This reviews the literature on decentralised land governance in Southern Africa, highlighting key issues and challenges of ‘land governance from below’.

This research forms part of a larger study on large-scale land acquisition in Uganda. There are three main components of this study: (1) a “risk map” that identifies areas “at risk” for land acquisition due to their high suitability for biofuel crop production; (2) a due diligence report on the existing land uses and users of land identified as “at risk” in the first activity; and (3) an assessment of the land acquisition process, including applicable social and environmental safeguards.

This is a working paper. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overall framework for the critical assessment of alternative approaches to improving access to land by the rural poor in India , as part of a broader strategy for reducing poverty through rural growth. Viewing persistent constraints on access to land in their historical context, the paper considers India’s record in implementing land reforms, and identifies the elements of a new, complementary approach to improving access to land by the rural poor.

Despite progressive provisions on gender equality in Tanzania’s land laws, women have little representation in land allocation decisions. Mainstreaming gender in local regulations can help address this problem. The Tanzania Women Lawyers Association, in partnership with the World Resources Institute and Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team, developed model by-laws to improve women’s participation in local-level decision-making on village land management. This took place in Kidugalo and Vilabwa villages in Kisarawe district.

Members of rural communities in Namibia often lack a basic understanding of what their user rights and responsibilities are under the Communal Land Reform Act and are also unaware of their rights to object to a proposed land allocation or to appeal a decision once made. The large-scale acquisition of land for agriculture and conservation projects often displace local communities or reduce their access to control and ownership of key resources due to the gaps between good legislation and inadequate implementation and enforcement.

Es propósito de esta nota dar a conocer algunos datos históricos referentes a casos de propiedad colectiva de la tierra en el sector andino de la provincia de Jujuy. No existen publicaciones específicas referentes al tema y, desde luego, los escasos elementos de juicio que presentaré no pretenden subsanar esa carencia. Los expongo solamente como un aporte de interés para iniciar un capítulo íntimamente ligado al estudio del cambio cultural en la región mencionada.

The cities in the East African region are characterised by rapid urbanisation and uncontrolled spatial sprawl, with large informal settlements and inadequate service provision. The research study investigates how urban land markets operate in such a context, and particularly, how effectively poor people can access, trade and hold land.

This report sets out the results and key insights from recent research on land policy and analysis of specific interventions relating to land. The aim is to highlight the importance of nuanced policy advice, but also to illustrate some general principles for formulating such policy advice in specific country settings.Conclusions and recommendations include:providing secure tenure to land is needed to improve the welfare of the poor, in particular, by enhancing the asset base of those, such as women, whose land rights are often neglected.

Evidence from the first Nairobi Cross-sectional Slum Survey (NCSS) conducted in the city by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in 2000 revealed that slum residents have the worst health outcomes of any group in Kenya (including rural residents). They have limited access to basic facilities such as water and sanitation, or opportunities for life such as education and employment, and that they endure the near absence of the public sector and law enforcement agencies in their daily lives.

Nowadays, the issue of land plot selection for linear facilities is relevant because of high land load rate world-wide. The given research into establishing a rationale for linear facilities location focuses on the determination of an optimum alternative. The method used is based on the expert analytic hierarchy process to improve the economic, technical and ecological justification of projects of land allocation for linear facilities of utility equipment. The method was applied in order to select a land plot for a gas pipeline.

The Civil Society commends the Ministry of Lands for spearheading the important process of developing the Draft National Policy, and affirms that land is central to the livelihoods of most Kenyans and as such its access, use, ownership, administration and distribution are of key national concern. Thus, having critically examined the Draft Policy we do hereby make our position on the way forward on the salient policy proposals of the Draft National Land Policy document.

The report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Illegal/Irregular Allocation of Public Land is finally out! Popularly known as the ‘Ndung’u’ Report, the publication of this three-volume document is important to the Kenya Land Alliance for two major reasons. Firstly, the appointment of the Coordinator of the Kenya Land Alliance to the Commission marked a threshold in the relations between KLA and the Government of Kenya.