This paper is engaged with the critical perspective that highlights the role of the state in the production of urban informality by examining the dynamics of informal land-use practices in Dongguan, China since 1978. Based on in-depth interviews and archival analysis, the relationship between informal land development, the state, and land institution change has been revealed. Our findings show that informal land development is practiced by village collectives from below in Dongguan as a response to the absence and limitation of the national land law.

Land Registration: Global Practices and Lessons for India has been authored by B. K. Agarwal,  having extensive knowledge and first-hand experience in land administration. It contains a comparative analysis of land registration systems of Germany, UK, Australia, USA, France, and the Netherlands.​ Laws regarding maintenance of land title records in four Indian states Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, and West Bengal have also been analyzed. In the end the author has given his  evidence-based recommendations on reforms required in the Indian land registration system.​

The severity of the population dislocation and destruction of housing, land and property (HLP) in the Ukraine war has driven efforts for starting reconstruction planning prior to the war's end. This comes with the realization that re-covery will entail considerable preparation, including ef-forts at using seized Russian assets to finance it. Engaging in HLP restitution and compensation will be a primary re-covery challenge, with the Ukrainian government moving forward with legislation for facilitating this.

Ukraine is poised to transform the process of housing, land and property (HLP)

restitution and compensation after wars. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has displaced

more than 13.5 million people (UNHCR 2023) and created massive destruction and

damage to the country’s HLP. Initial efforts at recovery along with counter-offensives

have stabilized large areas of the country and liberated others, to which displaced

Ukrainians are now beginning to return (Duggar 2022; Conkling 2022). The Ukrainian

This State of Land Information (SOLI) report is an analysis of the current state of land data in Botswana, assessing the availability of land information and the compliance of this information with open data standards. 

The aim of this report is to serve as a diagnostic for the land information ecosystem in Botswana and enable targeted interventions for improved information management.

Rural women’s livelihoods in Africa are dependent on their rights and entitlement to land as well as security of tenure. Equally important is how land laws and land governance systems shape and reshape women’s access to land and tenure security. As such, this paper focuses on women’s access to land and tenure security after the adoption of a new Constitution in 2013 and Statutory Instrument 53 of 2014 in Zimbabwe. Whereas both legal instruments are progressive and guarantee women’s rights to property, their realization is shrouded in complexities and contradictions.

The Gnassingbé clan has ruled the country since 1967. Throughout the survey period, demands for political change initiated by institutional and electoral reforms were a major issue of contention between the government and the challengers of the Gnassingbé regime. An alliance of opposition parties and civil society groups organized peaceful demonstrations in opposition to the regime. These demonstrations were often violently suppressed. Civil society organizations and representatives of the Christian church supported the opposition’s demands.

Land access is becoming a crucial issue in many African contexts, where groups and individuals are coping with land scarcity and increasing competition over resources. Based on fieldwork carried out in the southwestern region of Togo, this paper explores the plurality and adaptability of the forms of land access that have historically emerged from changing economic and political landscapes characterized by the rise and the decline of cocoa cultivation.

L’un des problèmes cruciaux auxquels font face les peuples africains est celui de la gestion des terres fertiles. C’est le cas du peuple akposso. Dès les origines, ce peuple avait établi sa tradition dans le domaine foncier et n’était pas prêt à partager ses terres avec autrui. Mais pendant la colonisation, l’Allemagne et la France ont eu leurs propres codes fonciers. De même, en 1974, l’Etat togolais a entrepris une réforme agro pastorale. L’étude de cette évolution du droit foncier montre des différences entre le droit foncier coutumier akposso et le droit foncier moderne.

The race for the exploitation of natural resources has brought challenges of different natures, including land conflicts, mainly between investors and the local population. In some cases, the resolution of problems has been unfair due to the lack of legal knowledge and representation to help the vulnerable population. It is in this context that the paralegal figure was established, endowed with solid knowledge to voluntarily provide basic legal support to community members.

This decree divides into 15 sessions and consists of 188 articles. This law sets out the principles, regulations, measures on the management, monitoring of land works aiming to improve the lives of the people.

Through a collaborative process with the Land Law Advisory Group in Laos, this series of briefing notes addresses some of the most pressing issues in the country in relation to the recently passed Land Law (2019) and Forest Law (2019). The five briefs in the series address: tenure rights in state forestlands; customary tenure rights; tenure rights to land for collective purposes; awareness-raising for gender and social inclusive and safeguards in cases of land loss or expropriation.