The report, Land Tenure for Social and
Economic Inclusion in Yemen: Issues and Opportunities was
completed in December 2009. The report addresses the
problems of land ownership in Yemen and the various social
and economic problems associated with the system of land
ownership. Property rights under Yemeni Law are expressed
both in custom and statute, but both are informed by shari a
(Islamic law), which provides the basic property categories

Over the coming decades, land policy and
administration, for urban as well as rural areas, will be
critical for Ethiopia's development. The vast majority
of people making up the Federal Democratic Republic of
Ethiopia's (FDRE) predominantly agricultural economy
live in rural areas. Finally, land policies and
administration can contribute significantly to the
objectives of promoting gender equality and protecting

This paper presents an analysis of an environmental conflict that arose in a Thai industrial zone. The authors analyse state policies to resolve the conflict, and draw lessons for other industrializing nations adopting industrial zone models. The study revealed that a root cause of the conflict was violation of land-use planning regulations and expansion of the industrial zone into community areas. Through legal action, civil society successfully forced the state and industries to halt unplanned expansion.

In recent years the government of Laos has provided many foreign investors with large-scale economic land concessions to develop plantations. These concessions have resulted in significant alterations of landscapes and ecological processes, greatly reduced local access to resources through enclosing common areas, and have ultimately led to massive changes in the livelihoods of large numbers of mainly indigenous peoples living near these concessions.

This book, essentially an “anarchist history,” is the first-ever examination of the huge literature on state-making whose author evaluates why people would deliberately and reactively remain stateless. Among the strategies employed by the people of Zomia to remain stateless are physical dispersion in rugged terrain; agricultural practices that enhance mobility; pliable ethnic identities; devotion to prophetic, millenarian leaders; and maintenance of a largely oral culture that allows them to reinvent their histories and genealogies as they move between and around states.

This paper describes the interventions undertaken in the Doe Mao Salong watershed in an effort to restore the landscape and improve the livelihoods of local communities. Interventions included forming multi-stakeholder platforms to facilitate dialogue and to ensure participatory land-use planning; the creation of tree nurseries for forest rehabilitation; identifying products for sale in local markets; and a focus on action learning. Land-tenure arrangements proved key to these interventions. The report describes the impacts.

This first CAPRi sourcebook is a fitting commemoration of the 15th anniversary of CAPRi. Unique among other training materials, it is based directly on the experiences and lessons of research on CAPRi core themes from around the world. The presentation is simple and straightforward, but it is based on sound underlying research.

Land consolidation is a highly effective land management instrument that allows for the improvement of the structure of agricultural holdings and farms in a country, which increases their economic and social efficiency and brings benefits both to right holders as well as to society in general. Since land consolidation gives mobility to land ownership and other land rights, it may also facilitate the allocation of new areas with specific purposes other than agriculture, such as for public infrastructure or nature protection and restoration.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi women displaced by war remain unable to return to their homes because of systemic injustices that prevent them from proving or claiming ownership of their property.

New research by the Norwegian Refugee Council reveals that displaced women in Iraq are much worse off than men: they are 11 per cent more likely to face barriers impeding them from going back home after years of suffering in displacement camps since the end of the war against Islamic State group in their areas of origin.

This Guide provides an entry point to understanding and implementing the principles of responsible governance of land tenure set out in the VGGT for companies involved in land-based investment. It provides a more manageable presentation of the VGGT, along with steps to ensure that a company acts consistently with them and includes thorough due diligence on the tenure rights of project-affected communities.

This report presents findings on corruption in large scale land-based investments (LSLBIs) in Sub-Saharan Africa, and although it draws on case studies from Sierra Leone and Zambia, its recommendations aim to be applicable across Sub-Saharan Africa. 

This book exposes the key land use and environmental problems facing Kenya today due to lack of an appropriate national land use policy. The publication details how the air is increasingly being polluted, the water systems are diminishing in quantity and deteriorating in quality. The desertification process threatens the land and its cover. The soils are being eroded leading to siltation of the ocean and lakes. The forests are being depleted with impunity thus destroying the water catchments.