Women in many African countries have a legal right to
own land, but this often means little in areas where
“customary law” prevails. As a result, researchers in two
countries have come to believe that women’s security
of tenure depends as much on addressing social
assumptions as on enacting legal reforms.

The evaluation report reviews a methodology workshop and project proposal, held in Nairobi, Kenya. At the workshop it was recommended that team members should be grounded in a shared understanding of the conceptual literature on citizenship generally, and social citizenship in particular, as well as literature on the broader question of whether decentralization necessarily improves service delivery.

The study focuses on impacts of PZ Wilmar’s acquisition of nearly 30,000 hectares of land. Wilmar is a multinational company involved in land grabbing cases related to oil palm plantations in Cross River State, Nigeria. The study shows the extent of Wilmar’s infringement on communal land rights, examining cases of eviction and destruction of livelihoods. Findings show that the four communities studied suffered from increasing food prices, deficits of local staple foods, evictions and displacement of poor farmers.

A widely held belief in Bobira is that private land is more fertile than communal land. What came to light through the workshop information sharing is that there is no difference in the type of soil in villages compared to freehold land. Any difference in soil quality is a result of how the land has been used and managed over the years. Transformative Scenario Planning (TSP) is designed for situations in which people’s perceptions of a problem, and perhaps of one another, have become stuck.

The Cambodian government redistributed 1.2 million hectares, some revoked from economic land concessions (ELC), to more than 710,000 smallholders as private ownerships (2013-2014). The paper outlines key steps for granting new land concessions and improving the efficiency of existing ELCs (or similar large-scale state land licences). Cambodia’s excessive large-scale state land concessions have adversely affected the livelihoods and land tenure rights of local people, threatening the country’s rich biodiversity and restricting access to land especially for new farmer households.

Use of inorganic fertilizers could be fundamental in addressing low and declining soil fertility while improving food security in sub-Sahara Africa. Determination of key factors responsible for use of inorganic fertilizers in the central highlands of Ethiopia is increasingly important as continued land redistribution in already degraded and land-scarce highlands undermines sustainable farming and increases nutrient mining.

IDRC document. Monograph on land reform and land settlement in Malaysia - discusses policy formulation and legislation, land tenure, role of FELDA (Federal Land Development Authority); economic aspects, and political aspects of resettlement.

The study analyzes the impact of degradation of private land as well as common land resources on migration decisions in three dryland districts in Gujarat. The study concludes that overall, in dry areas such as Gujarat, access to irrigation, rather than land ownership is likely to deter migration. The poorest rural households in dry land regions are the least likely to migrate. Thus, any employment creation in rural dryland regions is most likely to help the poorest. Further, it was found that degradation of common-pool land resources influences short-term but not long-term migration.