A review of literature on communal land in the Lao PDR, commissioned by Department of Agricultural Land Administration, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Lao PDR. 

While Laos largely avoided the health impacts of COVID-19, the pandemic’s economic consequences exposed existing vulnerabilities, and left the country at the precipice of fiscal and debt crises. At the 11th national congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP), held in January 2021, the LPRP reinforced key elements of the regime’s high-stakes economic strategy but also hinted that the pandemic had encouraged a shift in economic emphasis. Even before the pandemic hit, Laos’s economic transformation had started to slow in 2019.

Increasing investment by smallholders in agriculture and livestock is essential for improving food security, income and resilience to climate change, but can be constrained by tenure insecurity. To help overcome the barriers faced in improving land tenure security, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) launched the Global Project on Responsible Land Policy (GPRLP), which is testing interventions, evaluating impact and drawing lessons for scaling.

This report is a contribution of the knowledge management component of the LAND-at-scale programme (LAS) which is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and implemented by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland - RVO). LAND-at-scale is a seven-year programme (2019-2026), that aims to contribute to fair and just tenure security, access to land and natural resources for all.

This case study shows the challenge of securing land rights and land tenure security among a sector of Bangladesh’s landless poor whose claim to land is among the most tenuous in the world — the char dwellers. Their settlement on land that was created by river erosion and could at any time disappear in the same way provides a compelling case for the grant by the government of land rights that are not presently provided for by current land laws. The increasing risk of disasters, particularly flooding, threatens char dwellers equally if not more than other landless poor.

Laos, officially the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), is a rapidly growing developing economy at the heart of Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma, Cambodia, China, Thailand, and Vietnam.  Laos’ economic growth over the last decade averaged just below eight percent, placing Laos amongst the fastest growing economies in the world.

After 30 years of an authoritarian regime, Sudan reached a power-sharing deal between the military and the civilians that brought a transitional government to power in 2019. Their agenda was to lead the country towards a democratic transformation for no more than three years. This period of relative stability provided the space for democratic reform and increased transparency in Sudan, reversed by the return of political instability in 2022.

Land rights are fundamental sources of tension in Liberia, so transparency about land information is both essential and highly politicized. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and other scholars have documented land conflict as one of the major causes of the 14 year civil conflict (1989-2003) in Liberia, rooted in the country’s formation in the 19th Century as a land divided by indigenous peoples and freed slaves settling from the United States.

This case study presents the unique example of pastoralist communities in Kenya who had traditionally been able to rely on their customary land governance systems to ensure their access to grazing land and to help them sustain their livelihoods in the face of drought. However, land laws that were passed by the colonial and post-colonial administrations in Kenya progressively replaced customary structures and practices with artificial formal/legal structures that bore no connection to the communities’ customs.

In Mozambique, the law recognizes certain forms of occupation as constituting legal tenure and nationals can claim this recognition of their right to occupy and use land allocated through customary norms/practices. Local communities can also claim rights over land which they have customarily occupied, used, and managed. These rights are not prejudiced by their lack of titling or documentation and may be defended on the basis of oral testimony.

“Nature-based” solutions to climate change require the acquisition of large swaths of land for reforestation, afforestation, conservation and renewable energy sources. However, corruption in the land sector is already widespread and this additional demand for land may aggravate pre-existing corruption risks, as well as causing new ones.

Land corruption – corrupt practices in the land sector – threatens the lives and livelihoods of people and communities, the environment and climate, food security and political stability. Its impacts are particularly acute for 2.5 billion people who live on and from the land. Addressing it requires a dedicated focus and assessment of land related institutions across different national contexts.