This study examines the use and management of natural resources in an area of South Africa at a time of profound political and social change. It takes as its focus the Mutale River valley, which lies almost entirely within Venda, a former black 'homeland' under the South African system of apartheid, and now part of the Northern Province. Venda is situated in the north-eastern corner of the country, adjacent to the Kruger National Park and the border with Zimbabwe.

This case study of Zimbabwe has examined developments in biotechnology against the background of a well-developed national agricultural research, plant breeding and seeds system. It has then assessed the constraints to biotechnology research, technology development and diffusion in the light of the resources available and the technology transfer mechanisms in place for different groups of farmers.

The paper tests two theoretical models that explain land productivity differentials between owner-tenants, owner-operators and owner-landlords, and between plots of land operated under different tenancy contracts by owner-tenants.The owner-tenants were richer in non-land resources than owner-operators and owner-landlords and the analysis showed that the land productivity followed the same pattern being highest for owner-tenants. This shows that the land rental market transfers land from less efficient to more efficient land users.

This report considers the human rights implications of the 'fast track' process of land redistribution in Zimbabwe, under which the government has revised the constitution and amended legislation in order to allow it to acquire commercial farms compulsorily and without compensation, and the land occupations that have accompanied it since early 2000.

This paper reviews the process of agricultural policy reforms in Morocco in the 1980's, with particular emphasis on the cereals and sugar sub-sectors. Agricultural policy is reviewed in historical perspective, to show that the liberalisation process which was proposed in the framework of structural adjustment reforms ran contrary to the agricultural development strategy followed by Morocco since Independence. The macro-economic performance of Morocco is examined. It shows that the origin of the economic policy reforms can be found in the necessity to seek balance of payment ssupport.

Road network expansion is strongly associated with increased deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Pfaff analyzes the determinants of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Using a model of optimal land use, he derives and estimates an equation for deforestation using (1) country level data for 197888 and (2) measures of deforestation from satellite images.The evidence suggests that: Increased road density in a county leads to more deforestation there and in neighboring counties. Development projects were associated with deforestation in the 1970s but not in the 1980s.

This draft paper outlines a strategy for World Bank involvement in land policies. It focuses on property rights to land, land transactions, and socially optimal use of land.

This working paper focuses on the Movement of the Landless (MST) and the various legal strategies used to redefine property law in Brazil. Through a number of legal strategies MST has helped produce watershed high court rulings, contributed to the process of constitutionalising law, and made access to land more equitable in parts of Brazil by redefining property rights in practice.The paper explores legal change triggered by the strategic action through what Bourdieu calls the juridical field (relating to the function and administration of the judicial system).

This report summarise the research findings of a project to examine the current processes of land rights registration in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Mozambique and assess their outcomes for poor and vulnerable groups. It examines the design and process of registration, the governance of those processes and the equity of the outcomes.This research finds that land registration is not inherently anti-poor in its impacts and that the distributional consequences of land registration depend on the design of the process and on the institutions responsible for its management.

The need for large-scale land redistribution in Southern Africa is undisputed. In order to redress centuries of dispossession, this highly complex process has the potential to encourage economic growth and poverty reduction. Based on a 2004 conference in Cape Town, this publication details the major themes in the de-racialisation of land ownership in South Africa.The book covers the work of ten key voices on the issue of land reform both regionally and in South Africa. The first section of the book establishes a historical, theoretical and comparative context for the South African debate.

Review and analysis of national legislation believed to be representative of the available choice of mechanisms or options and illustrative of emerging best practices and attendant issues. It is worth noting that the countries whose legislation has been reviewed for the purposes of this paper are representative of a variety of climates - from humid England to arid Niger - and of different legal systems, notably, common law and civil law.

Poverty in the Near East and North Africa region (NENA) is mainly a rural phenomenon. Almost half (48%) the area’s population lives in rural areas. This report focuses on key rural poverty issues in 13 diverse countries in the region, without attempting to propose policy or programme actions at national or local levels. Overall, the rural poor still face traditional constraints such as water scarcity, inadequate rural infrastructure, inappropriate policies and institutions, weak local-level organisations and gender inequity.