Includes the boom and bust of biofuels investments in Africa; what is the relationship between biofuels and food security?; useful lessons from biofuels investments; the foundation and the implementation of New Alliance in Africa; the challenges of implementing New Alliance Frameworks with African countries; recommendations for policy makers.

Tanzania’s land reform from 1999 has been evaluated as among the most gender-sensitive of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. However there is a gap between the legal framework and what is happening on the ground. This paper analyses the challenges related to the protection of women’s rights to land in rural areas. It provides detailed information on reform implementation experiences so far by analysing a number of government and NGO interventions.

Dramatic changes are underway in Southern Africa, with growing interest by foreign and domestic investors to access land for farming, mining and other commercial operations. This book of case studies documents situations in which commercial projects are planned or are being implemented on land held by rural communities in Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It aims to provide an accessible and vivid window into the lived realities, views and responses of rural people who are affected by such deals.

Paper discusses Zambia’s dual land tenure system, the ways in which gender issues have been incorporated in legal and policy documents, and the extent to which this has been reflected in practice. It also examines the role of donors in legal and policy processes and donor support to civil society in relation to women’s land rights. Gender and land policies provide for the allocation of land to women, but have little impact on the ground. Customary law is on the whole discriminatory against women, in particular with regard to land ownership.

International comparative study of strategies for settlement support provision to land reform beneficiaries by Susan Tilley (RR26);

Covers the Tribal Land Act, tribal land administration, customary law, Land Boards, some long-standing issues, problems encountered. Concludes that there are serious problems concerning the administration of tribal land, mainly due to poor governance and ill-advised changes to the Tribal Land Act and its regulations.

Tackles a number of key issues around reopening the restitution claim process including: Restitution to date has been slow and many rural land claims are not yet finalised; ungazetted and yet-to-be-finalised land claims are at risk from new claims; many new land claims are likely to be for cash compensation, or tribal claims led by chiefs, and contribute little to rural transformation; Parliament should enact regulations to ring-fence existing land claims.

In 1999 Ghana engaged in an ambitious land reform process with the adoption of a National Land Policy implemented through a Land Administration Project. The reform aims at strengthening land administration institutions and increasing the security of land tenure for landholders on both customary and state land, but the process is facing multiple challenges, e.g.

Focuses on communal tenure reform developments (or lack thereof), referring to law, policy and practice in rural areas in South Africa. Shows that communal land tenure is not in a healthy state and discusses the following recent laws and policies that are symptoms of this ill health: the Communal Land Rights Act (struck down by the Constitutional Court); the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act (passed in 2003); and the 2014 Communal Land Tenure ‘wagon wheel’ policy (currently in place).

Presents a legal analysis of the national legislation that relates to Indigenous Peoples’ and communities’ forest tenure rights at a global scale by assessing whether the legal systems of 27 of the most forested developing countries of the world recognize the rights of Indigenous Peoples and communities to access, withdraw, manage, exclude and alienate to forest resources and land. The countries included in this study are home to 2.2 billion rural people and include approximately 75% of the forests in the developing world.

Includes key policy areas; the legal framework governing land in Malawi; the Green Belt initiative and the New Alliance: threats or development opportunities?; case studies of large-scale acquisitions in Malawi – out-grower schemes in Nkhotakota and Chikwawa districts; recommendations. Brief illustrates the further accelerate land concentration among local elites and the exposure of many to landlessness and food insecurity.

Examines the role of development cooperation in land reforms and the extent to which donor organisations have addressed concerns related to gender equality. Reviews the reforms in 15 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia, with a focus on Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Nicaragua. Legislation upholding gender equality is now present in different degrees in most of the countries examined. However, implementation often does not follow suit and women still face discrimination, in part due to social and cultural barriers and the inaccessibility of institutions able to support them.