This Scoping Mission Report, aimed at identifying the key land policy and land tenure reform issues and processes facing Sierra Leone, is based on extensive consultations with a wide range of stakeholders and review of available literature, undertaken in July 2009. It was commissioned by the Recovery for Development Unit of the UNDP in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands, Country Planning and the Environment. It will serve the purpose of enhancing public dialogue and programme development on land reform, and to also guide the coordination of initiatives and resource mobilization.

 
¿El enfoque de género en el desarrollo rural está paralizado?
 Carmen Beatriz Ruiz*
 

This study assessed the preference for and efficiency of land tenure contract arrangements in rice farming in West Java, Indonesia. Specifically, it examined the transaction costs associated with land tenure contracts, the land tenure contract preference, the efficiency of land tenure contracts, and the policy agenda to address the problems of land tenure efficiency. Three types of land tenure contracts were considered: sharecropping, fixed rental and mortgage.

This Decree, consisting of 53 articles divided into eight Parts, regulates State Land Lease or Concession. It determines the principles, procedures, and measures regarding granting of state land for lease or concession with the aim to ensure the uniform management and use throughout the country, to boost the development of state land, to turn land into capital, to promote the investment for cash crop production and for services, and to build income for the state budget.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was
established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by the five
original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on
8 January 1984; Vietnam, on 28 July 1995; Lao PDR and
Myanmar, on 23 July 1997; and Cambodia, on 30 April 1999.
In principle, ASEAN supports poverty reduction, food security,
sustainable development, and greater equity in the ASEAN
region. However, a closer look at the pronouncements contained

International policy is currently witnessing a renewed interest in customary tenure systems as well as traditional leadership, through which it aims to enhance the efficiency of local governance and create general access to and secure rights in land. Contrary to these ideas, practice reveals a lack of security of customary tenure in areas with a high competition for land. Mounting evidence displays that customary systems often evolve inequitably and that traditional elites benefit disproportionally from commodification of land.

International policy is currently witnessing a renewed interest in customary tenure systems as well as traditional leadership, through which it aims to enhance the efficiency of local governance and create general access to and secure rights in land. Contrary to these ideas, practice reveals a lack of security of customary tenure in areas with a high competition for land. Mounting evidence displays that customary systems often evolve inequitably and that traditional elites benefit disproportionally from commodification of land.

Countries retain powers of compulsory acquisition in order to enable governments to acquire land for specific purposes. The nature of these powers and the ways in which they are used are invariably sensitive and have wide implications, including from the perspective of international agreements on human rights and their national expressions. Compulsory acquisition is disruptive for those who are affected and whose land is taken and, if done poorly, will have serious negative impacts on people and their livelihoods.

The articles in this volume supplement FAO Land Tenure Studies 10, Compulsory acquisition of land and compensation. The latter publication explains what compulsory acquisition and compensation are and what constitutes good practice in this area. This current volumes introductory article provides an overview of these issues. The issue of compulsory acquisition from a human rights perspective is also addressed here as are the concepts of market value, compensation value and just terms compensation.

Secure access to productive land is critical to the millions of poor people living in rural areas and depending on agriculture, livestock or forests for their livelihood. It reduces their vulnerability to hunger and poverty; influences their capacity to invest in their productive activities and in the sustainable management

Document de travail sur les régimes fonciers 7. Ce document analyse la gouvernance foncière dans les divers pays d’Afrique centrale en relevant des problèmes communs et des mesures entreprises par les Etats. L’étude reconnaît que la corruption, la non application des lois, l’abus de pouvoir ou la confusion des rôles transparaissent dans la plupart des pays et représentent des défis majeurs pour l’application des principes de bonne gouvernance.