New commercial pressures on land and its impact on small producers is one of the major issues being discussed in both national and international arenas. As foreign states and corporate entities continue to exert pressures on African countries to acquire land for various investment purposes, Tanzania is not exempted. The country is stereotypically perceived as having large underutilized, or rather unexploited, fertile land – the so-called ‗virgin land‘.

This paper presents several case studies to show how the Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT) has been working within Tanzania’s legal and policy framework to support a diverse range of pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and hunter-gatherers, all of whom face fundamental threats from external appropriation of, or encroachment on, lands and natural resources. The work also responds to local needs to rationalise resource use rights amongst competing local groups, such as farmers and livestock keepers.

Documento de trabajo sobre la tenencia de la tierra 18. Presenta los principales temas para caracterizar la gobernanza en la tenencia de la tierra y analiza los aspectos relacionados con la evolución de las problemáticas de política agraria en los diferentes países de América Central. Además, ofrece algunos ejemplos y lecciones aprendidas derivadas de los nuevos modelos de administración y mecanismos de acceso a la tierra que los gobiernos centroamericanos y la cooperación internacional han promovido en los últimos quince años en la Región.

Document de travail sur les régimes fonciers 18. Présente les principaux thèmes qui caractérisent la gouvernance des régimes fonciers et analyse les questions liées à l’évolution des problématiques de politique agricole dans les différents pays d’Amérique Centrale. Il propose également quelques exemples ainsi que des leçons apprises des nouveaux modèles de gestion des terres et des mécanismes d’accès à la terre que les gouvernements d’Amérique Centrale et la Coopération Internationale ont appuyé au cours des quinze dernières années dans la Région. Disponible en espagnol

Land Tenure Working Paper 18. Presents the main themes that characterize the governance in land tenure and analyses the aspects related to the evolution of agricultural policy issues in various Central American countries. It also offers some examples and lessons learned from new models of land administration and land access mechanisms that Central American governments and International Cooperation have fostered over the past fifteen years in the Region. Available in Spanish

In the name of development, governments in southern Africa are reformulating land policies to facilitate privatisation of customary land rights. It is argued that this can stimulate land markets, (foreign) private investment, access to formal credit, and enhance security of tenure (by way of holding title), thereby leading to economic growth and poverty alleviation.

According to the government agency Acción Social, around six per cent of national territory has been abandoned, while between 3.3 and 4.9 million people have been displaced by conflict and violence in Colombia. Roughly half of the internally displaced families owned or occupied land before their displacement. Almost all of them have lost it as a result.

Over 80% of all land in Uganda is held under unregistered ‘customary tenure’. This means that it is private property, but the owners need no documents to prove ownership. Their claims to the land, and the boundaries of the land, are locally recognised, and this recognition is given the full protection of State law.

* Luis Pezo Orellana
Hablar de desarrollo rural nos remite a un concepto polémico, puesto que hay distintas visiones, algunas contrapuestas, ya que contiene un sustrato inherentemente político en tanto se dirige a concretar un modelo de sociedad y de bienestar humano. En Chile, el desarrollo rural es un significado por construir.

El artículo contiene propuestas sobre lo que SIPAE sugiere como temas clave en el debate hacia una nueva Ley de Tierras. Este es un aporte para incentivar la discusión en las organizaciones campesinas e indígenas, entre los expertos en la temática, para un proceso que está totalmente abierto. La posibilidad de colocar en el debate nacional una Ley de Tierras es un desafío para orientar y consolidar las demandas de redistribución de tierras, con un horizonte de Reforma Agraria

A presentation covering a range of land reform and small holder development and rural development initiatives in South Africa