Land is again the subject of debate in Mozambique, 5 years after the passage of a land law which won praise for protecting peasant rights while creating space for outside investment. The new debate is about whether land, or at least land ’titles’, should be able to be sold and mortgaged, are whether more emphasis should be put on improving conditions for would-be investors rather than delimiting and protecting peasant land and capacitating communities to deal with investors. Argues that the debate on land is actually a proxy for a debate about rural development.

ncludes introduction, the Malawi context, summary of methodology, summary of findings, recommendations. Argues there is a need to ensure that key laws, policies and development strategies be reviewed to ensure that provisions which marginalize those affected by HIV/AIDS are amended. Need for land administration institutions to grasp the present impact and future implications of the pandemic in terms of their own declining internal capacity.

Series of country papers on HIV/AIDS and land in Lesotho, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, with concluding paper on methodological and conceptual issues. The key questions addressed include: The impact on and changes in land tenure systems (including patterns of ownership, access, and rights) as a consequence of HIV/AIDS with a focus on vulnerable groups. The ways that HIV/AIDS affected households are coping in terms of land use, management and access, e.g. abandoning land due to fear of losing land, renting out due to inability to utilise land, distress sale of land, etc.