Includes gender and land in a changing world, in the international policy discourse and addressing the issue at national and local levels; complex governance, growing pressure on land, effects of climate change, fight for water, increasing conflicts, migration and social changes, land tenure reform and access to justice, changing gender roles.
This guide aims to help all stakeholders and companies who have a link with investments that affect land and property rights apply due diligence in their operations.
Grounded in an ongoing examination of 100 case studies, this analysis describes the overarching patterns of conflict between companies and local communities in emerging and frontier market concessions. Identifying those patterns is the first step to establishing best practices for managing the risks.
Reflections following the passing of the African Union’s Guiding Principles on Large-Scale Land-Based Investment, the culmination of policy processes over the past decade. Rising food prices reflect the systematic neglect of agriculture over a long period. We need indicators and monitoring, cannot rely on technology to resolve political problems, need a system-wide approach and to create opportunities for young people to build livelihoods in farming and throughout the agro-food system.
Contains recognise and strengthen customary rights starting with statutory recognition; community rather than individual titling must be further explored as an option; women’s land rights remain weak under customary tenure but formalization is not necessarily the answer; custom or rights for women is a false dichotomy; supporting women’s collective action is key; political leadership and evidence from research are needed to transform policies and practices; technical tools to secure land rights require wider policy and institutional support.
Report highlights the effects of government actions on the Suri people of south-western Ethiopia, who are representative of numerous ethnic communities whose subsistence practices and culture are treated as impediments to Ethiopian economic growth. Uncovers the truth behind a reported massacre of 30 to 50 Suri people in May 2012 near the 30,000-hectare Malaysian-owned Koka plantation. Reveals the destabilizing effects of foreign investment in south-western Ethiopia and examines the role of international aid programs in supporting forced evictions in the country.
Includes what is ALL?, who owns ALL?, trouble at home, new findings, turning to new pastures as African Land reinvents itself. A cautionary tale of double deception. Investors were hoodwinked by the promise of high economic returns and may be holding onto a lease that lacks legal standing in Sierra Leone. Unclear if investors will receive any of their investment back, even if the company is forced to liquidate.
Paper written for Democracy, Land and Liberation in Africa Today: Bridging Past and Present Scholarship. A colloquium in honour of Lionel Cliffe held at the University of Cape Town. Includes the academic world, 1960-84 (universities in Southern Africa, my academic writing); the NGO world, 1987-2007 (Oxfam’s Southern Africa Desk, women’s land rights, working with Zimbabwean researchers, land and property rights in post-tsunami Aceh; the consultancy world (Zimbabwe 1999, South Africa 2000 DLA, South Africa 2001 the LRC); an academic again in retirement?
Asks how have rural women become important actors in accessing land and shaping non-permanent mobile livelihoods in the context of the fast track land reform programme. Data is based on an ethnographic study at Merrivale farm, Tavaka village, from 2009-12. Shows that women have become major actors in land acquisition and non-permanent mobile livelihoods. Mobility is central in the evolving conflicts in the new resettlement areas. The concept of home becomes central in resolving conflicts and affects how conflict mechanisms are reached both at Merrivale and in South Africa.
Land tenure administration in Zambia suffers from serious shortcomings in governance. Too much power is vested with too few checks and balances in too few people, notably the chiefs, local councils and the Commissioner of Lands. This creates fertile ground for abuse and corruption, both of which mar the sector. Zambia still has an important distance to cover in the field of land governance and legal recognition of customary rights and institutions.
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