These Measures are formulated to implement the Grassland Law of the People’s Republic of China in Shaanxi Province.

The Regulation consists of the following Parts: Preliminary (1); Administration (2); Land Assessment (3); Sale, Lease or Other Disposal of Crown Land (4); Dedication and Reservation of Land (5); Miscellaneous (6). The application for consent to the transfer of land is subject to a recording under the following provisions of the Act: (a) section 36 (4) (a) (condition in contract for sale); (b) section 37 (2) (a) (conditions on a sale to a purchaser); (c) section 38 (a) (transfer restrictions on purchases); (d) section 44 (1) (a) (transfer restrictions on leases).

These Regulations aim to protect, construct and utilize rationally grasslands, improve the ecological environment, maintain the biodiversity, develop modern animal husbandry, and promote the sustainable development of economy and society.

Matters of environmental migration are frequently looked at from a humanitarian perspective.1 This policy brief will instead look at it with a lens focusing on land issues. The question of environmental migration is inevitably linked to the question of land for several reasons. First, climate and environmental change trigger and accelerate the loss of land due to sea-level rise, coastal erosion, landslides and other forms of land degradation.

Cities and Urban Areas play a crucial role as engines of development as well as centers of connectivity, creativity, innovation, and as service hubs for the surrounding areas. Kenya has experienced unprecedented urban growth. At independence the urban population was about 8%. This had grown to be about 40% by 2015. It is projected that by year 2030 at least half of the Kenyan population will be urbanized. The rapid rate of urbanization exerts increased pressure on authorities to meet the needs of growing urban populations.

The absence of a clearly defined land use policy in Kenya after years of independence has resulted in a haphazard approach to managing the different land use practices and policy responses. Land use continues to be addressed through many uncoordinated legal and policy frameworks that have done little to unravel the many issues that affect land use management. The Constitution of Kenya 2010, Kenya Vision 2030 and the Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2009 on National Land Policy all call for a clear framework for effectively addressing the challenges related to land use.

The story of urbanization in Kenya should be one of cautious optimism. As an emerging middle-income country with a growing share of its population living in urban areas and a governance shift toward devolution, the country could be on the verge of a major social and economic transformation. How it manages its urbanization and devolution processes will determine whether it can maximize the benefits of its transition to a middle-income country.

The Commission has been in the forefront of promoting good governance and accountability in the land sector. Progress in the land sector has been mixed. Through the effort of the government, support agencies and other stakeholders the Commission was able to devolve its function to the 47 counties through the County Land Management Boards (CLMBs). The CLMBs have in effect devolved land services throughout Kenya. However, achieving land, better land governance, accountability in the land sector and ensuring secure land rights for all Kenyan is still to be achieved.

The Cadastral system in Kenya was established in 1903 to support land alienation for the white settlers who had come into the country in the early part of the 20th Century. In the last hundred years, the system has remained more or less the same, where land records are kept in paper format and majority of operations are carried out on a manual basis. The lack of a modern cadastral system has contributed to problems in land administration in the country.

The Constitution of Kenya 2010 apportions responsibility of planning to both National and County governments. The County Government Act, 2012 obligates county governments to prepare and implement County Integrated Development Plans (CIDP). The CIDPs are, according to the act, five year plans that will form the basis of annual budgetary allocation by the county governments.

Nairobi River Basin is a complex of several parallel rivers that flow through the City of Nairobi and empty into a larger river and flow to the Indian Ocean. The rivers are polluted with garbage, industrial liquid effluence, agro-chemicals, petro-chemicals among others. This situation has occasioned spread of water-borne diseases, loss of sustainable livelihoods, loss of biodiversity, reduced availability and access to safe potable water, and the insidious effects of toxic substances and heavy metal poisoning which affects human productivity.

The promulgation of the Kenyan Constitution 2010 brought into place concerns about the urgency for land reform. Land reforms hold the key to solving some of Kenya’s greatest challenges such as landlessness, community cohesion, food security and sustainable development. Land reforms lie at the heart of the work of the National Land Commission (NLC) and Kituo cha Sheria and they are also at the heart of many Kenyan communities who live, work and rely on land. Information contained in the book goes a long way in educating these communities about their land rights.