Examines (1) what is the issue and why is it important? – equality and economic growth, tenure insecurity, governance and institutions; (2) current evidence: what do we know? – land redistribution for productive use, policy reforms to strengthen security of tenure, state facilitation of land markets; (3) what we don’t know: closing the evidence gap – reconciling social justice / equity and agricultural growth, land administration, agricultural growth and poverty reduction, appropriate taxation of land and productive resources.

Case study includes conceptual framework, rationale for land reform in Rwanda, assessment of choices, implementation. Highlights from the thematic dialogue include discussions on participation, decision making for optimal land use, land and the rural-urban interface and livelihoods, lessons learned and challenges. Third part examines possibilities for future co-operation.

Series of country papers on HIV/AIDS and land in Lesotho, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, with concluding paper on methodological and conceptual issues. The key questions addressed include: The impact on and changes in land tenure systems (including patterns of ownership, access, and rights) as a consequence of HIV/AIDS with a focus on vulnerable groups. The ways that HIV/AIDS affected households are coping in terms of land use, management and access, e.g. abandoning land due to fear of losing land, renting out due to inability to utilise land, distress sale of land, etc.

Investigates cases of land grabbing in Uganda, focusing in particular on oil palm plantations in Kalangala, Lake Victoria. Argues that land grabbing in Uganda is intensifying and spreading throughout the country, depriving local communities of access to natural resources, exacerbating rural poverty and aggravating the risk of food crises.

The EU Land Policy Guidelines (November 2004) are intended for EU donors when supporting interventions in rural land policy and administration. They are divided into Part I policy framework, Part II operational guidelines. Part I includes what is land policy and why does it matter?; links between land policy and other major policy areas (e.g. poverty reduction, gender equality, conflict, governance, environment); elements of a land policy programme; central issues for the design of land policy and land reforms (e.g.

Official report from the European Forum on the sessions relating to land tenure reform and poverty reduction. Details the panel discussion involving Robin Palmer (Oxfam), Julian Quan (DFID), Christian Graefen (GTZ), Annelies Zoomers (CEDLA), Philippe Lavigne-Delville (GRET), followed by summaries of two working groups, on Madagascar and Mali and Latin America, and concludes with agreed action points.

Paper for a LandNet Rwanda workshop. Contains a conceptual framework on land and poverty; land attributes and the seeds of poverty including tenure issues; critical challenges to policy makers. Includes a descriptive summary of land problems from a recent university survey. Argues that land policies are fragile when mechanistically determined from the top, and need to involve the people in arbitration of disputes. Concludes that there can be no answer to poverty that does not take account of land.

Introduction, policy issues on farm workers in the land reform discourse, current political realities, the fast track land reform programme, conclusion.

Highlights the conceptual linkages between HIV and AIDS, productivity, and land-tenure security. Points out the transitional effects of the epidemic on household asset endowment. Checklist of issues and considerations for analysis of HIV and AIDS on land tenure and use in PSIA (Poverty Social Impact Assessment) undertakings based on survey evidence and a specific site study on systematic demarcation in Rukarango, Ntungamo District.

Background – renewed impetus for systematic demarcation – policy, legislative and operational frameworks. Systematic demarcation and poverty reduction – theoretical and conceptual frameworks, methodology. Outcomes of systematic demarcation – the demarcation process, transformations in land rights, including for children and women, asset enhancement, access to capital, farm investment and production, the land market, land disputes, area land committee operations, local parcel registration data bank. Conclusions and recommendations.

Has 3 main chapters: land tenure security and poverty reduction; access to land problem in Rwanda; a background (land-tenure systems, land scarcity and environmental degradation, land distribution); issues of tenure security in Rwanda (access to land by poor people, formalisation, practicalities of implementation).

Stresses views of conference participants that agrarian reform is an alive issue on the political agenda of many countries. A wide consensus on the positive contribution that more equal access to land and other assets makes to the fight against poverty. Meaningful reform must involve the transformation of property rights. Agrarian reform must involve state regulation to overcome the failure of markets to deliver equitable outcomes. Also a wide consensus on the need for strong and effective state action.