This paper discusses the development of a new Land Law in Mozambique 1 , under the leadership of the Technical Secretariat (TS) of the Inter-ministerial Commission for the Revision of Land Legislation (popularly known as ‘the Land Commission’). The TS began work on the new law in August 1995 after first formulating a new National Land Policy. The National Assembly approved the law two years later. Regulations and other instruments needed to implement it were completed in December 1999.

Many questions about customary legal developments go unexplained if no recourse is made to the connection between legal and economic systems. Since time immemorial they interact, justify and fertilise each other. Most of all, if we believe that customary laws and justice develop and transform themselves, the question is: how much does economic development influence legal institutions and rules?

This paper gives a brief overview of the existing UPFG laws and regulations and points out the issues that legislative bodies may have to consider with regard to UPFG. The objective of the paper is to give an overriding analysis of the relevant issues that need to be considered in order to analyze the legal and institutional aspects of UPFG. Taking UPFG into consideration, the legislation of several countries was assessed to illustrate the broad framework, the gaps, the overlaps and the positive examples of laws and regulations.

An international journal of forestry and forest industries

Revue internationale des forts et des industries forestires

Revue internationale des forts et des industries forestires

Revue internationale des forêts et des industries forestières

Revue internationale des forts et des industries forestires

In the first part of this paper the role of the core principles in three different scenarios will be discussed. The first is a setting where a shared watercourse, but no specific treaty exists; the second, where a treaty is in the process of being negotiated; and the third where an agreement over the shared resource is in force. The second par t of the paper will look in detail at the normative content of each principle, its reflection in specific watercourse agreements and its implementation by joint bodies.

Revista internacional de silvicultura e industrias forestales

An international journal of forestry and forest industries

The damage caused by illegal activities and corrupt practices in the world’s forests is a problem of enormous proportions. In many parts of the world, forest exploitation is dominated by rampant illegal harvesting, large-scale violation of trade regulations both domestically and internationally, fraudulent practices abetted or condoned by government officials and other destructive activities in violation of applicable laws. This paper is concerned with one facet of this complex problem–how important is legislation in the fight against destructive and corrupt forestry practices?