Dans le cadre d'un webinaire stimulant animé par Nolundi Luwaya, directeur du Centre de recherche sur la terre et la responsabilité de l'Université du Cap, des experts de toute l'Afrique se sont réunis pour démêler les complexités du rôle des autorités traditionnelles dans la gouvernance des investissements fonciers. Cet événement a mis en lumière les défis uniques et les stratégies employées par les autorités traditionnelles dans la gestion des investissements fonciers.

Ce dossier explore les défis auxquels sont confrontées les épouses informelles et autres femmes "invisibles" pour sécuriser leurs droits fonciers, en particulier dans le contexte de la formalisation des droits fonciers et des campagnes de titrage.

Traditional authorities in Zambia complain that the government does not consult them when land is allocated for investment projects, while communities say chiefs are neglecting their interests. Jesinta Kunda of Zambia Land Alliance says more clarity is needed on the role of traditional authorities, in law and practice, to ensure large-scale investments in agriculture, mining and other sectors are governed better – particularly in light of the rising demand for critical minerals found in Zambia. She urges the government, traditional leaders and citizens to seize the opportunities presented by current legal reforms in Zambia to create change.

Blogpost sur le livre "Power, Knowledge, Land - Contested Ontologies of Land and Its Governance Foncière in Africa" 2022 par Laura A. German. Presses de l'Université du Michigan.

Par Linda Engström, chercheuse, Division du développement rural, Université suédoise des sciences agricoles, Suède.

La question de la tenure foncière et de la gouvernance foncière est l'un des défis les plus complexes et les plus multiformes auxquels sont confrontés les décideurs et les praticiens dans le domaine du développement. C'est particulièrement vrai lorsqu'il s'agit d'atteindre les objectifs de développement durable (ODD), car il existe plus d'une douzaine d'indicateurs liés à la terre répartis sur cinq objectifs des ODD, dont les données sont conservées par différentes agences dépositaires.

Traditional leaders assign land giving little consideration to spatial planning for long-term, sustainable settlement. People are settled in places unsuitable for human habitation. And climate change will bring added volatility and exposure.

There is an immense pressure on land in Uganda. The country has a rapidly growing population and is host to the world’s third largest refugee population. Particularly poor people struggle to get access to healthy food. Agriculture practices need to become more efficient and focused on the domestic market. The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) in Uganda works to improve food security in selected areas in the country. Among several food security projects, the EKN works with the LAND-at-scale program to improve land governance.

The Maasai community of Musul have lived on the same land in Laikipia county for generations. It is their source of food and water, the heart of their culture and beliefs, and their ancestral home. But until recently, their legal rights to govern it were tenuous.

WHY REJECT CUSTOMARY LAND PRIVATISATION 

Most of the world’s land is still stewarded by communities under customary systems. Billions of people rely on communally managed farmland, pasture, forests and savannahs for their livelihoods. 

This collective management of resources is viewed in the colonial or capitalist economic model as an obstacle to individual wealth creation and private profit. 

By Ben Cousins, Emeritus Professor, Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape

* This article originally appeared in the The Conversation on 22 June 2021