Recognition and respect for tenure rights has long been recognized as an important concern for development, conservation, and natural resource governance. This paper discusses why secure tenure rights for local communities, indigenous peoples and women are central to good natural resource governance and important for livelihoods and human rights, as recognized in multiple international conventions. The paper reviews both challenges and opportunities for securing rights in practice and highlights successful cases of tenure reform.

This paper addresses the disjuncture between women’s formal land rights and their attaining these in practice, examining the four agrarian reforms carried out by progressive governments after 2000 in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela. It finds that while all four strengthened women’s formal land rights, only the reforms in Bolivia and Brazil resulted in a significant share and number of female beneficiaries.

The Financial and Fiscal Commission (the Commission) undertook a study into the land reform programme. Part of the problem is that land reform is framed within the narrow confines of agriculture and does not take into account the inherent sectoral challenges. The survey results show the land reform programme’s lack of success is illustrated by the drastic decrease in production since land was transferred.

This report analyses the land registration system and applicable legal framework in Sierra Leone to determine whether these ensure adequate transparency and accountability, particularly in the context of beneficial ownership.

A land audit responding to the facts that policy formulation around the very sensitive and complex issue of land has been based on perception rather than fact for too long and that no reliable figures on land ownership in South Africa exist. Acknowledges that there are still some gaps in the data, but presents statistics that  shed light on ownership patterns of agricultural land in South Africa. Required a multi-pronged approach. The amount of agricultural land has decreased from approximately 79.3% in 1994 to 76.3% in 2016.

Contains land and the Constitution of Kenya (2010), the rise and rise of the rule of law, getting technical, a grabbed land, the costs of impunity, interconnected law and justice, a challenge to the constitution, Kenya’s new land laws: timeline. Concludes that new laws have not been redistributive or transformative in a positive way. Longstanding grievances and injustices have not been addressed. Legislation has failed to curtail predatory bureaucracies which in turn have stymied reform through delaying tactics and sabotage.

Workshop report draws on a larger research report examining the massively changed context for livestock policy following fast track land reform. Themes discussed were production, grazing, fodder and drought responses, marketing, livestock disease and veterinary services.

Includes modernisation and agricultural development in Southern Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia) past and present; framing viability: frameworks for assessing land and agrarian reform; viability in redistributive land reform in Southern Africa; rethinking viability in Southern African land reform.

A critical assessment of 22 years of land reform policies in South Africa. Concludes that land reform has been captured by elites. The most powerful voices are those of ‘emerging’ black capitalist farmers (often with non-farm incomes), traditional leaders, large-scale white commercial farmers and agribusiness corporates, who are all benefiting more than the poor.

Includes case studies: land market dynamics and land reform in Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga; current government programmes and policies; South Africa’s land market and land reform; private sector contributions to land reform; 3 agri-business sectors and land reform – fruit, timber, sugar; research conclusions: key challenges to land reform now; where are we now, and where are we heading?; getting back on track: CDE’s recommendations.

Paper reviews the South African experience with land reform, and land redistribution in particular, up to the end of 2005. Looks at various aspects of market-based land reform – landowner veto on participation in land reform; payment of ‘market prices’ for land; self-selection of beneficiaries; focus on ‘commercial’ forms of production; prominent role for the private sector in provision of credit, extension, and other services.

Focuses on tenure reform (as a necessary first step); securing rights for farmworkers and labour tenants; slow progress and key challenges in restitution; redistribution; what is to be done? Offers an overview of the key challenges facing land reform and suggests a number of ways in which the current reform programme can be accelerated to fight poverty and inequality. Argues there is urgent need for a comprehensive, transparent, participatory process and for widespread public debate, especially in the light of events in Zimbabwe.