textabstractI investigate how a major institutional reform of property rights over land affects cooperation and trust preferences in a society where agricultural land is the main households' asset. The reform took place in hundreds of West African villages in Benin and consists in registering customary tenure rights over agricultural land that are traditionally characterized by collective property and informal possession. With the reform, registered plots acquire a new legal status akin to private ownership, making it possible to claim property in court and sell or use them as collateral.

markdownabstractThe aim of the thesis is to understand the impact of large-scale foreign land acquisitions on rural households. The rapid expansion of large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) by foreign investors in developing countries over the past 10 years has precipitated a heated debate over the impacts on rural households in the recipient regions. LSLA brings often much-needed investment to agriculture in developing countries, potentially raising productivity, and creating rental and labour opportunities from which rural households can benefit.

textabstractIt is the irony of history that, despite the spectacular accomplishments of the Western European industrial revolution and the agricultural revolution before it, most of mankind is still faced with the

International policy is currently witnessing a renewed interest in customary tenure systems as well as traditional leadership, through which it aims to enhance the efficiency of local governance and create general access to and secure rights in land. Contrary to these ideas, practice reveals a lack of security of customary tenure in areas with a high competition for land. Mounting evidence displays that customary systems often evolve inequitably and that traditional elites benefit disproportionally from commodification of land.

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There are millions of unrecorded land rights in sub-Saharan Africa, which are still not mapped. Therefore, there is a clear demand for innovative solutions for land tenure recording, as also written in the target 1.4 of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In response to this need, the consortia of “its4land” European Commission Horizon 2020 project developed the “its4land toolbox” based on the continuum of land rights and fit-for-purpose approach.

International policy is currently witnessing a renewed interest in customary tenure systems as well as traditional leadership, through which it aims to enhance the efficiency of local governance and create general access to and secure rights in land. Contrary to these ideas, practice reveals a lack of security of customary tenure in areas with a high competition for land. Mounting evidence displays that customary systems often evolve inequitably and that traditional elites benefit disproportionally from commodification of land.

The National Land Act of 1964, designed to unify legislation concerning land, formally abolished the various local systems of land law in Senegal. The implementation of the various urban land regulations and the efforts to restructure and regulate the spontaneous settlements which were started in Ziguinchor, the capital of the Casamance, in the 1970s resulted in a great number of urban land conflicts. This paper reviews Senegalese law relating to urban land.