In sub-Saharan Africa the pace and scale at which land is changing hands are increasing fast. Summarises findings from a research project – including case studies in Ghana, Senegal, Mozambique, and Uganda – to improve understanding of these changes by addressing 3 main questions: How is land access changing in rural Africa, and what are the major drivers of change? How are these changes affecting rural livelihoods? What are the implications of these changes for development policy and practice?

In Mozambique, changes in land access and use are shaping new landscapes, often at the expense of the poor. Despite progressive land legislation, elite groups and vested interests are consolidating land holdings while peasant producers are being dispossessed of their land and access to fertile plots is becoming increasingly difficult. As national and foreign investors seek land for housing, real estate, agriculture, tourism, mining and forestry, what is the state’s role in responding to these increased demands?

Highlights the key drivers of pressure in Ghana on rural land and their communities, such as population growth, urbanisation and acquisition of land by new actors, including government and business. Draws on case study evidence from two communities: the Ahanta West District near Sekondi-Takoradi in the south, and the Savelugu-Nanton Municipal Authority around Tamale in the north.

Provides a backdrop of relevant policies and practice; a gender analysis of the policy framework governing land and investments; and recommendations on how to work towards land rights securing and better inclusion in land governance processes for women in Tanzania. Concludes that implementation of laws, including key gender equality principles, has been weak, and gender inequality in land access persists largely due to the continued dominance of (patrilineal) customary land laws and practice.

Includes land and conflict, returnee land access, the role of international humanitarian organisations, policy and law reforms, drawing a line under crisis.

Includes large refugee returns to a small country, land access for returnees, re-establishing security of tenure, key lessons, land sharing, remembering the 1994-5 return, the Pinheiro Principles.

Contains topic and rationale, research methods, socio-economic context and biofuels initiatives, policy and legal framework for biofuels production, reconciling competing resource uses, community consultations and community-investor partnerships. Concludes that the design and implementation of policy tools is riddled with difficulties. The inability to enforce progressive legislation results in threats to community rights. The effectiveness of community consultations is questionable, as is the claim that biofuels can be commercially grown on marginal land.

Recent research has pointed to the significance of environmental variables as structural causes and sustaining factors in struggles for power in the Great Lakes. Contested rights to land and natural resources are significant, particularly in light of land scarcity in many areas and the frequency of population movements. Based on interviews in Goma and Ituri, as well as an extensive review of secondary literature, examines issues in Masisi and Ituri, and includes a number of recommendations for the DRC Government, the international community, and civil society actors.

Case study identifies good practices and lessons learned about including gender in a project designed to sensitize communities about the importance of securing land rights, build capacity of customary land secretariats, and provide alternative dispute resolution training to traditional authorities in the Northern Region of Ghana.

Contains sections on the effects on women of Rwanda’s civil war, the legal system, the gap between customary law and land legislation, research findings about Rwandan women’s rights, a number of dispute case studies, including methods of dispute settlement. Argues that a gap exists between customary and modern legal systems, creating both land access opportunities and constraints for women. Demonstrates the creativity with which women are bridging that gap in a state of legal uncertainty.

Main chapters cover access to land and poverty reduction, land redistribution, and securing land rights. The last includes the role of land markets, women’s land rights, securing local resource rights in foreign investment projects, protecting the rights of indigenous peoples and pastoralists, conflicts.

Legal processes can help improve the lives of the poor in developing countries e.g. through establishing fair rules on international trade and securing land access in rural Africa. For this to happen, poorer actors – whether individuals or states – must have equitable access to the legal system, including a fair say in law-making processes, and access to effective enforcement institutions.