The paper submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Degree of Masters of Science in Contemporary India at University of Oxford.  The study examined divide between the pro-poor approaches to rural industrialisation and transfers of agricultural land.

This study assesses land transactions with explicit reference to their impact on poverty and any land acquisition is likely to displace people in large numbers.

This is a judgment of Supreme Court of India to check grabbing of village common land including ponds and water bodies (called in different names) by unscrupulous persons, political clout, powerful vested interests, corrupt state authorities, etc by fraudulent practices and ensure their protection and safeguard.

There is important evidence to suggest that corruption is a key factor contributing to the degradation of renewable natural resources. Forestry officials and law enforcement officers who are in the pockets of corrupt logging firms often turn a blind eye to activities that threaten the sustainable management of a forest’s biodiversity. Similarly, fishery inspectors endanger stocks when they accept bribes to ignore official quotas for trawlers.

Well before the effective ending of the protracted Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)

insurgency in northern Uganda in July 2006, and at a time when the entire rural

population was displaced into camps, concerns had emerged around land, in particular

in the Acholi sub-region, where the war had been most intense and longest lasting

(Adoko & Levine 2004). Through forced displacement, almost all rural Acholi

families has been prevented from occupying their land for many years, years in which

Uganda discovered commercial quantities of oil in the country in 2006 and ever since, there has been increased activity in the exploration of oil and gas. The exploration activities are being undertaken in the Albertine Graben in mostly the districts of Hoima, Buliisa, and Nwoya by international oil companies contracted by the government. Currently, there are three licensed companies namely, Tullow Uganda operations Ltd , Total E&P and CNOOC Uganda Ltd operating in the districts of Hoima, Buliisa and Nwoya within the Albertine Graben.

This is the second in a series of land studies for northern Uganda, whose core objective is to inform the Plan for Recovery and Development of Northern Uganda (PRDP) and the National Land Policy. It builds on the work of the first phase conducted in Teso region to present a more quantitative analysis of trends on disputes and claims on land before displacement, during displacement and emerging trends or occurrences on return for Acholi and Lango sub-regions.

Uganda’s northern region was traditionally inhabited by communities with predominantly pastoral lifestyles. As the country began developing administrative structures in the region, most clans found themselves settled into agro-pastoral communities. The elders found it imperative to demarcate areas of land to fit different uses, with areas for family settlement and cultivation clearly separated from other areas for communal use. Land was either demarcated by the leaders of a particular settlement or by the dominant clan for the benefit of everyone else in that area.

London-based New Forests Company (NFC) would seem to be the design blueprint of how a young modern company should conduct a major land investment in Africa in a responsible way. Oxfam’s investigations reveal that serious allegations by people who were evicted from land to make way for NFC’s operations remain unresolved. How will the company respond?

This research forms part of a larger study on large-scale land acquisition in Uganda. There are three main components of this study: (1) a “risk map” that identifies areas “at risk” for land acquisition due to their high suitability for biofuel crop production; (2) a due diligence report on the existing land uses and users of land identified as “at risk” in the first activity; and (3) an assessment of the land acquisition process, including applicable social and environmental safeguards.

Over 80% of all land in Uganda is held under unregistered ‘customary tenure’. This means that it is private property, but the owners need no documents to prove ownership. Their claims to the land, and the boundaries of the land, are locally recognised, and this recognition is given the full protection of State law.

This guide has been written as an information resource for government officials, community leaders, humanitarian aid workers, judges, lawyers and others whose responsibilities include upholding land and property rights in Uganda. It outlines the main provisions of Uganda’s constitutional and legal framework and the protection these provide to property rights. It briefly outlines the historical background to existing land tenure relations, describes the constitutional provisions relating to land in the 1995 Constitution and sets out the main provisions of the Land Act 1998.