, Ricky, and daughters, Annika and Maika.

Blog Posts

Global Rights, Local Struggles: Barriers to Women’s Participation in Community Land Decision-Making
by Celine Salcedo-La Viña - June 28, 2017
National policies encouraging women's political participation lack implementation guidelines they need to have effect.
Why Are Women Left Out of Land Decisions, Despite Gender Equity Laws?
by Celine Salcedo-La Viña - July 28, 2016
Laws alone can't give women a voice in decision-making. New WRI research explores how gender equity policies can be better implemented in Mozambique, Tanzania and the Philippines.
Strengthening Indigenous Land Rights: 3 Challenges to “Free, Prior and Informed Consent”
by Nicholas Tagliarino, Celine Salcedo-La Viña and Sam Szoke-Burke - May 09, 2016
Under international human rights laws, indigenous communities must be able to approve any development project that directly affects their lands or resources. There are a few reasons why this doesn't always happen in practice.
3 Ways to Tackle the Global Problem of Insecure Land Rights
by Peter Veit, Caleb Stevens, Celine Salcedo-La Viña, Nicholas Tagliarino and Katie Reytar - March 18, 2015
Local communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America can lose access to critical resources when land rights are weak, threatening food and incomes for more than two billion people. Three fundamental goals must be achieved to improve land rights.
Q&A with Alda Salomao: Natural Gas Project Threatens Community Land in Mozambique
by Celine Salcedo-La Viña - March 05, 2015
Alda Salomao is the director general of Centro Terra Viva, an organization working to secure community land rights in Mozambique. In an interview with WRI's Celine Salcedo-La Viña, she describes the tension between communities in the Afungi Peninsula and a natural gas project.
One Village in Tanzania Shows Locally Managed Development Makes Good Business Sense
by Celine Salcedo-La Viña and Emmanuel Sulle - January 22, 2015
Many developing country governments have transferred large swathes of community land to agri-businesses, extractive industries, infrastructure developers and other investors as a way to grow their economies. These actions often come at the expense of local communities, who lose rights to the lands they’ve lived on for generations.

But development doesn’t need to come at the expense of local communities. As one community in Tanzania is showing, alternative business models can allow citizens to retain their lands and resources while also capitalizing on economic opportunities.
New Map Documents Natural Resource Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa
by Peter Veit and Celine Salcedo-La Viña - January 14, 2014
Many countries in Africa are rich with trees, wildlife, minerals, and other natural resources. But as new WRI research and an interactive map show, few national laws provide communities with strong, secure rights to the resources on their land.

WRI conducted a systematic review of the national framework laws for five natural resources—water, trees, wildlife, minerals, and petroleum—in 49 sub-Saharan African countries. The results are presented in our new Rights to Resources map.

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Celine Salcedo-La Viña

Global Rights, Local Struggles: Barriers to Women’s Participation in Community Land Decision-Making

Why Are Women Left Out of Land Decisions, Despite Gender Equity Laws?

Strengthening Indigenous Land Rights: 3 Challenges to “Free, Prior and Informed Consent”

3 Ways to Tackle the Global Problem of Insecure Land Rights

Q&A with Alda Salomao: Natural Gas Project Threatens Community Land in Mozambique

One Village in Tanzania Shows Locally Managed Development Makes Good Business Sense

New Map Documents Natural Resource Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa

Making Women’s Voices Count In Community Decision-Making On Land Investments

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