A useful debate is developing over carrying capacity and the degradation of communal rangelands in sub-Saharan Africa. With a few lonely exceptions, scientists and policy-makers have in the past claimed that degradation is universal and livestock productivity lowered because of overstocking on communal range. This position has been mainly dogmatic. More recent research has not supported dogmatists; hence the debate, which impinges on livestock development policy in Botswana.A new livestock development policy is being promoted by the Government of Botswana (Ministry of Agriculture 1991).

The Chinese central government has consistently taken decisive legal and policy measures over the past 35 years to secure, enhance, and expand farmers’ rights to farmland and forest land in order to reduce the

The Indian state of West-Bengal saw two major turnarounds in its rural sector in the eighties. The growth rate of rice production jumped from 1.8 per cent during 1960-80 to 4.7 per cent during 1977-94, and rural poverty fell from 73 to 31 per cent between 1973 and 1999, greatly surpassing achievements of other Indian states.This coincided with the 1977 election of a coalition of left-wing parties, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM, which held uninterrupted power for the following 26 years.

This paper outlines a framework for understanding the complexity of land degradation processes, their impacts, and offers insights into their remediation.

In Ethiopia, 85% of the population is directly supported by the agricultural economy.  However, the productivity of that economy is being seriously eroded by unsustainable land management practices both in areas of food crops and in grazing lands (Berry, 2003).

This study investigates the impact of land certification on sustainable land resource management and long-term investments. It also assesses the impact of land certification on farmers’ perceptions and confidence in land ownership and land use rights in Eastern and Western Amhara Region, Ethiopia.

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.

Built on earlier quantitative assessment of the socio-economic drivers of the above changes, this paper focuses on the role of national level policies implemented in the area over the past decades, and how these have affected the traditional institutional setting that determines land use, property rights and pathways of livestock development.The paper uses a literature review combined with in-depth key informant and group interviews to identify key policies and interventions, assess their impacts and explore the responses and strategies adopted at both individual and community levels to cop

What are the dynamics of land tenure in the CAS (Conda, Ambuim, and Sumbe) area in Angola? What are its opportunities and risks? This paper reveals a denial of land access rights to communal farmers, whose livelihoods are centred on land.

This paper looks at the role of market imperfections in explaining leasing behaviour of households using sample data from the Highlands of Eritrea. It looks at the tenancy or land rental market, the position of households in that market (as landlords, tenants or non-participants) and assesses the transaction costs related to the adjustment process in the tenancy market.The paper tests for fixed and variable transaction costs related to adjustment in the land rental market. A two-stage approach for participation in the market as landlords or tenants is used for this.

This article discusses the case for an international treaty on animal genetic resources, confirming that one-third of the world’s livestock breeds are now endangered.

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.

Tries to understand the case for redistributive land reforms. Argues that there is relatively persuasive evidence showing that redistributing land may promote equity as well as efficiency. Suggest that it is, nevertheless, unclear, given that all forms of redistribution cost money as well as bureaucratic and political capital, that redistributing land is the best way to redistribute.The second part of the paper takes as given that policymakers want to redistribute land, and discusses strategies for achieving such redistribution.