Skip to main content

Land Rights in Africa

Facilitating key dialogues and debates around land rights

Robin Palmer sadly passed away in February 2023. Many tributes have recognised the tremendous personal contribution that Robin has made to supporting land rights in Africa, including through his curation of this site until his retirement in 2021; this includes tributes by Robin’s former colleagues and collaborators Martin Adams, Craig Castro and Ian Scoones.

We are proud to host the Land Rights in Africa archive to facilitate dialogue and related debates around this important subject. Created in January 2000 by Robin Palmer, a land rights adviser working for Oxfam GB at the time and in later years a Mokoro Principal Consultant, the site is a library of publications with a particular focus on the impact of land grabbing in Africa.

A note from Mokoro

Mokoro are happy to host Land Rights in Africa here on our website. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not represent those of Mokoro.

Wherever possible, we link to the source website of publications. However, we kindly request that readers notify Mokoro if the URLs to publications change or are removed. Please send amendments to mokoro@mokoro.co.uk.

Links to other relevant sites

  1. Africa Coalition Against Land Grabs
  2. African Institute for Agrarian Studies (Zimbabwe)
  3. Agter (France)
  4. CAPRi – Collective Action and Property Rights
  5. Custom Contested (South Africa)
  6. ESAFF Uganda (Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers’ Forum)
  7. FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
  8. Fida (Federation of Women Lawyers) – Kenya
  9. Future Agricultures Consortium
  10. GLTN – Global Land Tool Network
  11. GRAIN – Food Crisis and the Global Land Grab
  12. HakiArdhi/Land Rights Research and Resources Institute (Tanzania)
  13. Haki Grassroots Justice
  14. Huairou Commission
  15. The Hub (Le Hub Rural): Supporting Rural Development in Western and Central Africa
  16. IFAD – International Fund for Agricultural Development
  17. IIED – International Institute for Environment & Development (empowerment & land rights)
  18. ILC – International Land Coalition
  19. KLA -Kenya Land Alliance
  20. LEMU – Land and Equity Movement in Uganda
  21. LDPI – Land Deals Policy Initiative
  22. Landesa – Rural Development Institute
  23. Land Portal
  24. Legal Assistance Centre (Namibia)
  25. MST – Landless Workers Movement (Brazil)
  26. Namati
  27. Oxfam Land Rights
  28. PLAAS – Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (South Africa)
  29. PLACE – Property, Land, Access, Connections, Empowerment (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
  30. Ruzivo Trust (Zimbabwe)
  31. TAWLA (Tanzania Women Lawyers Association)
  32. Uganda Land Alliance
  33. World Bank (Agriculture)
  34. WISP (World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism)
  35. Zambia Land Alliance
  36. Zimbabwe’s Land Reform
Filters
Filters
    Filter by Country
    Search
    Show (1217)
    Cancel
    Land grabbing in pastoral areas: insights from Eastern Africa
    Source: Raycraft et al. New

    November 2025

    Land grabbing in pastoral areas: insights from Eastern Africa

    The article investigates the drivers and dynamics of land grabbing in Eastern African pastoral regions, where drylands long overlooked by governments and investors are increasingly viewed as valuable—leading to the alienation of rangelands from the pastoral communities that depend on them. Drawing on case studies across Eastern Africa, the authors identify four major processes through which pastoral lands are being appropriated: privatization and land subdivision, resource extraction and carbon/energy projects, large-scale commercial agriculture, and “green grabbing” for conservation and tourism. These processes undermine local tenure security, fragment pastoral landscapes, and disrupt long-established mobile grazing systems. The article highlights how bureaucratic…
    Read More
    Large-scale land acquisitions for carbon offsetting: Green grabbing or just transition?
    Source: Land MatrixNew

    October 2025

    Large-scale land acquisitions for carbon offsetting: Green grabbing or just transition?

    The report examines how large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) are increasingly driven by carbon offset projects, particularly within the voluntary carbon market (VCM), and assesses their social and environmental implications in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Carbon markets have expanded rapidly in recent years, promoting nature-based solutions that generate tradable carbon credits, but concerns exist over the accuracy of claimed emission reductions and the resulting demand for land. Analysing hundreds of deals, the report finds that these carbon-linked land investments cover millions of hectares worldwide, often on land that is not genuinely unused. This raises significant risks to the rights and…
    Read More
    The ‘return’ of land grabbing?
    Source: Serrano et al.

    May 2025

    The ‘return’ of land grabbing?

    The article argues that land grabbing has not disappeared since its peak in the early 2010s; rather, it persists and has transformed in scope, form, actors, and justifications. Contemporary land grabbing remains deeply embedded in global political–economic structures shaped by geopolitical shifts, financialization and climate policies. The authors contend that what may appear as a “decline” in attention is actually a normalization and invisibilization of land grabs—through institutional routinization and dispersed actors—that obscures ongoing processes of land control and dispossession. They emphasize that land grabbing today exhibits diverse expressions beyond classic large-scale agricultural acquisitions, including medium and small-scale deals, and…
    Read More
    Land availability and land-use changes in Africa
    Source: Zamchiya & Resere (PLAAS)New

    October 2025

    Land availability and land-use changes in Africa

    The report challenges the dominant narrative that Africa has vast “unused” land available for industrial agriculture, carbon projects, and other investments, showing this idea is empirically and ideologically flawed. Most land labelled under-utilised is actually actively used for grazing, shifting cultivation, resource gathering, cultural practices, or ecological functions, and often carries layered customary rights invisible in formal registers. It critiques assumptions that modern technologies alone can solve food insecurity, that smallholder farming is unproductive, and that expanding markets automatically improves nutrition or creates decent jobs. Smallholders manage the majority of food production and are essential for food sovereignty. The report…
    Read More
    Securing Women’s Housing, Land, and Property Rights – Advocating for Women’s Inheritance Rights in Plateau State, Nigeria
    Source: Norwegian Refugee CouncilNew

    November 2025

    Securing Women’s Housing, Land, and Property Rights – Advocating for Women’s Inheritance Rights in Plateau State, Nigeria

    The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) report documents ongoing efforts to strengthen women’s rights to housing, land, and property (HLP) in Plateau State, Nigeria, where customary norms often block women from inheriting or owning land despite legal equality protections. Women are frequently denied inheritance, evicted from land, or stripped of property after displacement or the death of male relatives. NRC and partners are combining legal reform, engagement with traditional authorities, and community sensitisation to improve recognition and enforcement of women’s HLP rights. Key activities include drafting a women’s inheritance rights bill, securing Certificates of Occupancy for women, and promoting gender-inclusive dispute-resolution…
    Read More
    Securing women’s land rights in Africa
    Source: International Land Coalition

    July 2025

    Securing women’s land rights in Africa

    The piece assesses progress toward the African Union’s goal of ensuring that women hold 30 % of documented land rights by 2025, a target set to advance gender justice and economic inclusion. A 21 May 2025 stakeholder dialogue brought together representatives from the AU, FAO, IGAD, national governments, civil society and community land advocates to evaluate where countries stand. Despite legal reforms and political commitments, most countries are not on track to meet the target. While women perform the majority of agricultural labour, they remain largely excluded from formal land ownership. Several nations—including Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—show legal progress…
    Read More
    Proposals to Policymakers to Transform Land Administration and Secure Tenure for Unregistered Land Rights in South Africa
    Source: Wilmien Wicomb (PARI)

    January 2025

    Proposals to Policymakers to Transform Land Administration and Secure Tenure for Unregistered Land Rights in South Africa

    The brief addresses how South Africa can improve tenure security for people whose land rights are not formally registered in the nation’s deeds system—particularly those with informal, customary or “off-register” rights that are widespread but legally invisible. It argues that existing land administration systems, designed for common-law property, are ill-equipped to recognise these diverse tenure forms. The author highlights abundant empirical research showing how people in urban informal settlements and rural areas navigate and regulate land rights locally, often through coherent social norms and informal registers that operate outside formal systems. The brief emphasises the need for evidence-based policy making…
    Read More
    Why land redistribution must be central to human flourishing in an era of extreme inequality
    Source: Ian Scoones (Zimbabweland)New

    October 2025

    Why land redistribution must be central to human flourishing in an era of extreme inequality

    The article argues that land redistribution remains critical for human flourishing in a world marked by growing land concentration and deep inequality. Far from being outdated, redistributive land reform was a core theme at a recent conference hosted by the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS). Speakers stressed that access to land and resources is essential for secure livelihoods and social justice, especially for landless, poor and marginalised groups. The Cape Town Declaration emerging from the event outlines four key principles: reversing land concentration by redistributing land and water; moving beyond market-based reforms to include redistribution of control;…
    Read More
    Kenyan women lost their husbands and then their land. But some are fighting back
    Source: Evelyne Musambi (AP News)New

    January 2026

    Kenyan women lost their husbands and then their land. But some are fighting back

    In western Kenya, thousands of widows risk losing their land after their husbands’ deaths because of customary practices that pressure women into “wife inheritance” or “sexual cleansing”—and disinherit those who refuse. These norms persist even though Kenya’s constitution guarantees land ownership rights to all citizens. Many widows, especially in rural areas, are unaware of their legal protections and lack access to legal support, leaving them vulnerable to eviction and land loss at the hands of their late husbands’ families. In response, Siaya County’s local assembly unanimously passed a Widows Protection Bill that would criminalize forced remarriage and disinheritance and create…
    Read More
    Lost Land, Broken Homes: The Struggles of Returnees and Relocated Persons in Northeast Nigeria
    Source: NRC

    May 2025

    Lost Land, Broken Homes: The Struggles of Returnees and Relocated Persons in Northeast Nigeria

    This report examines the challenges surrounding Housing, Land, and Property (HLP) rights among communities in Northeast Nigeria who have been displaced and are now facing return or relocation by government authorities. Drawing on survey data from 150 displaced individuals across Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states, it highlights pressing concerns including insecure land tenure, widespread destruction of homes, legal barriers, and systemic gender-based discrimination. Findings reveal that 72% of those returning do not possess formal land ownership documents, and 64% encounter disputes over property upon return. Beyond these figures, the report captures the lived experiences of affected people and outlines urgent…
    Read More

    Join our mailing list

    Sign up to our mailing list