An overlap in the regulation of access to land and resources between customary and state management systems is causing problems of contradiction and conflict. This report analyses the pros and cons of both systems and makes a series of recommendations.State administration of land is found to have worked against poorer elements in Ghana. Whilst the Lands Commission and other institutions have made some positive achievements there is no evidence of practical benefits for the majority. Compulsory acquisition has resulted in displacement, landlessness and social unrest.

In this report, the COHRE Women and Housing Rights Programme (WHRP) documents the fact that under both statutory and customary law, the overwhelming majority of women in sub-Saharan Africa (regardless of their marital status) cannot own or inherit land, housing and other property in their own right.

With examples from throughout Southern Africa, this paper examines the objectives, impetus, importance, principles and important elements of a land policythe policy development process and policy implementationthe relevance of a national land policy for Uganda and emerging lessons [author]Paper presented at the Uganda Land Alliance Workshop on Land Tenure and Land Use Policy, Kampala, Uganda

Paper defines a strategy for forest sector development, and translates it for practical application. In response to the causes of deforestation and desertification, which are rooted in a complex web of socio-economic factors (both inside and, mainly, outside the forests) these guidelines are centred on the needs of people living in and making a living from forests. Sustainable forest management is based on economic, environmental, social and cultural criteria and indicators.

This paper summarises the findings of a short exercise to identify land issues in present-day Afghanistan.

Deforestation arising from conversion of forest areas into agriculture is a serious problem in Malawi. This paper discusses competition for agricultural land and investigates why the poor are closely associated with forests. Furthermore, the paper examines the effects of changes in crop land use on changes in forest cover. The author notes that the government of Malawi, like many others in sub-Saharan Africa, is currently faced with the problem of poverty. Moreover, being agricultural based most poverty reduction policies are streamlined along the agricultural sector.

How Africans access – or ‘own’ – their landholdings is a matter of profound importance for the continent’s future. It touches on social welfare as well as prospects for economic development. This policy briefing provides an overview of the land question, drawing heavily on the Country Review Reports (CRRs) of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). It argues that weak property rights are a major problem for Africa, but cautions against an assumption that full titling is an immediate solution.

Structural adjustment, liberalisation and the pressures of technological change are having major impact on the institutional organisation of the agro-industrial sector. In industrialised countries, the private sector is positioned to play the vanguard role in the next generation of agricultural technologies. Thus, the ability to promote and sustain new patterns of co-operation in research and development between the private and the public sectors will be a key determinant of future patterns of competitiveness.

Aims to estimate the annual direct use value of an average hectare of the communal rangeland in Botswana, based on an anlalysis of secondary data. Exercise incorporates the three major direft uses, both marketed and non-marketed, of rangelands: livestock, wildlife and gathering

Tenure and claims over forests and land are highly contested throughout Asia where states retain full ownership of land. Competition for land for investment, resource extraction, and conservation is becoming more common. The conflict takes place between local communities and indigenous peoples and external Government agencies and developers. This paper sheds light on how conflict begins, how it affects actors involved and how it can be successfully managed.

This paper represents a provisional attempt to assess whether Zimbabwe’s land reform coherently addresses the issue of poverty reduction. It examines the short-term outcome(s) of the reform programme in relation to its initial objectives. More specifically, it examines its impact on farm-workers. The majority of farm workers lost jobs in the process as well as access to housing and social services such as health care and schools.

Angola, like Mozambique, inherited its legal framework from the Portuguese Civil Code, which was not based on a traditional African concept of community occupation under customary law. With Portuguese settlement, large areas of land were appropriated for and incorporated into the colonial cadastre (the formally surveyed and officially recorded land boundaries of the land concessions granted by the state). After winning independence from Portugal in 1975 the new Angolan government, influenced by socialist principles, affirmed the constitutional role of the state as the owner of all land.