Includes colonial rule and land frontiers, late colonialism and modernisation, post-colonial nation-building and state-led development, community participation and community-based solutions, harmonising and devolving land administration, women’s land rights, pastoral land rights, market-led land redistribution in Southern Africa, foreign direct investment in land.

Includes water mining: the wrong type of farming, when the Nile runs dry, the Niger, another lifeline at risk, selected African land deals and their water implications, hydro-colonialism?, virtual water, grabbing carbon credits, stop the water grab.

A review of Fred Pearce’s book The Landgrabbers and GRAIN’s book The Great Food Robbery. Concludes that all concerned about both the immediate and the long-term implications of land grabbing are deeply indebted to the authors for these substantial contributions to our understanding of this complex and disturbing phenomenon.

Includes women’s land rights and tenure security in a context of legal pluralism and land tenure privatization; competing legal systems and land rights protection on the ground � what is going wrong? Argues that in a context of increasing land scarcity, high population pressure and progressing land tenure privatization, men are increasingly taking advantage of their superior position within the patrilineal tenure system, advancing their own interests at the expense of weaker family members, first and foremost the women in the family. At the same time, women’s ability to successfully defend their interests in land is severely limited as they often lack both the social ties and financial capability necessary to assert their rights and obtain justice in a corrupt and male-biased institutional environment.

Includes general matters, legal recognition and allocation of tenure rights and duties, transfers and other changes to tenure rights and duties, administration of tenure, responses to climate change and emergencies, promotion, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Presents a legal analysis of the national legislation that relates to Indigenous Peoples’ and communities’ forest tenure rights at a global scale by assessing whether the legal systems of 27 of the most forested developing countries of the world recognize the rights of Indigenous Peoples and communities to access, withdraw, manage, exclude and alienate to forest resources and land. The countries included in this study are home to 2.2 billion rural people and include approximately 75% of the forests in the developing world.

Examines cases of confrontation over land in Northern Zambezia, Mozambique. One large company withdrew rather than fight local peasants and take over land being used to grow food. But two other investors chose to push ahead, and have come into conflict with local peasant communities.

Examines various grievances against Socfin in Sierra Leone including lack of proper consultation, transparency and compensation, pressure and intimidation, destruction of livelihoods. Argues it is critical that the Socfin’s deal is urgently reviewed.

Investigates cases of land grabbing in Uganda, focusing in particular on oil palm plantations in Kalangala, Lake Victoria. Argues that land grabbing in Uganda is intensifying and spreading throughout the country, depriving local communities of access to natural resources, exacerbating rural poverty and aggravating the risk of food crises.

Includes why are these issues especially poignant for women?, softening the blow while tightening the wrench, a question of ownership – women and land in Africa, the realities of customary land and the rights of women, land rights – moving beyond the individual claim.

The Land Matrix, from which this report was produced, is an online public database of large-scale land deals. Report covers global overview – the rush for land for agriculture, where are investments targeted?, investors and investor countries, learning more about the drivers, processes and impacts: how land deals are implemented, bibliography.

Includes presentation of the conference; land grabbing: what is it? – old phenomenon, new appearance, scale and speed, the ‘everyone wins’ myth; testimonies and analyses by peasants and family farmers from different continents- Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe; conclusion – global land grabbing: some critical reflections by Jun Borras.

A growing body of evidence points to the scale, geography, players and key characteristics of the global land rush phenomenon. Much of the data cannot be compared so improving the data and analysis is critical. All evidence indicates that land acquisitions are happening quickly and on a large scale, so we urgently need to det on with developing appropriate responses.
Date: April 2012

Includes introduction: a new rush for land; framing the issues: historical and development questions; impacts of land grabs on rural women; concluding notes; proposed pointers for action.

Includes key issues in land and development patterns; land tenure in Africa: theory and practice; debates about ‘land grabbing’ in sub-Saharan Africa; outcomes of and responses to ‘land grabbing’; ways to mitigate conflict, social and political unrest.

Pamphlet drawn from the (above) Handbook. Practical tips and step-by-step instructions can help companies to successfully negotiate lease agreements with landowning communities. They can help communities prepare for the changes that come with high impact projects and more effectively harness their benefits and also provide the government with a tool that can be used to promote responsible investment.

Includes setting the scene in South Sudan, key concepts and guiding principles, pre-investment planning, community consultation, participatory impact assessments, participatory monitoring, grievance mechanisms, community financial management, sample of community protocol.

Inclusive business models have attracted renewed interest as part of wider debates about growing agricultural investment in developing countries. Report discusses joint ventures in South Africa’s agricultural sector. The South African experience features major specificities linked to the country’s history and recent land reform programme. Land reform beneficiaries entered into a range of joint ventures with commercial partners. Provides a cautionary tale for international debates about inclusive business models, while also identifying more promising models that are now starting to emerge.

Contains introduction, the FAO Gender and Land Project with CFJJ, Forum Mulher in collaboration with partners, CLUSA: soy bean production and land rights, Norwegian People’s Aid with partners, recommendations. Draws attention to the need for a more concerted and focused initiative in Mozambique to support women’s land rights and recommends that Norway now responds to that challenge. The major challenge is to implement the Land Law. Individuals and communities need economic and political resources to be able to claim and secure legally established rights to land.

Stresses the growing body of evidence illustrating the positive correlation between secure land rights and food security and nutrition. Also looks at constraints to secure land rights for women. Enforcement of laws can be challenging. Women’s access to land through the state or the market is often limited.

Includes land use and livelihoods, rights and rules governing land use and natural resources, women’s rights to land, local governance institutions in Liberia, disputes, dispute resolution mechanisms, sources of tenure security and insecurity, community recommendations, policy recommendations.

This report covers the lunchtime lecture on “Securing Women’s Land Rights in Southern and Eastern Africa” organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association that took place at the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday 8th February at 12.30, with the participation of Mokoro’s Elizabeth Daley. Also speaking were Simon Levine of ODI and Ruchi Tripathi of ActionAid International, with Heidi Alexander MP in the Chair.

5 briefs analyse the roots of African land tenure systems, recent policy trends and the phenomenon of large scale land acquisitions. The briefs are: Customary Land Tenure in the Modern World; Putting 20th-Century Land Policies in Perspective; Land Reform in Africa: A Reappraisal; The Status of Customary Land Rights in Africa Today; The Global Land Rush: What this Means for Customary Land Rights.

Includes development of FAO’s interest in tenure, rights and access to land and natural resources (TRA); land sector: assessment of performance 2006-10; key cross-cutting themes and approaches (gender, emergencies, Voluntary Guidelines, large-scale land acquisitions); review of FAO support to TRA for other natural resources (water, forests, wildlife, fisheries); future directions of FAO support to TRA; recommendations. Finds that there is a lack of coordination and convergence between the various groups within FAO that deal with TRA issues and that there are few real incentives to change this situation. Recommends more systematic monitoring and evaluation of project performance.

Includes current trends � levels of activity, crops and markets, sources of investment, contract transparency, geographical distribution; focus of existing discourse; land and security; weaving land into conflict narratives; risks; conclusion. Argues that access to accurate information about the extent and nature of large-scale foreign investment in Ethiopian and Sudanese land is extremely limited, so broader narratives of ‘land grabbing’ are a potentially misleading oversimplification.

Includes country context, characteristics of land investment, how land is acquired, impacts. Several large hedge and equity funds are involved in acquiring land, farm blocks are plagued by problems, there is lack of consultation, no transparency, little protection for small-scale farmers, and serious concerns about conversion of land from food to agrofuel production

Includes Mozambique – war, land and poverty; land law, investors and peasants; land concessions – forests, agrofuels and other crops; are reckless land investment deals over? Traces the history of previous land concessions. A current intense debate on the proper balance between small and large-scale, foreign and domestic investment, food and other crops. Civil society and peasant organizations have successfully exposed many failures relating to recent land investments and are now working to register community lands.

Includes introduction, context, land deals (extent, nature and origins), key issues (land availability, consultations, compensation, agrofuels), impacts (food security, water, social and political effects), conclusions – major challenges include lack of information and coordination, secrecy and flaws in the investment processes, need for transparency and open debate.

Includes land tenure systems in Rwanda, the Land Tenure Reform Programme (LTRP), summary of the land policy and the organic land law, registration of eight million parcels in three years: a realistic ambition?, land tenure regularisation and housing development in Kigali, conclusions and policy implications.

Covers common land rights challenges in Africa; history of land tenure in the Congo; land rights in the Third Republic – present-day DRC; forest legislation in DRC in context: the Congo Basin region; the development of the current forest legislation in DRC; how forests are viewed by policy makers: forests as sources of revenue; the role of civil society in forest sector debates; strategies for change used by Congolese civil society actors.

Chapter 9 in Kirk Helliker & Tendai Murisa, eds, Land Struggles and Civil Society in Southern Africa, Africa World Press. Other chapters feature South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia

Brief summary of 4 presentations at the Mokoro land seminar by Martin Adams (Mokoro) on FAO’s support for tenure, rights and access to land and natural resources: lessons from Mozambique; by Joseph Hanlon (LSE) on The Mozambique land grab myth; by Elizabeth Daley (Mokoro) on Current issues around gender and land; and by Joss Saunders (Oxfam) on Engaging in strategic litigation and working with lawyers on land, gender and access to justice.

5 chapters: introduction; features, triggers, and drivers of the global rush for land; impacts; factors shaping the land rush; conclusions and policy considerations. Africa is the prime target, the best land is often being targeted for acquisition, national elites are playing a major role, the rural poor are frequently being dispossessed, compensation for resource loss is rarely adequate, women are particularly vulnerable. Concludes that we at a crossroads as regard the future of rural societies, land-based production, and ecosystems in many areas of the global south and that urgent action is needed to bring harmful land transfers to a halt, and to redirect capital into more fruitful forms of investment where possible.

A critical review of the directions that post-conflict state-building is taking, particularly the implications for post-conflict land administration that current approaches are mandating as the ‘correct’ approach. Influenced by the author’s work for UN agencies on local government and land issues in Liberia and Somaliland.

A book containing 9 chapters covering Africa, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria.

A book containing 10 chapters covering post-conflict land in Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, Namibia, Botswana, Ghana.

Includes country context, legal and institutional frameworks, 4 case studies. The new government of South Sudan has begun promoting large-scale private investments as a shortcut to rapid economic development. Recent major land deals threaten to undermine the land rights of local communities. Lack of a regulatory framework encourages opportunistic companies and is a potential source of future conflicts. Need to place limits on land-based investment until an appropriate regulatory framework is in place.

Includes key concepts for understanding land rights; land tenure and women’s property rights in Uganda; land acquisition in Uganda; who owns the land? Perspectives from the local level. Analyses how different ways of defining landownership provide very different indications of the gendered patterns of landownership and rights. Although many households report that husbands and wives jointly own the land, women are less likely to be listed on ownership documents, especially titles, and women have fewer land rights. A simplistic focus on title to land misses much of the reality regarding land tenure and could have an adverse impact on women’s land rights.

Research conducted under the UN Peacebuilding Programme in Acholi where land conflicts have increased after the peace agreement. Involved community members and statutory and traditional leaders. Examined existing practices for the sustainable transformation of land related conflict. Revealed efficacy of existing community level mechanisms in effectively resolving land disputes. Need to resolve the legal status of local councils.

Includes study rationale and methodology; land acquisitions and agribusiness in Tanzania: a review of the literature; legal framework and the policy on land acquisition for agribusiness in Tanzania; acquisition of land for agribusiness in selected regions; emerging issues and way forward.

Includes assets, inequalities and the gender-asset gap; overview of the GAAP conceptual framework; gender, assets and agricultural development interventions; summary and implications. Discusses implications of gender differences for designing agricultural development interventions to increase asset growth. Identifies additional gaps in knowledge and possible investigations to address them.

Includes land reform and customary tenure in sub-Saharan Africa: a brief review; methodology; the statutory underpinnings of large-scale land acquisition; land acquisition in practice: evidence from case-study countries – Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia; discussion and conclusions – legal protection of customary rights, customary rights in the context of large-scale land acquisitions, evidence from implementation.

Investors often look for land with a high growing potential, which means land with lots of rainfall or land that can be irrigated. In multimillion dollar investments involving irrigation, investors typically want to secure water rights as part of the deal. Motivated by potential revenues from water fees and the prospect of improved agricultural productivity, many African governments are signing away water rights for decades to large investors. But they are doing so with little regard for how this will impact the millions of other users whose livelihoods depend on customary access to water. A real danger of setting a long-term precedent that could compromise sustainable and equitable supply to all users in the future.

Covers trends and drivers, scale and geography of the phenomenon; key land tenure issues – local landholders, investors, governments.

Includes experiences from the field (East Africa, Malawi, Cameroon, Senegal, Colombia, Pakistan). Lessons learned include participation-oriented research methods are recommended. Merely passing legislation is of little effect without the necessary resources for implementation, monitoring reforms or effective sanctions. Crucial to consult and involve women when designing reforms and monitoring their implementation. Addressing land injustices requires varied approaches. Vital to establish and maintain links among research, policy, practice and people. The importance of providing teaching and training in a variety of disciplines for a young generation of women in Africa cannot be overstated.
Date: November 2011

Includes uneven implementation, to title or not to title?, a demand-driven land reform please, a decoupled land administration structure, don’t forget the villages, Tanzania’s new wave land reform, recommendations. Argues that much could be achieved if higher level authorities and NGOs systematically strengthened the village authorities and enabled them to deliver their services. But as long as this level is forgotten, land reform will not work in practice.

Investigates how access to and control over land and labour rights are governed by gender and how that determines men’s and women’s social goals in production and reproduction. Shows how land, besides being a natural resource for food production, is also an important social, cultural and intergenerational symbol, especially for men.

Includes a history of contested ownership; land use and the law before independence; land reform after independence; communal land enclosures; illegal fencing in Omusati Region; recommendations; conclusion. Argues that government must immediately take action against illegal fencers.

Includes land acquisition: trends and drivers; experiences on the ground – South Sudan, Uganda, Indonesia, Honduras, Guatemala; what is failing at the national level?; what is failing at the international level?; growing justice – recommendations. Asserts that 227 million hectares have been sold or leased in developing countries since 2001, mostly over the past two years.

Includes summary; global land resources and projections for the future; soils and soil policies; ecosystems’ services; biofuels and impacts on land use; biofuel production and land use in Brazil; land and national self-sufficiency; land use and increasing production; overseas land investments (often called ‘land grabbing’); land rights and ownership – the Rwandan example; international voluntary guidelines for land investment; conclusion.

Analyses the shifting role of South African farmers, agribusiness and capital elsewhere in Southern Africa and the rest of the continent. Explores recent expansion trends, investigates the interests and agendas shaping such deals, and the legitimating ideologies and discourses employed in favour of them. Now it is being more centrally organised and coordinated than in the past, is more frequently taking the form of large concessions for newly formed consortia and agribusinesses, and is increasingly reliant on external financing through transnational partnerships. Documents and analyses their impacts and implications for land rights, livelihoods and the changing shape of agriculture. Addresses the degree to which South Africa is no longer merely exporting its farmers, but also its value chains, to the rest of the continent and what this means for trajectories of agrarian change.