Palestinian farmers in the West Bank mainly engage in low intensity agriculture. Despite great agricultural potential, the prospect of losing access to the land impacts negatively on the willingness of farmers to invest in sustainable agricultural intensification. Moreover, prior investments in agriculture could be under pressure when farmers do not have the documents to prove their tenure rights.
Women in particular are often unable to claim rights to the land they are using, importantly caused by discriminatory inheritance practices.
Land tensions and conflicts have always existed in Mali. Formal and customary law co-exist, causing a legal duality and ambiguity. Competition over land and natural resources is growing, and so are land-related disputes. Over 90% of smallholder farmers and pastoralists access land through customary tenure systems. Considering the large role customs play in rural areas, formal legal recognition of these customary rights is important. At the same time, the patrilineal customary systems undermine the position of women and youth.
The Rwanda Land Tenure Reform Program, launched in 2009, gained international attention by regularizing land tenure at an unparalleled scale. Over eleven million land parcels were demarcated, and eight million land titles were issued to their rightful owners. Despite this, the land tenure system still faces challenges. The land administration and information system (LAIS) does not yet sufficiently address social aspects, such as incorporating informal transactions and safeguards for women, or reducing high costs of participating.
Poverty in Mozambique is concentrated in rural areas and thus associated with a high dependency on agriculture and natural resources, including land. Mozambique has a legal framework recognizing this dependency through a progressive Land Law. However, main obstacles to the proper implementation of the law include communities’ lack of formalized land tenure, limited knowledge regarding land rights, low participation in decision-making among community members, and a lack of capacity among local government officials.
In Colombia’s post-conflict context, access to land and tenure security are still a cause of many conflicts and inequalities. Especially Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities are amongst the most vulnerable groups in Colombia. Their land tenure insecurity has a negative effect on the possibilities for livelihood improvements, and on the protection of natural resources within their territories.
Uganda wants to transform from a predominantly low-income agricultural economy to a modern and prosperous country in 2040. Land is widely recognized as a pivotal element of Uganda’s economic and social transformation, as evidenced by the government ambition to improve tenure security and systematically title all land by 2040. For this purpose, a modern legal framework for land governance has been created.
On 27-28 June 2022, RVO organized the first annual LAND-at-scale exchange, bringing together over fifty LAND-at-scale project partners, knowledge management partners, Committee members as well as representatives from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for an in-depth introduction of all LAND-at-scale stakeholders and facilitate a learning exchange.
Mozambique has a progressive land law that came into place through a historically inclusive process. However, there are many obstacles to the proper implementation of the law, including the communities’ lack of formalized land tenure. Terra Firma, one of the LAND-at-scale partners in Mozambique, has worked on achieving tenure security for communities in Mozambique for a long time. To learn more from their experiences and strategies on how to do this in a sustainable way, LAND-at-scale interviewed Maria Muianga from Terra Firma.
