Examines the impact of rural land policy on rural transformation and food self-sufficiency in Ethiopia and the relation this has with recent trends in large-scale rural land transactions. Concludes that there is very little institutional and technical capacity at regional level to conduct monitoring and oversight and enforce project obligations effectively.

Report brings together the multiple legal strands that weave together and form the context of farmland investments and water rights. Farmland investments are about much more than simple commercial land transactions; they have great impacts on the amount of water available for local communities and other states. Demonstrates that water is a precious resource facing growing pressures from climate change, population growth and urbanization. The water abstracted to maintain production of large-scale commercial farming further exacerbates these strains and must be given due consideration.

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.

Examines the draft Land Policy in depth. Provides an overview of the Policy and highlights the key areas of proposed change and their possible impact. Looks at the context, the problems addressed, the Policy framework, objectives and principles, strategic guidelines and options – land tenure, administration, the land registry, land transactions, and use and management of land.

Includes formal and customary land systems for property rights; legal and customary rights for women; formalization and documentation of land rights; women’s involvement in land transactions; governance and institutions; access to information about women’s land rights; recommendations.

Focuses on the reported social and environmental impacts of large-scale land transactions (LSLAs) in Africa, with a focus on West and Central Africa (WCA). Provides an analysis of 18 case studies that are among the best-documented LSLAs in terms of their impacts covering Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. Impacts were classified into five groups: tenure, land governance process, economic and livelihood, human and sociocultural, environmental.

This case study draws on research that investigated the extensive informal land market in Maputo, Mozambique; specifically, how urban land is transacted and the mechanisms by which it is secured. The case study is based on a research study managed by Caroline Wanjiku Kihato and Lauren Royston, and undertaken by José Alberto Raimundo (Universidade Pedagógica, Maputo) and Inês Macamo Raimundo (Universidade Eduardo Modlane, Maputo). The work received technical and financial support from Urban LandMark.

A stalemate over activation of an online platform that may exclude lawyers from the multi-billion shilling land conveyancing business has been referred to a soon-to-be formed taskforce.

The Annual Country Reviews reflect upon current land issues in the Mekong Region, and has been produced for researchers, practitioners and policy advocates operating in the field. Specialists have been selected from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to briefly answer the following two questions:

1. What are the most pressing issues involving land governance in your country?

2. What are the most important issues for the researcher on land?

There is a gap between land tenure and the physical land giving room for impersonation, multiple allocation and sale of plots, loss of possession, land racketeering and fraud through forgery. Hence, the need to identify unambiguously parties involved in land transactions so that the root of title can be traced to ensure tenure security. This paper explores innovative ways of filling the gap with biometric data to secure land transactions.