Includes study rationale and methodology; land acquisitions and agribusiness in Tanzania: a review of the literature; legal framework and the policy on land acquisition for agribusiness in Tanzania; acquisition of land for agribusiness in selected regions; emerging issues and way forward.

Argues that using customary tenure as a basis for protecting women’s rights may be more effective than lobbying for reinsertion of the ‘lost’ co-ownership clause in the Uganda Land Act.

Includes the land deal and competing land claims, socio-historical context, corporate responsibility or corporate displacement?, Mangoma and “angry villagers”. The case study of Chisumbanje, Zimbabwe, shows how ambiguous land rights emerge historically, particularly over state land, and that these long-running ambiguities come to the fore when land deals are struck. Issues that have lain dormant for decades become the focus for intense contests, which become captured by contemporary interest groups.

Includes the challenges of data collection on foreign land deals in Tanzania and flaws in the documentation and reproduction of data. Concludes that the number of non-transparent projects remains high. Many biofuels deals announced in 2005-8 have failed to materialise. Hope this study will make a contribution to a transparent basis for much needed policy debates and decisions.

Includes an ethnography and the cultural economy of land grabs in Zambia and the role of foreign investments in Zambia. Examines the Chayton investment in Mkushi District and asks who does Chayton feed?

Contains introduction, 3 farms – the beginnings of land expropriation in Namibia; the Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act 6 of 1995; the process of land reform in Namibia; the resettlement programme revisited; farm workers and resettlement; conclusions and recommendations. Argues that Namibia has to reconceptualise its agrarian model because the present land reform programme is setting impoverished black farmers up to fail.

A study of the San, the poorest and most marginalised minority group in Namibia, with little access to existing political and economic institutions. They have been dispossessed of most of their ancestral lands and on lands they still occupy there are major issues of resource overuse, degradation, illegal grazing, unclear legal status and ongoing threats of dispossession. Looks at threats to San lands in 4 distinct parts of the country and the legal issues raised by those threats.

Review of the situation of land rights in Apac District and of opportunities for land rights protection work. Examines the 1998 Land Act and its implementation in practice. Finds that the protection clauses for women are proving ineffective. Also looks at the major threats and barriers to land rights and suggests ways forward. Among many other pertinent questions, asks why the Ugandan Government has shown so little interest in customary tenure and why it pursues land titling to the extent it does.

Includes introduction; vulnerabilities shared among all women; different categories of women have different vulnerabilities – widows, unmarried girls, divorced women, separated women, cohabiting women, married women; proposed solutions. Argues that rather than working against custom, policymakers and activists should be creative in identifying a range of culturally-appropriate solutions within custom that can successfully strengthen, defend and protect women’s land rights.

Examines evolution of land tenure reform in Kenya since Swynnerton Plan of 1954 with particular emphasis on the poverty impacts of titling. Concludes that land titling risks a negative impact on the poor.

Asks what is customary tenure and what do we know about tenure systems and their consequences in Northern Uganda. Examines trends in land transactions and who is selling and buying land, certificates and titles for investment, and who owns customary land. Looks at protection from land alienation, the rights of women and children, the evolution of customary tenure and continuing changes in customary law. Concludes with policy recommendations and a plea for recognition that land is increasingly a cause of conflict and impoverishment.

Covers gender and property rights, the impact of AIDS on property rights, laws, policies and programs to promote widows’ and orphans’ property rights. Includes women and children’s knowledge, life skills and participation. Concludes with lessons and recommendations.