A review of Fred Pearce’s book

Presentation of 5 brief case studies of what Oxfam actually did with regards land in post-conflict situations in Africa, in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Rwanda and Angola, concluding with the common themes, conclusions and lessons that emerged from the case studies. Also includes a critique of the role of USAID.

A review of Zimbabwe in 2001, focusing on the land question and farm workers. Reflections on conferences on Zimbabwe in Copenhagen and on farm workers in Southern Africa in Harare, with a section highlighting the key issues brought out in a new book on farm workers in Zimbabwe. Argues that issues around farm workers need to be seriously rethought and debated across the political spectrum and that land is a part of a much wider crisis of governance.

Includes setting the scene in South Sudan, key concepts and guiding principles, pre-investment planning, community consultation, participatory impact assessments, participatory monitoring, grievance mechanisms, community financial management, sample of community protocol.

Includes what is ALL?, who owns ALL?, trouble at home, new findings, turning to new pastures as African Land reinvents itself. A cautionary tale of double deception. Investors were hoodwinked by the promise of high economic returns and may be holding onto a lease that lacks legal standing in Sierra Leone. Unclear if investors will receive any of their investment back, even if the company is forced to liquidate.

Examines cases of confrontation over land in Northern Zambezia, Mozambique. One large company withdrew rather than fight local peasants and take over land being used to grow food. But two other investors chose to push ahead, and have come into conflict with local peasant communities.

The topic of how best to make rangelands secure for local rangeland users is one of ongoing debates. The very nature of rangeland use – the need for landscape level planning incorporating spatially and temporally variable resources, and for recognising the multiple layers of use by multiple actors presents complexity that is not easily accounted for by the often inflexible and simpler land tenure systems that governments prefer to introduce.

Land disputes associated with Africa sugar often lead to long and costly delays. Our research finds 46% of disputes last over 10 years – and half of these are still unresolved today. In serious cases, disputes close projects down and severely reduce market access. Companies are failing to mitigate these serious risks because they lack the tools and data to make the business case for action.

The webinar An introduction to Prindex took place on 28 November, 2018. This webinar presented a basic understanding of how Prindex works. The Prindex team presented results of data collected from 15 countries. It focused on pathways for using Prindex to propel policy conversations and movement-building for policy reform with the help of panellists from some of the countries where data was collected.

Panelists were asked to address the following questions: 

La tesis comprende cuatro marcos conceptuales: El primero, el aspecto metodológico que sienta las bases de la investigación, desde el planteamiento del problema, la hipótesis y su justificación. El segundo, comprende el desarrollo doctrinario de la propiedad y del registro desde una óptica histórica, económica y jurídica, que permita explicar la necesaria interrelación de ambas instituciones como consecuencia de la libertad que gozan las personas para contratar en el mercado.

Los autores nos introducen al estudio del sistema de responsabilidad patrimonial de la Administración Pública en el ordenamiento jurídico peruano, introducido por vez primera en la Ley 27444, del Procedimiento Administrativo General, norma que por primera vez regula los alcances sustantivos de dicha capital garantía patrimonial en el ámbito del derecho público en el Perú. No obstante ello, la eficacia práctica de dicha institución se ve amenazada diariamente, dado que casi no hay casos judiciales de aplicación de la misma, y asimismo hay deficiencias en su regulación normativa.

A partir del análisis de la jurisprudencia de la Corte Suprema norteamericana y del Tribunal Constitucional peruano, así como de nuestro marco normativo, el autor analiza los diversos criterios para determinar cuando estamos frente un supuesto de expropiación indirecta, tales como a magnitud de la medida, la expectativa razonable, el beneficio del Estado, la inviabilidad económica del bien, entre otros.