This policy brief outlines recommendations resulting from a three-year action research programme undertaken by civil society organizations in collaboration with threatened communities of smallholder farmers and fishers.
Large scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) impact women: loss of rights and access to land, water resources, fuel wood, adequate shelter, compensation and livelihood. The study looks at three sub-Saharan African countries (Cameroon, Ghana and Uganda) each having different land tenure regimes. Since land is vital for the survival of rural dwellers especially women, the study recommends that laws and policies governing the process of LSLA stress a mandatory participatory approach that includes women. There is urgent need to revalorize national laws to mainstream women’s land rights.
This project brings the international soft law instrument, the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of the Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests (Tenure Guidelines or TGs) to rural communities and, together with them, uses the Guidelines to strengthen their tenure of land, fisheries and forests. As well, it provides policy-relevant knowledge on how to promote legitimacy and accountability of public authorities involved in land grabs. The goal of the Toolkit is to help users to produce outputs which are politically relevant and useful.
In fishing communities the contentious acquisition of land close to water bodies is especially relevant. Water grabbing has serious implications for basic human rights including the right to water, food, health, livelihood, and self-determination. Land grabbing is driven by the desire to control and use water and fisheries resources. Globally, Uganda is among the 25 countries most affected by water grabbing.
As part of a collaborative project to strengthen the capacity of grassroots communities in Mali, Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa, this practical guide focuses on accountability and accountability politics in the global rush to grab land, water and other natural resources. Through action research, threatened communities can determine causes, conditions, and consequences that will inform collective action and advocacy, in particular by using the CFS/FAO Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (Tenure Guidelines or TGs).
Undemocratic politics, policy making and law making interpretation and implementation, prove to be drivers of land grabbing in the four country studies presented here. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (CFS/FAO) Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (Tenure Guidelines or TGs), albeit “soft” law, are being used by local communities for bottom-up accountability against land grabbing. Land deals are marked by highly contested political processes – usually between the central state, local communities and the corporate sector.
The study illustrates that small holders, particularly women, are increasingly losing farmland. It questions the social development impact of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) in Cameroon in terms of better living standards and reduction of poverty. It also examines how and under what conditions women can be empowered to effectively engage with LSLAs to ensure that legal and policy frameworks foster better accountability and legitimacy in land governance. Most untitled land in Cameroon is now national land held under customary tenancy, without security.
The land in fishing communities is especially susceptible to land grabbing. Findings reveal that lawlessness, ignorance of the law, unlawful evictions and increasing conflicts in fishing and farming communities, all lead to loss of access to land and fishing grounds. This report gives background and context of the research, clarifies the legal and policy framework governing the use of land in Uganda, while providing background on the Mukono district.
How and why do political reactions of certain rural groups align or depart from those of others? Findings suggest that in settler societies, aspects of green grabbing (or land grabbing) may be understood as acts of “white belonging.” Likewise, green grabbing presents other groups with opportunities to re-assert other notions of belonging in the landscape through resistance, acquiescence, or incorporation.
This policy brief serves to aid policy for land management especially in Cross River State, Nigeria. Following incessant conflicts between communities and investors (individuals, companies, multinational etc.) within the rainforest communities in Nigeria, and Cross River state in particular, Environmental Right Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FOEN) conducted a study anchored on bottom-up accountability and governance: securing community tenure rights to land in impacted communities in Betem, Akpet, Idoma and Akamkpa in Cross River State Nigeria.
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