Relata cómo a partir de la década de los 2000, los indígenas guaraníes que habitaban Pananti APG, comunidad de Yacuiba, Bolivia, comenzaron a recuperar su identidad cultural y a defender sus derechos a su territorio. Por ello, alrededor de 20 familias guaraníes, principalmente lideradas por mujeres, defendieron sus tierras a través de trámites de titulación de una parte de Pananti.

In 2005, massive hurricanes battered communities along the Gulf Coast of the United States. In the aftermath, thousands of families who lived on land passed down to them informally by parents and grandparents learned that because they lacked clear formal title to their properties, they were ineligible for disaster assistance to rebuild their homes. Related title issues in other regions kept families from developing inherited lands and allowed predatory developers to use court-ordered partition sales to grab long-held properties for pennies on the dollar.

This paper focuses on one community in Cambodia that won back land from a large land deal by grabbing onto the rupture in property relations initiated by a one-year land titling campaign. I document the struggle between competing legibility and illegibility projects which I examine through two moments, one of the state choosing to see its population and their relations to territory, and another in which the state’s excuses for not recognizing smallholders’ claims began to falter.

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This guidebook provides conceptual, legal and practical tools and resources to help civil society organizations guide communities through the process of documenting customary tenure at the local level. It also provides suggestions for how to build on the momentum generated by the documentation process to develop strategies and actions to defend, strengthen and promote customary rights at community, regional and national level.

WEBSITE ABSTRACT: This thematic study explores the possibilities for strengthening the recognition of customary tenure in Vietnam. It begins with an overview of customary tenure in Vietnam, particularly in upland forest areas where customary systems still prevail. In upland areas, forest land allocation policies have been underway since the 1990s to claim back forest land from unproductive state-owned forest enterprises (SFEs) for redistribution to local forest users.

ABSTRACTED FROM WEBSITE INTRODUCTION: This thematic study explores the importance of customary tenure for rural Cambodians with the aim of strengthening its recognition. It begins with an overview of customary arrangements in the country, and their significance for the livelihoods and wellbeing of rural communities. This is followed by a discussion of the recognition of customary tenure in the Cambodian legal system, and the challenges confronted in the implementation of legal provisions.

ABSTRACTED FROM CHAPTER INTRODUCTION: The preceding chapters of this book give a central place to the Powers of Exclusion framework for understanding transformations in land relations, as developed in our 2011 book on Southeast Asia. A couple of the main aspects of the two books make for an interesting comparison. The first is that each employs a regional frame of reference to explore themes in changing land relations. The second is their respective development and application of a common conceptual framework.

ABSTRACTED FROM INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this thematic study is to provide a comprehensive overview of land tenure systems in Thailand, with a focus upon the recent development of community land titling (CLT) programmes. It is hoped that the clarification and dissemination of such information will act as a useful point of reference for policy-makers and other related stakeholders around the region. As land systems are formalised, community land titling represents a mechanism to enshrine and protect local ownership and use rights.

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: During the critical years following the 2012 land reforms undertaken in the midst of Myanmar’s political transition, Gret conducted an in-depth study combining qualitative and quantitative surveys in nine villages of Bogale and Mawlamyinegyun townships (Delta) and nine villages in Monywa and Yinmabin townships (Dry Zone). The full report and the synthesis are the result of more than two years in-depth research and 13 months of eldwork that involved an inter-disciplinary team of 11 international and Myanmar researchers.

WEBSITE INTRODUCTION: This thematic study presents a country-level overview of customary tenure arrangements in Lao PDR. It examines the extent of customary tenure and land formalization in the country, key policy changes that have impacted on customary arrangements, the degree to which customary land is recognized legally and in practice, and explores opportunities for better recognition. Customary tenure covers a wide range of land types and resources, and provides livelihood security for a majority of the Lao rural population, particularly ethnic minorities and women.

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This study has been commissioned by the Land Information Working Group (LIWG) in order to determine the extent to which Land Use Planning has alleviated poverty in, and strengthened the rights of, rural communities in Lao PDR, and how the positive impacts can be enhanced. A literature review, online survey, interviews and field visits examined this question according to the four key themes of participation, land tenure security, food and livelihood security and conservation.

We conducted a systematic review on the effects of land tenure recognition interventions on agricultural productivity, income, investment and other relevant outcomes. We synthesise findings from 20 quantitative studies and nine qualitative studies that passed a methodological screening. The results indicate substantial productivity and income gains from land tenure recognition, although gains differ markedly by region. We find that these effects may operate through gains in perceived tenure security and investment; we find no evidence for a credit mechanism.