Fiscal instruments are tools that governments use to manage revenue and expenditure and therefore influence the growth (or stability) of the various sectors of the economy. Government revenue is derived primarily through taxation. In Kenya, land taxation has contributed less than 1% of government revenue for the past three years. The Sessional Paper No.

The acquisition of land by foreigners in developing countries has emerged as a key mechanism for foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI is defined by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as the category of international investment that reflects the objective of a resident entity in one economy to obtain a lasting interest in an enterprise resident in another economy.

According to 2001 statistics, 924 million people, almost one third of the world’s population lived in slums. A majority of these people are in the developing countries and they account for 43% of the urban population. Slums are characterized by a dense proliferation of small, makeshift shelters built from diverse materials, degradation of the local ecosystem and by severe social problems.

Women face many problems with regard to land inheritance and land rights in Kenya. Individual and community land ownership do not favour women. The reason for this is that ownership of land is patrilineal, which means that fathers share land amongst sons, while excluding daughters. This practice is traditionally widespread and partly accepted although it goes against the interest of women and is prohibited by the constitution.

The promulgation of the Kenyan Constitution 2010 brought into place concerns about the urgency for land reform. Land reforms hold the key to solving some of Kenya’s greatest challenges such as landlessness, community cohesion, food security and sustainable development. Land reforms lie at the heart of the work of the National Land Commission (NLC) and Kituo cha Sheria and they are also at the heart of many Kenyan communities who live, work and rely on land. Information contained in the book goes a long way in educating these communities about their land rights.

The first volume of the People's Law Journal was written by the Land and Accountability Research Centre (LARC) in the Faculty of Law at the Universityof Cape Town and edited and published by Ndifuna Ukwazi. The journal explores a wide range of relevant issues including land restitution, elite capture, traditional leadership, mining and the erosion of communal land rights in the post-apartheid era

The Rural Agricultural Livelihood Survey (RALS) is a new panel survey designed to obtain a comprehensive picture of Zambia’s small- and medium-scale farming sector using the 2010 census sampling frame. An earlier household panel survey for rural Zambia was the Supplemental Surveys (SS) of 2001, 2004 and 2008, which enabled the publication of a large set of important research outputs by IAPRI, Michigan State University and a range of Zambian and international partner organizations.

The International Development Law Organization (IDLO) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) assessed the legal frameworks for major resource sectors in Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique to analyze whether and to what extent they enable sustainable investments. Relevant international standards suggest that sustainable investments integrate socioeconomic and environmental concerns, bound together by the rule of law.

Zambia is one of the most forested countries in Africa, with about 50 million out of the 75 million hectares total land area under some form of forest cover. However, the country also has one of the highest rates of deforestation and degradation in the world, estimated at 250,000-300,000 hectares of forest loss per annum. Reversing/slowing this high deforestation and degradation trend will require the country to design and implement programs and strategies that will effectively deal with both the proximate and underlying drivers of deforestation and degradation.

Land is the most fundamental resource in any society because it is the basis of human survival. Land is the space upon which all human activities take place and provides continued existence of all life forms and minerals.

Nolundi Luwaya examines how the laws affecting rural citizens in South Africa fit together. She examines the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act and highlights key sections of the Act including the requirements for establishment of Traditional Councils, the status and role of traditional leaders. She reviews contested legislation including the Communal Land Rights Act, struck down by the Constitutional Court and the Traditional Courts Bill which threatened to turn rural citizens in the former bantustans into chiefly subjects.

A legislation to amend and codify the law relating to intestate succession among Hindus. It deal with issues related to coparcenary property, interest in the property of a tarwad, tavazhi, kutumba, kavaru or illom, rules of succession in the case of males, succession among heirs, distribution of property among heirs in class I of the Schedule.