Land Tenure and Rights for Improved Land Management and Sustainable Development

This working paper was commissioned by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), in order to explore how land tenure systems in different ecosystems and bio-cultural regions around the world are linked to land degradation or sustainable land management. It is against this backdrop that five major issues surrounding land tenure, and rights for improved land management and sustainable development, are addressed; these are:

• Problems associated with land ownership (titling, tenure and customary rights);

• The current trend of policy and regulatory regimes within land law;

• The status and challenges of land administration and institutions;

• Marginalization of some social groups, such as women, local communities and indigenous people;

• Violation of land rights, for instance, via land grabbing; • Land distribution and land reform processes; and

• Types of land conflicts and disputes, and corresponding resolution mechanisms