Civil war and violence often force large numbers of people to leave their lands. Multiple waves of displacement and (partial) return generate complex overlapping claims that are not easily solved. As people return to their regions of origin—sometimes after decades—they tend to find their land occupied by other settlers, some of whom hold legal entitlements. In the places of arrival, displaced people affect other people’s access as they seek to turn their temporary entitlements into more definite claims.

Date: 13 mai 2019

Source: Foncier & Développement

Par: Gérard Chouquer

Gérard Chouquer publie un nouvel ouvrage aux Presses des Mines : « Le foncier, entre propriété et expertise »

This manual illustrates a monitoring scheme for monitoring large-scale agricultural investments. It aims at providing orientation for establishing a monitoring scheme and implementing monitoring activities in the framework of LSAI with the collaboration of the authorities responsible for leasing out land to agricultural investors and supervising related activities. While focused on Ethiopia, it will be a useful resource for other countries too.

Due to the rapidly growing population in Ethiopia, land is becoming scarce resource. This often results in an increased land use conflicts. Rapid urban expansion, large infrastructure projects in urban as well as in rural areas and an increasing demand for farmland often leads to displacement of the local population. Small holders are expropriated, forced to leave their farms and lose their livelihoods. 

The promotion of commercialized and mechanized agriculture is considered as one possible contribution to the further economic development efforts in Ethiopia. In addition to the traditional farming sector, which is predominantly characterized by smallholders and subsistence farming, large-scale agricultural investments are expected to provide input for the processing industry, bring foreign currency as well as technology transfer to the country.

An estimated 7.7 million people in India are affected by conflict over 2.5 million hectares of land, threatening investments worth $ 200 billion.1 Land disputes clog all levels of courts in India, and account for the largest set of cases in terms of both absolute numbers and judicial pendency.

The growing number of farmer-herder resource conflicts in Tanzania is often presented in official narratives as a product of climate change resulting from increased environmental pressures. Nonetheless, based on a qualitative research, this paper asserts that farmer- herder conflicts in Rufiji and Kisarawe districts should be understood in terms of the marginalization of pastoral community interests over access to land. This has created what Hall, Hirsch and Li [2013. Power of Exclusions: Lland Dilemmas in Southeast Asia.

Bangladesh Land Conflict Monitoring Report 2018

Tetra Tech’s land tenure and property rights experts examine how weak land and resource governance can fuel drivers of violent extremism. With a focus on the African Sahel, this new issue brief finds this dynamic is especially prevalent when land and resource governance challenges are coupled with environmental disruptions, resource scarcity, or migration.

In conflict situations, many people are displaced because of hostility and arms in the area. Displaced people are forced to leave behind their properties, and this in turn interrupts the relationship between people and their land. The emergency period in particular has been identified as a weak point in the humanitarian response to land issues in post-conflict situations.

This bulletin highlights initiatives to support socially responsible investment.