We believe that law should in principle assist vulnerable communities in changing power relations. Law is fundamentally a ‘neutral’ set of rules that constrains power by requiring decisions and actions of those in power to comply with legal rules, rights and obligations. Unfortunately, we have seen the powerful appropriate law as a tool for only protecting and strengthening their interests.

Writ­ten sub­mis­sions on the Communal Property Associations Amendment Act to the Portfolio Committee Rural Development and Land Reform

During its transition from racial apartheid to democracy in 1994, South Africa’s government announced it would strengthen the tenure rights of the estimated 16 million citizens who lived on communal land. By 2012, however, the government’s own reports concluded that the country had made little progress in the area of communal tenure reform.

Most of the world’s remaining tropical forests lie in areas that are customarily managed and/or legally owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. In the context of climate change and global efforts to protect and enhance the capacity of forests to capture and store greenhouse gas emissions, the question of who owns the trees and the carbon stored therein is paramount. Clarifying this question is crucial, both for the future of the planet, and for up to 1.7 billion people worldwide who rely on forests for their livelihoods.

O objectivo deste estudo é analisar sistema legal fundiário angolano à luz das recomendações propostas pelas Directrizes Voluntárias Sobre a Governança Responsável da Posse de Terra, Pescas e Florestas no Contexto da Segurança Alimentar Nacional (VGGTs no seu acrónimo inglês). 

...The main purpose of this paper is to examine legal measures taken to recognize
indigenous groups and provide for their ongoing operation; the paper starts, therefore, from an
underlying assumption that indigenous groups have continued relevance to the needs and wishes
of the people who operate within them. Nevertheless, while it is beyond the scope and purpose of
the paper to explore this complex issue in any depth, it may be useful to present – however briefly
– some of the arguments made for and against the preservation of indigenous groups. In the

ABSTRACT:
"Is there a ‘best practice’ model for the legal recognition of customary tenure?
If not, is it possible to identify the circumstances in which a particular model
would be most appropriate? This article considers these questions in the light
of economic theories of property rights, particularly as illustrated by the
World Bank’s 2003 land policy report. While these theories have their flaws,
the underlying concept of tenure security allows a typological framework for

Summary: "This paper presents an overview of the distinctive
features of communal tenure in
different community-based land and natural resource
management systems. Communal
tenure refers to situations where groups, communities, or one or more villages have
well defined, exclusive rights to jointly own and/or manage particular areas of natural
resources such as land, forest and water. These are
often referred to as
common pool
resources: many rural communities are dependent on these resources for their

Elinor "Lin" Ostrom (born Elinor Claire Awan; August 7, 1933 – June 12, 2012) was an American political economist whose work was associated with the New Institutional Economics and the resurgence of political economy. In 2009, she shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Oliver E. Williamson for "her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons". To date, she remains the only woman to win The Prize in Economics.

Abstract: "Global economic change and policy interventions
are driving transitions from long-fallow swidden (LFS)
systems to alternative land uses in Southeast Asia’s uplands.
This study presents a systematic review of how these
transitions impact upon livelihoods and ecosystem services
in the region. Over 17 000 studies published between 1950
and 2015 were narrowed, based on relevance and quality, to
93 studies for further analysis. Our analysis of land-use
transitions from swidden to intensified cropping systems

A Report to Enhance Discussions about
Customary Land Rights in Burma.....This purpose of this paper is to present a brief summary of the
issues and current
situations facing ethnic and indigenous communities around the
world that are
using a customary rights framework to manage their land and natural resources.
By outlining these experiences, ethnic groups in Burma will be
able to better understand their own context and
possibilities as they struggle to gain control over

A Report to Enhance Discussions about Customary Land Rights in Burma.....This purpose of this paper is to present a brief summary of the
issues and current
situations facing ethnic and indigenous communities around the
world that are
using a customary rights framework to manage their land and natural resources.
By outlining these experiences, ethnic groups in Burma will be
able to better understand their own context and
possibilities as they struggle to gain control over
their lands during this transitional time. While examining how