The relationship between land ownership and the sustainable use of natural resources is examined within the context of constitutional change in Africa. Using Kenya as an example, it is demonstrated that current constitutional arrangements put excessive emphasis on the protection of private property rights without requiring the corresponding duty of ecological stewardship. This has resulted in the failure of government policies and development practices to fully integrate environmental considerations into growth strategies.

The various legal, political, economic and social perspectives that have influenced the land reform discourse in Kenya are examined. The historical perspectives of the land question in Kenya are outlined, and the factors that shaped the content of Kenya's land law and attendant institutional and constitutional regimes are addressed. The operationalization of the legal regimes and policy frameworks emergent from the colonial legacy is also extensively dealt with, focusing on the way the state has sought to balance private and public interests in land through the instruments of law.

From July 17 to August 7, 2019, the Land Portal Foundation, the African Land Policy Center, GIZ and Transparency International Chapters in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda co-facilitated the dialogue Land Corruption in Africa addressing the role of traditional leaders in customary land administration, forced evictions as a form of land corruption and its Impact on women’s land rights and an analysis of alternative dispute resolution systems in addressing land corruption.

Post-war societies not only have to deal with continuing unpeaceful relations but also land-related conflict legacies, farmland and forest degradation, heavily exploited natural resources, land mines, a destroyed infrastructure, as well as returning refugees and ex-combatants. In the aftermath of war, access to and control of land often remains a sensitive issue which may precipitate tensions and lead to a renewed destabilization of volatile post-conflict situations.

From January 15 to February 6, 2018, the USAID’s Tenure and Global Climate Change Program and Land Portal Foundation co-facilitated a dialogue on experiences of documenting household and community-level customary rights in Zambia. The dialogue brought together the perspectives of government, traditional leaders, practitioners, civil society, and academics to consider how customary land documentation can contribute to national development goals and increased service delivery in rural and peri-urban areas.

This brief discusses a pilot intervention in Rwanda led by the Belgian
NGO, RCN Justice & Démocratie, with support from the International
Development Law Organization (IDLO) and the Belgian Government. A
more detailed and complete discussion of the pilot is given in Lankhorst
and Veldman (2011a). The pilot aimed to transform the customary
resolution of disputes involving women’s land claims concerning
inheritance or marital relations. The intervention examined whether
and to what extent it was possible to increase the scope for acceptance