Covers multiplicity and diversity of land conflicts; the formal conflict settlement and its limitations; definitions of alternative conflict management methods; key alternative conflict management methods; limitations of alternative conflict management mechanisms.

Includes land registration: the favourite instrument of the colonial land reclamation policy; land registration in real contexts; need for alternative land tenure securing approaches.

During the last two decades, local conventions have increased in the field, and are now considered as promising alternative solutions for a participatory management of natural resources and land. But what does the concept ‘local conventions’ mean? What is the contribution of these conventions to the improvement of natural resource and land management? Are they recognized by the law? What are their limitations?

Why does the delimitation of local authorities’ area of influence cause so many problems in most West African countries? Does decentralization not usually result in the artificial and top-down creation of local administrative units whose entire legitimacy in the area of land management is yet to establish, while village or inter-village authorities have strong anchorage? Does one of the major rural land management challenges not consist in striking balance between the capacities devolved to the newly established municipal authorities and the historical roles of already established village institutions?

Analyzes land tenure dimensions of migrations in rural areas, especially accommodation and integration mechanisms, as well as emerging strategies. Highlights the local changes of which both natives and migrants are the main stakeholders.

Proposes a clear, simple method for characterising rights to land and natural resources and holders of land rights that can easily be applied in different cultures and legal systems all over the world.

Includes strategic plan for implementation of the land laws, implementation activities: setting up local land administrations and dispute mechanisms, lessons learned and challenges ahead.

Includes land and violent conflict in Africa; land policy in conflict-affected or conflict-prone contexts; key elements of conflict-sensitive land policy; the framework and guidelines for land policy in Africa; role of the different actors; conclusions and recommendations.

Fears of food insecurity, water scarcity and the search for diminishing natural resources are making land our most precious asset. This edition of Food Ethics takes a closer look at some of these pressures on land in the UK and the developing world, and assesses the best ways of tackling them. Includes short articles on global land grabbing, Zimbabwe’s land reform, gender and land reforms.

Focus on a new book Zimbabwe’s Land Reform: Myths and Realities by Ian Scoones, Nelson Marongwe, Blasio Mavedzenge, Felix Murimbarimba, Jacob Mahenehene and Chrispen Sukume. It asks what has happened in the ten years since large areas of Zimbabwe’s commercial farm land were invaded by land-hungry villagers, and challenges the view that land reform was an unmitigated disaster. Includes interviews with Ian Scoones, a series of 6 articles in The Zimbabwean, and links to related publications.

Includes background to women’s land rights in Zambia; policy and legal reforms of the1990s; key findings – gender insensitivity on land laws and policies, the high cost of legal fees to handle land disputes, the limited benefits of title deeds for women, lack of awareness on land policy process, land grabbing and disinheritance, lack of security of tenure, lack of access to justice; conclusions and recommendations.

Argues that decentralisation holds much potential for lively, participatory democratic lawmaking and enforcement through which rural women can gain greater power and secure more rights. Essential that all decentralisation policy be guided by constitutional principles. Explores the guiding principles necessary to safeguard democratic decentralisation.

Identifies disputed control over land as a root cause of conflict in Eastern DRC. Focuses on conflicts between customary and state-run land tenure systems, and claims by some communities to ‘indigenous’ status which are used to relegate others to ‘migrant’ or ‘foreigner’ status. Waves of population displacement have created overlapping claims to land, and an ongoing process of refugee return is currently increasing tensions over these claims in parts of Eastern DRC. Examines efforts to manage this return process and offers recommendations for action by local and international actors.

A framework to strengthen land rights, enhance productivity and secure livelihoods. Includes background; the context of the land question; land in the national development process; the process of land policy development; land policy implementation; tracking progress in land policy development and implementation; overall conclusion.

Contains relationship between land rights, poverty and food security; political support for women’s land rights?; change through education and empowerment; in whose interest?; law and enforcement; part of wider changes.

Globalisation impacts on local land markets and land-use, land transaction costs affect food prices, and the combined effect is particularly damaging to women who produce food and put food on the table for their families. Article examines what is attracting investors and market speculators into the farm and land sectors; what is at stake for small farmers – especially women farmers – and long-term impacts for food production and food security; and what action is needed to enable women to secure access to natural resource and land assets for current and future generations?

Includes land and reintegration in Northern Uganda, land hotspots, land dispute resolution mechanisms, Certificates of Customary Ownership, options of freehold and leasehold titles, commercial agricultural investment.

Includes background to women’s land rights in Uganda; lack of information; prevailing cultural attitudes that discriminate against women; lack of formal land ownership by women; lack of participation of women in land policy formulation; exclusion of women in matters of land inheritance; lack of access to justice; gaps in the ongoing land reform process; conclusions and recommendations.

Includes the rise of land deals in sub-Saharan Africa; land grabbing and risks for small scale farmers; land grabs: another yoke over women’s land rights?; is land grabbing threatening pastoralism?; opportunity for groups at risk: the African Union’s continental standards on the land question.
Date: October 2010

Key issues identified include linkages to regional and national initiatives; land tenure, customary land tenure and land administration; natural resources tenure; land governance and issues of gender, IDPs and refugees; land use planning, urban development and land conversion; impact of investment on land rights; need for capacity building for land institutions and civil society.

Includes the elusive path to development; land rights in plural legal systems – customary land law, law reform as a mechanism for change, current challenges in using formal law to promote change, country case studies in Mozambique and Tanzania; research-based conclusions, broader conclusions and recommendations.

Draws on fieldwork and data from authors’ edited volume on Women’s Land Rights and Privatization in Eastern Africa and a collection of papers edited for the Journal of Eastern African Studies. Authors have developed a positive, pragmatic and innovative approach to securing land rights for women grounded in gender equity. 3 key themes: the role of customary institutions in securing women’s land rights; the continuing central role of legislation as a foundation for changing custom; the challenges of reform implementation and of building women’s confidence to claim their rights.

African Studies Association of the UK biennial conference, Oxford

Key issues identified include linkages to regional and national initiatives; land tenure, customary land tenure and land administration; natural resources tenure; land governance and issues of gender, IDPs and refugees; land use planning, urban development and land conversion; impact of investment on land rights; need for capacity building for land institutions and civil society.

Includes gender in the existing literature, entrenched gender discrimination, case studies from Ethiopia, Zambia and Rwanda, ways forward, conclusion. Based on a larger study for the International Land Coalition.

African Studies Association of the UK biennial conference, Oxford

Includes land grabbing in early colonial Zimbabwe and Mozambique, contemporary land grabbing, biofuels (citing IIED and Houtart), a ‘race to the bottom’ to attract investors? (citing the new World Bank report), the literature (citing Zoomers, Borras and Franco), conclusion.

African Studies Association of the UK biennial conference, Oxford

Examines progress made on land related provisions in the 2005 Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with special reference to Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states in central Sudan. Includes history of the land issue in the two contested areas; the CPA and progress in meeting land commitments; is there anything to learn from the rest of Africa on land matters?; conclusions and recommendations; overview of 20th century land legislation in Sudan.

The results of a small grants competition aimed at generating insights into land reform based on original and recent field research by young Zimbabwean scholars. 15 grants were awarded and the results are to be found in these Working Papers.

The Namibian part of a 3-country project which also covered Zimbabwe and . Includes land reform and poverty: national policy context; regional contexts: Hardap and Omakeke; Affirmative Action Loan Scheme; Farm Unit Resettlement Scheme; group settlement schemes; rethinking viability: reflecting on the research findings; policy implications.

Download part 2 of the report.

Large-scale land acquisitions can have lasting repercussions for the future of agriculture, including both agribusiness and family farming. Rather than rushing into land deals, governments and investors should properly consider the wider range of options to invest in agriculture. In many parts of the world, family farmers have proved efficient and dynamic. Working with them can generate healthy returns, avoid the risks associated with land acquisitions, and improve farmers’ livelihoods.

Includes land alienation in the case study sites; impacts of land alienation; coping strategies; conclusions and policy recommendations. Found that livestock numbers are declining dramatically in the area, land degradation is increasing, people are becoming more vulnerable to drought and famine, and resource-based conflicts are increasing in severity. The traditional pastoralist way of life is increasingly making way for sedentary farming and enclosed private grazing land.

Contains topic and rationale, research methods, socio-economic context and biofuels initiatives, policy and legal framework for biofuels production, reconciling competing resource uses, community consultations and community-investor partnerships. Concludes that the design and implementation of policy tools is riddled with difficulties. The inability to enforce progressive legislation results in threats to community rights. The effectiveness of community consultations is questionable, as is the claim that biofuels can be commercially grown on marginal land. Need for more thorough scrutiny of investment proposals and for further research and continued monitoring.

Topics addressed were land administration, taxation and markets, diversity of tools, role of land-related professions; management and rights concerning common natural resources, access and rights of herders, fishers and users of forest products; access of specific social groups to land and natural resources – women, young people and indigenous groups; urban and peri-urban land – urban planning and development and related land policy; agricultural investment, medium- and large-scale land acquisition and land policy.

Includes addressing land related challenges in post-conflict reconstruction; women and land rights in Uganda; women and land in Acholi culture; the war and its effects on land in the return process; peace, recovery and development plan; opportunities for women’s land rights.

A study of Botswana’s Tribal Land Integrated Management System (TLIMS), which documented the land inventorying of customary land.

Includes official land rights in Kenya; refusing inheritance – widows and daughters in the patrilineage, dispute trajectories; institutionalizing women’s exclusion – local control boards, local dispute tribunals, formal courts; shifting the debate; working with constructive values in this context. The problem needs to be tackled using the avenues that currently promote the marginalization of women; the socio-cultural value systems that determine which behaviour, arguments, and actions are legitimate in a community.

Includes incidences of land grabbing in the region, land grabbing from the supply and demand sides, community resistance to land grabbing, what should be done on land grabbing, way forward.

A guide targeted at humanitarians, land professionals and government officials. Includes understanding land issues after natural disasters, land and the initial response, land and key humanitarian sectors, land as a cross-cutting issue, operations timeline: who does what when?, monitoring and evaluation, conclusions and recommendations. Contains many short cases (Aceh, Pakistan, Mozambique etc) illustrating practical aspects of bringing land issues into the post-disaster recovery process.

Covers what is ‘land’ and what ‘property’ in the proposed Constitution?; where is land covered; common questions…with some answers; what does the proposed Constitution actually say and not say about land?; so what is the verdict? Concludes that it opens the door to significant reforms and failure to perform could be a matter of challenge in the courts. Ordinary Kenyans will need to hold the State to account in devising appropriate legislation and programmes swiftly and with the maximum of public participation.

Includes increased priority to land reform, development versus redistribution, an economic-oriented land reform, support following land redistribution, gender, securing land tenure, poverty and marginalisation, HIV/AIDS, mineral rights and land rights.

Lists titles and authors of papers from World Bank conference most relevant to current concerns about land grabbing in Africa. Also cites the relevant URLs and gives summaries of the papers.

Includes competing views of land-grabbing, Code of Conduct: consolidation of land-grab agenda, the many faces and directions of land use and land property relations change today, the ‘land sovereignty’ alternative.

Short analysis of the farm invasions from the perspective of Zimbabwe’s 300,000 farm workers, who are among those excluded from the distribution of land. In the past land invaders have been evicted by government which makes those now settled uneasy. Criticises technocratic proposals by the opposition which would also disqualify farm workers. One solution is to look at the local level, where various new forms of cooperation and sharing are occurring.

Contains a human rights framework to analyze foreign land grabbing – the rights to adequate food, housing and standard of living, the rights to work, self-determination and not to be deprived of one’s means of subsistence, and the rights of indigenous peoples. Followed by case studies of Kenya and Mozambique and concluding remarks about land grabbing and human rights violations.

Examines the role of the MCC in Africa, with particular attention on its activities in Madagascar, Mali, Ghana and Mozambique.

Covers poverty reduction, the National Resettlement Programme models – group farming and small-scale commercial farming, economic sustainability of small-scale commercial faming, the way forward.

Includes why has it taken so long to issue leaseholds?; the Land Acquisition and Development Fund; can a leasehold be used as collateral?; the Post Settlement Support Fund and who will benefit from it?; do commercial banks recognise the leasehold agreement?; can a leasehold be inherited?; no option to purchase leased land anymore; land use; the way forward.

Analyses the role of land as a place and source of conflict, especially with regard to policy development, crisis management and post-war/post-conflict reconstruction. The authors aim to delve into the underlying causes of land issues, both at national level and also in terms of broader Africa. Covers land issues in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, northern Cameroon, Namibia, Mozambique, Angola, DRC, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Topics include: ethnic and indigenous land conflicts, traditionalism versus modernity, renewed land interests, land use and conflict, state building, planning, inclusiveness/non-inclusiveness; regional scopes of land conflicts and changing norms.

Includes ’small-holder’ farmers as potential beneficiaries of agrarian reform in South Africa, a class-analytic approach to small-scale farming, accumulation ’from above’ and ’from below’, policy implications.

Contains a critique of food and land reform policies in South Africa, findings, analysis and recommendations. Findings focus on women and farming: significance, roles and responsibilities, accessing and cultivating land, support from the private and public sector, reflections of emerging women farmers

Includes inheritance: a key way women access land; local mechanisms: ‘custom’, power dynamics and lack of engagement; formal justice system: community pariah status and systemic barriers. The lack of access to land cannot be framed as a failing of formal or informal systems, but rather as issues with both. The key to increasing access to justice at both formal and informal levels is to address power dynamics and understand how they operate to the detriment of women.