Asks what is customary tenure and what do we know about tenure systems and their consequences in Northern Uganda. Examines trends in land transactions and who is selling and buying land, certificates and titles for investment, and who owns customary land. Looks at protection from land alienation, the rights of women and children, the evolution of customary tenure and continuing changes in customary law. Concludes with policy recommendations and a plea for recognition that land is increasingly a cause of conflict and impoverishment.

Includes regional context, history of land tenure in Angola, the 1992 land law and its implementation, the draft Land Act of 2002 and its approval, review of post conflict potential fracture points – resettlement of IDPs and refugees, land grabbing, peri-urban land, food security and revival of agriculture, and prerequisites for a new policy.

Contains chapters on formalisation of land rights; women’s land rights – a human rights-based approach; a market-based approach to land rights, followed by country studies on Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Chapters cover introduction and background; land tenure; housing; inheritance and marital property legislation; poverty reduction strategy; land management systems; implementation of land and housing rights; good practices; conclusions; recommendations. Argues that the challenge is to take the steps necessary to speed up full implementation of the Flexible Land Tenure System so as to revitalise the hopes and aspirations of the thousands of poor families living in informal settlements. Concludes that law reform in Namibia should focus more on the equitable distribution of property upon divorce and death.

The symposium was held in Dar es Salaam on 1-2 March 2005. Report includes summaries of the 9 papers presented, issues discussed, policy recommendations and recommendations for future action. The papers cover implementation – overview, practical experiences, strategic plan, community based experiences, technical analysis, gender issues, wildlife management, privatisation, land in the context of the National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction. Participants believed there was a need for increased involvement of CSOs in monitoring and supporting implementation of the Land Acts. A Task Force was formed, composed of CSO and government representatives tasked with drawing up an action plan for future cooperation between stakeholders.

Examines the jurisdiction of the Lands Tribunal, its operations, composition, funding and secretariat. Urges the Government to finalise its draft Land Policy and revise the 1995 Lands Act. Recommends that the Lands Tribunal be decentralised to be accessible to poor women and men, that it publicise its work more and that its capacity and resources be increased. There is also a need to strengthen traditional structures and appeal mechanisms to provide a balance to the power of chiefs.

Introduction – conceptual, policy and legislative frameworks. Overview of the impact of HIV/AIDS – on poverty, livelihoods, land and agriculture. Study findings and their implications – land tenure, land rights, gender and inheritance, land use, land administration, land markets and redistribution, agricultural production. Emerging issues and policy options on land tenure, land rights, land use, land administration, land markets and redistribution, agricultural production. Includes findings from household surveys, key informant interviews and focus group discussions.

Background – renewed impetus for systematic demarcation – policy, legislative and operational frameworks. Systematic demarcation and poverty reduction – theoretical and conceptual frameworks, methodology. Outcomes of systematic demarcation – the demarcation process, transformations in land rights, including for children and women, asset enhancement, access to capital, farm investment and production, the land market, land disputes, area land committee operations, local parcel registration data bank. Conclusions and recommendations. Specifically analyses whether systematic demarcation of customary tenure will create poverty eradication opportunities for the poor.

Includes conceptualising land administration; land administration systems in Africa; the Kenyan situation; re-engineering the land administration function in Kenya – redefining the goal of land administration; establishing a National Land Commission; implementation and operationalisation of the proposed land administration structure.

A series of brief fact sheets on: background to human-wildlife conflicts in Kenya; legislative and administrative highlights; geographical areas that are prone to human-wildlife conflicts in Kenya; the role of communities in the management of biodiversity; main issues surrounding wildlife management and perpetuation of human-wildlife conflicts; current efforts at resolving human-wildlife conflicts; policy and legislative options for reform of the wildlife sector; best international practices for the management and conservation of wildlife, its habitats and biodiversity; the way forward in wildlife management and conservation.

Includes land rights in gender equity; issues in gaining access to land property – acquiring land rights from the state and through inheritance and the market, legal pluralism, population displacement; three postconflict studies (Rwanda, Guatemala, Afghanistan); conclusions and recommendations – legislation and policy, programme implementation, overcoming patriarchal norms, the cost of speaking out, gender sensitivity training and legal assistance, information on gender impact.

Includes the pastoral land question – recognition in law and policy, establishment of protected areas, access and ownership of land, land use and sustainability. Pastoral rights in policy – international research and regional developments, conceptual framework for the Policy, Policy goal, principles and objectives – land and sustainable livelihoods, land tenure, land markets, land administration, land use and management, natural resources and environment. Issues for policy – sovereignty, land tenure systems, livelihoods and poverty eradication, land markets, land use and management, land administration, natural resources and environment.

Reviews evidence from Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo to draw out the main roles that access to land has played in initiating, fuelling or perpetuating conflict, and to draw out policy conclusions. Includes sections on policy responses to land scarcity and resettlement of IDPs and refugees.

This summary of the Report of the Ndungu Commission on Illegal and Irregular Allocation of Public Land provides an insight into a critical recent episode in the struggles over land and graft in Kenya. Includes land and demography in Kenya; the law relating to the allocation of land; the Commission’s findings – (1) urban, state and ministries’ land, (2) settlement schemes and trust lands, (3) forest lands, national parks, wetlands, riparian resources and protected areas; the Commission’s recommendations; commentary. Kenya is faced with landlessness on a large scale and with recurrent land disputes among individuals and between communities. Government has just set in train a National Land Policy Formulation Process to try to sort out these underlying problems, including those thrown up by the Ndungu Commission.

The conference was part of a series of activities by ACTS seeking to improve knowledge on the links between natural resources and violent conflict. Includes full conference papers on Burundi, Eastern DRC, Rwanda, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Zimbabwe, North Kivu, as well as overview papers on a research agenda on land tenure and land reform, human-centred environmental security, Oxfam GB and land in post-conflict situations in Africa, and group discussion reports, conclusions, references.

Asks how can poor people protect their land rights? Stresses importance of land in the social, economic and political life of Africa and fact that land is contested all over Africa, with women’s rights particularly at risk. Land registration is inaccessible to most. African governments have often muddied the water, with land frequently used to reward political loyalty. The commons are especially important for poorer people, but everywhere are under growing pressure as privatisation and enclosure continue. The Commission for Africa has skirted around such issues, but there is much that aid donors could usefully do, including supporting civil society groups and media that can monitor land grabbing.

Contains introduction; the issues, emerging Intricacies – options for Policy and law reform; conclusion; references. Argues the need to address pastoral development policy in a coordinated manner in national development strategies and programmes.

Presentation at launch of a Report by Minority Rights International on ‘Pastoralism on the Margin’, Moroto, Uganda

Contains background to the Acts; the Land Act – concentration of powers in the Ministry, the provisions for a market in land, women’s rights to land, conflict resolution; the Village Land Act – definition and registration of village land, registration and adjudication of customary rights, women’s rights, conflict resolution, the enabling legislation; if not this, then what?; what next? Concludes that the Land Acts are the logical outcome of a deeply flawed policy which rely on administrative procedures rather than market forces and make highly unrealistic assumptions of administrative capacities.

Contains why the concept of public land must be incorporated in the National Land Policy; public land management; tenure of public land; administration of public land; acquisition of public land by foreigners; allocation and disposition of public land; the power of compulsory acquisition; public land and the indefeasibility of title; public land and land markets; land owned by statutory bodies; legislative framework. Each section contains a policy statement with suggestions as to what the National Land Policy should state.

Includes globalisation and agriculture – policies and effects in sub-Saharan Africa; globalisation of agriculture and land; land reform in Southern Africa and the World Bank; World Bank critique – tenure security, land transactions, redistribution. Analyses the World Bank’s policy position on land reform and argues that its approach does not address the structural reasons for the distortions of landholdings in Southern Africa and that such inequality is likely to be reaffirmed and reproduced by the Bank’s proposals. Further argues that the model of market-based land redistribution favoured by the Bank will be insufficient to dissipate the pressures of ever-growing inequality. With considerations of efficiency given prominence over other concerns, concludes that the Bank’s policies are unlikely to meet its overarching goals of poverty reduction and growth.

Report divided into 5 sections: inheritance and property rights; disability rights, HIV & AIDS, women’s property rights and livelihoods; survival strategies, nutrition, psychosocial support, economic empowerment, and self-reliance; self-reliance and economic empowerment for women in the context of HIV and AIDS; inspiring initiatives from the region (Zambia, Uganda, and Kenya). Contains a number of personal testimonies. Launched the famous T-shirt: ’property and a piece of land give women peace of mind’.

Includes a retrospective of 10 years of land reform, restitution, redistribution, farm tenure reform, communal tenure reform, debating the future of land and agrarian reform, conclusions. Argues that there is a need for the state to intervene to make suitable land available to meet local needs, rather than relying wholly on land markets. Significant progress has been made, but there is a need to integrate land reform with agricultural policy, rural development and local economic development, thus locating the redistribution of land and land rights at the centre of a wider process of pro-poor agrarian reform.

Comprises executive summary; introduction; land and land rights in Acholi; security, access to land and food security; interventions; return and the Land Act; conclusions and recommendations. CSOPNU is a loose coalition advocating for a just and lasting peace in Northern Uganda, based on analyses of underlying causes of the conflict. Research sought to provide an analysis of how issues related to land affect people in the conflict areas of Acholi sub-region, with a focus on return as a durable solution to internal displacement. Recommendations on: the need for access to their traditional land by the IDPs; availability of land near camps that can safely be accessed throughout the year; the effects of agricultural interventions, food security programmes and large scale mechanised agricultural interventions; IDP return and the role of the 1998 Land Act.

Includes a series of interviews on the theme, ‘How should the Ndungu Report recommendations be implemented? – what Kenyans say.’ Also includes some of the the Ndungu Report’s recommendations.

Covers (1) Land as a source of conflict in Africa – the multi-dimensional nature of land issues; indirect causes of conflict, land access and structural poverty; interactions between customary and state-managed tenure systems; historical injustices and land disputes. (2) Land rights during conflict – population displacement; land as a sustaining factor in conflict; land rights of women, children and marginalized communities. (3) Land access in the post-conflict context – repatriation and restitution of property after conflict; support for dispute resolution mechanisms; addressing different kinds of land rights; policy making in post-conflict situations. (4) Conclusions and recommendations.

A series of submissions by the Zambia Land Alliance on these topics: land as a right; women’s rights to land; vestment and administration of land; conversion of customary land to leasehold tenure; land and the environment; land information; mode of adoption of the Constitution.

Presentation of 5 brief case studies of what Oxfam actually did with regards land in post-conflict situations in Africa, in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Rwanda and Angola, concluding with the common themes, conclusions and lessons that emerged from the case studies. Also includes a critique of the role of USAID.

Contains sections on the effects on women of Rwanda’s civil war, the legal system, the gap between customary law and land legislation, research findings about Rwandan women’s rights, a number of dispute case studies, including methods of dispute settlement. Argues that a gap exists between customary and modern legal systems, creating both land access opportunities and constraints for women. Demonstrates the creativity with which women are bridging that gap in a state of legal uncertainty. Suggests government officials should achieve land policy and legislation that specifies and guarantees women’s land rights in theory and practice.

Contains editors’ introduction, papers on Africa, Rwanda, Senegal, findings of 5 working groups, summary of conclusions.

The EU Land Policy Guidelines (November 2004) are intended for EU donors when supporting interventions in rural land policy and administration. They are divided into Part I policy framework, Part II operational guidelines. Part I includes what is land policy and why does it matter?; links between land policy and other major policy areas (e.g. poverty reduction, gender equality, conflict, governance, environment); elements of a land policy programme; central issues for the design of land policy and land reforms (e.g. securing rights, titling, redistribution, key principles); and implementing land policies – the role of different stakeholders. Part II includes situation analysis, policy framework, opportunities for changes, sustainability, monitoring and evaluation.

Contains introduction; conflict in Rwanda; background to the development of the draft land policy; the context: land scarcity and distribution; aims and modalities of the draft land policy – consolidation, access to land for the landless, registration and tenure security, grouped settlements, land use and environmental protection; conclusions and recommendations.

Contains the rationale for addressing historical injustices in a National Land Policy; the problem; the squatter problem; the coastal land problem; displacement occasioned by land clashes; lingering claims to land by certain communities; minority communities and their claims to land; neighbouring communities; the Nubian question; conclusion. Each section contains a policy statement with suggestions as to what the National Land Policy should state. KLA’s National Coordinator hopes that this Paper will initiate a well-informed discourse and public debate on the need for policy statements on historical injustices and will strengthen the campaign for a fair and just National Land Policy.

Recent research has pointed to the significance of environmental variables as structural causes and sustaining factors in struggles for power in the Great Lakes. Contested rights to land and natural resources are significant, particularly in light of land scarcity in many areas and the frequency of population movements. Based on interviews in Goma and Ituri, as well as an extensive review of secondary literature, examines issues in Masisi and Ituri, and includes a number of recommendations for the DRC Government, the international community, and civil society actors. Contains introduction; the local political economy of land access; the issue of border identities; alienation of customary land; side-stepping the land law in Ituri; land and conflict in Masisi after 1998; conclusions and recommendations.

ACTS Eco-Conflicts Policy Brief, Volume 3 Number 4

Focuses on the need for the National Land Policy to address natural resources, especially water, forest and wildlife management, fishing and mining. The Land Policy and new mining policy and legislation framework must guarantee and promote community rights. Argues the need for community participation for sustainable forest management.

Examines (1) what is the issue and why is it important? – equality and economic growth, tenure insecurity, governance and institutions; (2) current evidence: what do we know? – land redistribution for productive use, policy reforms to strengthen security of tenure, state facilitation of land markets; (3) what we don’t know: closing the evidence gap – reconciling social justice / equity and agricultural growth, land administration, agricultural growth and poverty reduction, appropriate taxation of land and productive resources.

Africa’s poor are heavily dependent on land and natural resources for livelihood, but some governments continue to resist transferring full resource management rights to them. This risks the loss or degradation of these resources, or their transfer into private hands. The continent’s development challenges are compounded by many factors, including unequal social, economic and political relations, the legacy of colonialism, globalisation, and collusive neo-liberal policy which favours capital and powerful allies. In addition, the voice of Africans in the debates which shape important processes at global, continental and national levels are seldom heard. The Pan-Africa Programme on Land and Resource Rights (PAPLRR) is a civil society initiative which sets out to address these issues.

Civil society formations in Africa have historically played an important part in the establishment of organising people in the pursuit of common goals. The majority of Africa’s people reside in rural areas where they derive their livelihoods from land, and for this majority secure access to land is the foundation of any efforts to alleviate poverty. Land reforms in Africa are at various stages of development in a number of countries, partly in response to pressures for liberalisation and privatisation from the World Bank and other like-minded institutions. Civil society organisations have played an important role in the development of progressive policies in some countries. The lessons learned from those countries must be applied in continuing advocacy for reforms which increase access among the poor to land and resource rights.

The primary purpose of land reform in South Africa is to redistribute agricultural and other land to address the racially skewed pattern of landholding and promote development. Slow progress in land reform over the past decade underscores the urgency of finding ways to accelerate the process. The state has adopted a market-assisted approach to redistribution. This means that land is usually bought at full market price. In addition, substantial funding is needed for the implementation of the programme and for post-settlement support to beneficiaries. The budget allocated to land reform is therefore of central importance to the programme. Surveys trends in the land reform budget over the past decade, with particular emphasis on redistribution.

The Communal Land Associations in Community Forests of Budongo Sub-county are the first pilots in Uganda, and are still in the process of formation. Given that this is a new method for group tenure interests in resource management, the process should be dynamic and invite close analysis for improvement. This study specifically documents: 1) how tenure issues have been considered in the establishment of community forests; and how rights in land can constrain or support community involvement in community forest management; 2) how communities secure their tenure rights in community forests; how the resources are utilised such that user rights are both respected and protected; and 3) the roles played by different local stakeholders in creating the CLAs. Tenure issues were found to manifest themselves in unexpected ways as members of the community itself were not concerned about potential restrictions on themselves, as long as they could secure tenure to the forest.

Land in Uganda is the core factor of production and one of the three basic resources, next to people and time. Women’s struggle for gender balance with particular regard to land is a direct result of the fact that their central role in economic development has not been recognised; tradition and customs (such as polygamy, bride wealth and succession) have deprived them of actual ownership of land. The thrust is to explore the gains and losses for women, after the flurry of action that civil society and other actors engaged in during the land reform process to ensure that gender rights are recognised.

The result of intensive literature review and secondary data analysis to set forth the rationale for a more proactive involvement of the land sector in responding to the socio-economic impacts of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Aims at developing strategies for the land sector to respond to the livelihood effects of HIV/AIDS in household and communities by situating and explaining the linkages between HIV/AIDS and land with measures adaptable to the land reform process.

Seeks to move the debate and stimulate discussion of issues relevant to women’s land rights and social security beyond the unfulfilled demands for gender responsive land policies and land legal framework. Covers land tenure and ownership, provisions in Trust Land, for inheritance, for succession and matrimonial policy, the impact of HIV/AIDS on women’s land rights, land redistribution and resettlement schemes, land markets, institutional arrangements, the envisaged legislative framework.

A second independent newsletter providing details of current developments in land reform and land conflicts in the Horn, East and Central Africa. Covers Burundi, Eastern DRC, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan (including origins of the Darfur crisis), Tanzania and Uganda. As in Southern Africa, land is a highly contested and contentious issue right across the region. A short case study in Apac, Northern Uganda, symbolises the dilemmas of land reforms across the continent in an era of privatisation. Some are very clearly gaining at the expense of others.

Describes current land administration practices as understood by traditional structures to unpack some components of existing African tenure arrangements in KwaZulu-Natal. Hoped this will help better to understand how communal land systems operate, regardless of which structure governs them, in order to support practices that secure tenure effectively. Includes introduction, background to the research, the debate about the role of traditional institutions in a democracy, gender equity, research objectives and methodology, research findings – structure, land administration, access, use and alienation, conclusions.

Land reform is one way in which the ‘new’ South Africa set out to redress the injustices of apartheid and, by redistributing land to black South Africans, to transform the structural basis of racial inequality. During the first decade of democracy, land reform has fallen far short of both public expectations and official targets. This article describes the progress of the programme and its changing nature. It is argued that a recent shift in land policy, from a focus on the rural poor to ‘emerging’ black commercial farmers, is consistent with changes in macro-economic policy and reflects shifting class alliances. The programme now appears to pursue a limited deracialisation of the commercial farming areas rather than a process of agrarian restructuring. Most fundamentally, land reform has not yet provided a strategy to overcome agrarian dualism.

Includes a series of articles on finally starting the process of developing a National Land Policy in Kenya, including an editorial, the overall concern, the squatter crisis, public land management.

An independent newsletter providing news of new developments in land reform in Southern Africa in 2003-4. Covers Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Contains introduction; determinants of property rights and consequences of loss (including country examples from Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia); policy context: influencing strategies to promote property and housing rights; finding what works: mapping good practice in local and national activities (including legislative frameworks, judicial capacity and litigation, public awareness); lessons and suggested next steps; conclusion; appendices; references.

Includes secure resource tenure and poverty alleviation, acquiring rights over land and natural resources and how this looks at the field level, local community delimitation, sharing resource access and use benefits, partnership and other forms of shared resource use, case study experiences at provincial level in Manica.

Green Agri Net Conference on Farmers’ Access to Land and Resources: Land Registration in Practice, Denmark

Contains introduction; the goals and objectives of land policy; land sovereignty; land tenure classification; incidents of tenure; historical claims; tenure of land-based resources; productive and sustainable land use; the management and development of land; land rights delivery; demarcation and cadastral survey; land market regulation; land dispute resolution; appendix on national civil society land policy principles.