The land question in Kenya has never been solved. Land is a pertinent source of livelihood, the problem has persisted and in a number of years caused chaos as people grow impatient. Over time, there have been complaints from various communities and recently, the past governments have sought to listen the ailing communities. The National Land Policy and the National Land Commission characterize efforts to remedy the continued situation bedeviling the African communities.

On 27th August 2010, Kenya’s new constitution was promulgated. This set in place a process of implementation through the enactment of different legislations and setting up of new institutional frameworks as envisaged in the new constitutional dispensation. For the land sector, far reaching legal and institutional reforms are envisaged in Chapter 5 of the constitution. The Chapter on Land and Environment also lays out broad principles through which land and the environment shall be managed.

Underpinned by the concept of entitlement as its theoretical paradigm, this study examines the genesis of public land ownership and its disposition in the post-colonial era, how this has disadvantaged some sections of society and given rise to claims of historical land injustices.

Until recently, the legal framework on land was marred by the existence of multiple land laws, some of which were incompatible. These laws, coupled with the rampant land injustices hampered efficacy in land ownership, management and administration of land. As a result, the Constitution of Kenya (CoK) has changed the laws on land and the dispute resolution institutions.

Housing occupies an important position in the Kenyan psyche along with the concept of home ownership. The residential developments and investments attract both institutional, corporate organisations as well as private individuals. There are indications that the residential market in Nairobi is very active and that most of the valuation firms in Nairobi cany out market-based valuation of residential properties.

Property assessment for rating purposes has been practiced in Kenya for over a century. Property taxation is a major source of local authority finance though its full potential has not being realized. The revenue received from property taxes is used for provision of services to residents within a local authority’s jurisdiction Lack of realization of full potential of the property tax is blamed on inefficiencies in the local authorities as a result of poor property tax administration.

The government of (post)socialist Laos has conceded more than 1 million hectares of land—5 percent of the national territory—to resource investors, threatening rural community access to customary lands and forests. However, investors have not been able to use all of the land granted to them, and their projects have generated geographically uneven dispossession due to local resistance.

ABSTRACTED FROM CHAPTER INTRODUCTION: The preceding chapters of this book give a central place to the Powers of Exclusion framework for understanding transformations in land relations, as developed in our 2011 book on Southeast Asia. A couple of the main aspects of the two books make for an interesting comparison. The first is that each employs a regional frame of reference to explore themes in changing land relations. The second is their respective development and application of a common conceptual framework.

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Land rights systems in Southeast Asia are in constant flux; they respond to various socioeconomic and political pressures and to changes in statutory and customary law. Over the last decade, Southeast Asia has become one of the hotspots of the global land grab phenomenon, accounting for about 30 percent of transnational land grabs globally. Land grabs by domestic urban elites, the military or government actors are also common in many Southeast Asian countries.

The desperate search for ways to combat climate change gives rise to new mitigation policies and projects, with questionable impacts on people and the environment. Among these mitigation projects is the increasing support of large-scale ‘sustainable’ forestry plantations as part of the broader Clean Development Mechanisms. This paper discusses several problems that may arise from such plantation projects, especially the missed mitigation potential through the involvement of local actors in protecting biodiverse forests.

WEBSITE INTRODUCTION: This book examines large-scale land acquisitions, or ‘land grabbing’, with a focus on South-East Asia. Thematic papers and detailed case studies put this phenomenon into specific historical and institutional contexts, analysing transformations in livelihoods, human rights impacts, and potential remedies.

The purpose of the report is to provide documentary evidence of land disputes recorded throughout 2015. This evidence was gathered from articles on land disputes from local printed media, meetings with Land and Housing Right Network (LAHRiN) members, and through on-site data collection. This report aims to raise awareness and understanding of the current situation regarding land disputes, and act as a resource for other stakeholders working on land issues including government officials, donors, LAHRiN members, Cambodian and international civil society and academic researchers.