The Recognition of Customary Tenure in Myanmar

The present study on Myanmar focuses on customary tenure among upland ethnic
nationalities, where colonial and state land administration systems have been poorly integrated,
allowing customary systems to be sustained over time. Much like under British colonial power, the
state has an ambiguous attitude towards customary systems: they are not formally recognized in
law but in practice they are tolerated. Customary land is not titled and therefore at risk of
alienation. The expropriation of many thousands of acres of farmers’ land during the military junta
and its cronies since the 1980s, and the increase in foreign investments that has accompanied
democratic reforms under the former Thein Sein government, have presented new and intensified
risks to customary land, particularly in the uplands where most economic land concessions are
granted. Without legal recognition and protection, land under customary tenure is vulnerable to
appropriation by the state and commercial interests...