China has a unique land use system in which there are two types of land ownership, namely, state-owned urban land and farmer collective-owned rural land. Despite strict restrictions on the use rights of farmer collective-owned land, rural land is, in fact, developed along two pathways: it is formally acquired by the state and transferred into state ownership, or it is informally developed while remaining in collective ownership.
This brochure presents the approach and core activities of GIZ Global Program on Responsible Land Policy (GPRLP). The GPRLP is active in Benin, Ethiopia, Laos, Madagascar, Paraguay, Peru and Uganda. In each country, a context specific approach in line with the global GPRLP concept aims at improving the access to land as a core condition for combating poverty and hunger in rural areas for specific population groups, particularly women and socially marginalised groups.
The promulgation of the Kenyan Constitution 2010 brought into place concerns about the urgency for land reform. Land reforms hold the key to solving some of Kenya’s greatest challenges such as landlessness, community cohesion, food security and sustainable development. Land reforms lie at the heart of the work of the National Land Commission (NLC) and Kituo cha Sheria and they are also at the heart of many Kenyan communities who live, work and rely on land. Information contained in the book goes a long way in educating these communities about their land rights.
In Kenya, insecure land tenure and inequitable access to land, forest and water resources have contributed to conflict and violence, which has in turn exacerbated food insecurity. To address these interlinked problems, a new set of laws and policies on food security and land governance are currently being introduced or designed by the Government of Kenya. The new Food Security Bill explicitly recognizes the link between food security and land access, and the 2012 land laws target the corrupt system of land administration that made much of Kenya’s land grabbing possible.
The first set of the land laws were enacted in 2012 in line with the timelines outlined in the Constitution of Kenya 2010. In keeping with the spirit of the constitution, the Land Act, Land Registration Act and the national Land Commission Act respond to the requirements of Articles 60, 61, 62, 67 & 68 of the Constitution. The National Land Policy, which was passed as Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2009, arrived earlier than the Constitution, with some radical proposals on the land Management.
Kenya’s Vision 2030 aims at transforming the country into a newly industrialized middle income country
and infrastructural development is high on the agenda to achieve this. Competing land uses and existing
interests in land make the use of eminent domain by government in acquiring land inevitable. However
most of the land earmarked for compulsory acquisition comprises of un- registered land whose interests
While women’s rights to land and property are protected under the Kenyan Constitution of 2010 and in various national statutes, in practice, women remain disadvantaged and discriminated. The main source of restriction is customary laws and practices, which continue to prohibit women from owning or inheriting land and other forms of property.
Women face many problems with regard to land inheritance and land rights in Kenya. Individual and community land ownership do not favour women. The reason for this is that ownership of land is patrilineal, which means that fathers share land amongst sons, while excluding daughters. This practice is traditionally widespread and partly accepted although it goes against the interest of women and is prohibited by the constitution.
THE MINING ACT No. 12 of 2016
Date of Assent: 6th May, 2016
Date of Commencement: 27th May, 2016
The Land Act, 2012
The Land Registration Act, 2012
The National Land Commission Act, 2012
The Environment & Land Court Act, 2011
The Urban Areas & Cities Act, 2011
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