This publication serves as an introduction to a collection of articles published in the African Studies Review. It discusses the implications of as well as the question through what actors, processes, and relationships land deals become stalled or partially implemented. The reviewed articles draw on long-term, in-depth ethnographic research of land deals in Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Kazakhstan’s leaders have long harbored ambitious visions for their country’s future. The country’s first President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, launched several far-reaching goals for the country’s development, most notably in 2012 the “Kazakhstan 2050” strategy, which aimed for Kazakhstan to take a place among the world’s 30 most developed states by mid-century.
By creating a land commission, the Kazakh authorities managed to bring down the protest rallies in 2016, when, under pressure from citizens, the government was forced to abandon the sale and lease of land to foreigners. The goal of the national patriots was achieved, but the key issue for the citizens remained unresolved – the mechanism and procedures for the return of land to the people of Kazakhstan, sold by the authorities as a result of massive corruption deals and now belonging to oligarchs – “land barons”, has not been created by law.
Abstracted from executive summary:
The Indian Central Government introduced three agricultural reform bills in June 2020. These Bills, known collectively as the farm laws, were passed by the Indian Parliament at the end of September. Opposition figures and protesting farmers complained there was little consultation over the legislation. On 19 November 2021, after nearly a year of mass protests against the laws, the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, made a surprise announcement that his Government would repeal the farm laws.
An estimated 7.7 million people in India are affected by conflict over 2.5 million hectares of land, threatening investments worth $ 200 billion.1 Land disputes clog all levels of courts in India, and account for the largest set of cases in terms of both absolute numbers and judicial pendency.
Customary land is increasingly recognised as an important governance issue in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The aim of this paper is to identify challenges associated with land administration, land governance and land
dispute resolution in PNG as perceived by stakeholders; and to find potential strategies for promoting bankable
customary land titles. From the 2019 National Land Summit, a need for a new approach that is theoretically
better anchored in the current debate on bankable customary land leases has been identified. This paper builds
A local famer-herder conflict over grazing rights in the Mauritanian-Senegal border region has triggered a spiral of violence between Senegalese and Mauritanians in the southern Senegal River bank and different Mauritanian cities. This escalation has to be understood against the background of persistent racism and discrimination of the ‘black’ population of Mauritania.
This article summarizes the nature of land-related conflicts in the Philippines within the context of the prevailing agrarian situation throughout the country. An analysis of the agrarian institutions and different types of development that have occurred in a number of regions provide a broad representation of the current situation.
The articles in this Bulletin are written by the following organizations and individuals: National Coordinator for the Defense of the Mangrove Ecosystem (C-CONDEM), Ecuador; Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakya (Bentala Raya Heritage Foundation), Indonesia; Venezuelan Observatory of Political Ecology and members of the WRM international secretariat in close collaboration with several allies who are part of grassroots groups in different countries.
Concerns over food insecurity in developing countries are reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. Given that land plays an important role in the livelihoods of most people in developing countries, food security and poverty reduction cannot be achieved unless issues of access to land, security of tenure, and the capacity to use land productively and in a sustainable manner are addressed.
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