The year 2016 marks 15 years since the new wave land reforms became operational in Tanzania. Despite its ambitious goals – encouraging land registration and titling, and empowering women and other vulnerable groups – the results are disillusioning. A brief overview of 15 years of implementation, using the Village Land Act as a case study.

Formal land titles are rare in pastoral communities around the world. In the past, this presented hardly any problems, since pastoral land was seen as of little use by most outsiders. But with growing competition for areas legal uncertainty is becoming an increasing threat to the livelihoods of pastoralists.

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This is one of four thematic studies on customary tenure in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam. These studies seek to present an analysis of customary tenure arrangements in each country and identify key challenges and opportunities for strengthening the legal recognition and protection of customary tenure. The present study on Myanmar focuses on customary tenure among upland ethnic nationalities, where colonial and state land administration systems have been poorly integrated, allowing customary systems to be sustained over time.

Currently Tanzania faces numerous challenges regarding Land Registration Procedure in Tanzania as reflected in land owners perceptions on the procedure, especially in rural areas. This makes the need to improve the procedure compelling. However, the current Administrative, Financial, Legal, and Institutional aspects need to be taken into the consideration in promoting and improving the process of obtaining CCROs in the country.

In this publication two pioneering grassroots organisations from northern Tanzania examine and present their experiences and insights from their long-term work to secure the land rights of hunter-gatherer and pastoral communities. The case studies were presented at a one-day learning event held on 5th October 2012, when Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC) and Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT) joined together to share and reflect on their work to secure land rights, to learn from each other, and to identify ways to build on their achievements moving forward.

This edition of the Land Tenure Journal features a selection of articles from Central and Eastern Europe to Francophone and Anglophone West Africa, through East Africa and back to Northern Europe. The focus of the topics spans land consolidation approaches in Europe, experiences of land colonization and an overview of tenure reforms in Burkina Faso, post-conflict land policy in Liberia, land reform in Malawi, and community commons in Norway.

Over the last decade, the Government of Rwanda (GoR) has introduced several land reforms through formulation and enactment of enabling legal framework, establishment of land administration institutions and implementation of national land tenure regularization. Further, the Land Act of 2013 stipulated that all landholders must formally register their land. To support registration compliance, the GoR decentralized the Land Administration System (LAS) to all District Land Bureaus (DLBs).

Securing women land rights through land titling programs is viewed as a potential means for enhancing their tenure security. The expectation is that women may gain greater influence on how to use the land, if they are registered as joint owners. Women are more likely to make decisions that improve food and nutrition needs at farm level than men. Increased level of women decision making through secured tenure rights is expected to have a positive impact on food security.

Review of the advantages and disadvantages of the current Tanzania Tide Gauge (TG) vertical Datum (VD) has revealed that some of the problems cannot be solved to conform to the Satellite geodesy era timely and cost effectively. The current VD is costly and uneconomic. By changing to a Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) compatible VD, most of the problems of the current Tide Gauge-Vertical Datum (TG-VD will disappear and thus boost greatly economic and social prosperity.

An Act to convert Government leaseholds into rights of occupancy, to disapply the Freehold Titles (Conversion) and Government Leases Act, 1963 and to provide for related matters. 

An Act to provide for the registration of land and for related matters.  

This Handbook is a simplified tool for easy operationalization of the Unit Titles Act and the accompanying laws. The Handbook has been divided into six substantive chapters that summarises the required processes, documents and output. The first chapter provides for the essential terminologies in Unit Title Properties and their manner of application. This part has been supplemented by corresponding glossary of the end of chapter six.