The Lao Land and Forest Allocation Policy (LFAP) was intended to provide clearer property rights for swidden farmers living in mountainous areas. These lands are legally defined as “State” forests but are under various forms of customary tenure. The policy involves demarcating village territorial boundaries, ecological zoning of lands within village territories, and finally allocating a limited number of individual land parcels to specific households for farming.

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.

In Kenya, insecure land tenure and inequitable access to land, forest and water resources have contributed to conflict and violence, which has in turn exacerbated food insecurity. To address these interlinked problems, a new set of laws and policies on food security and land governance are currently being introduced or designed by the Government of Kenya. The new Food Security Bill explicitly recognizes the link between food security and land access, and the 2012 land laws target the corrupt system of land administration that made much of Kenya’s land grabbing possible.

In Kenya, insecure land tenure and inequitable access to land and natural resources have contributed to conflict and violence, which has in return exacerbated food insecurity. Most farmers in Kenya have no legal title for the land on which they farm. Sources of tenure insecurity can be ethnic conflicts over land between neighbouring communities, particularly in the Northern provinces, expropriation by the state or local government and land grabbing by local elite or companies. Competition is as well growing over water, especially over groundwater, which is scarce in Kenya.

THE MINING ACT No. 12 of 2016

Date of Assent: 6th May, 2016

Date of Commencement: 27th May, 2016

Public land is a resource that should be effectively managed in the public’s best interest in line with provisions of the Constitutions of Kenya and the Land Act. The management framework governing land use and development decisions on public land should ensure protection and sustainable management of the land. Despite these provisions in law, recent media reports point toresurgenceof public land grab. The Land Development and Governance Institute commissioned this research study to establish the status of the public land management in Kenya.

The Land Act, 2012

The Land Registration Act, 2012

The National Land Commission Act, 2012

The Environment & Land Court Act, 2011

The Urban Areas & Cities Act, 2011

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.

Land acquisitions, either driven by foreign investments or domestic investment needs have continued to polarize opinions. When this research was proposed, it was premised on arguments by scholars Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Helen Markelova, who had analysed agricultural land deals, and argued that there were potentially two schools of thought about foreign acquisitions over agricultural land.

Kenya is going through a period of intense transition. The country's main development policy, Vision 2030, is just entering the second Medium Term Plan of Implementation from 2013. The development priorities focus extensively on large scale investments, for industrial, irrigated agriculture, utilization of newly discovered natural resources, and infrastructure development. Land is therefore a central commodity for realization of the sought after socioeconomic transformation.

Kenya is currently implementing a number of large scale infrastructure and development projects aimed at trans forming the country into a newly industrializing, middle-income country. For this, the government has had to compulsorily acquire large tracts of land upon which the infrastructure is set.

An Act to amend certain Written Laws The