The land is an integral part of every state. Especially land has sacred and cultural value in most of the Asian traditions apart from its social and economic value. Sri Lanka is an island state which has 25,330 sq. Mi for 21,670,000 ("Department of Census and Statistics-Sri Lanka," 2019) of population and a country which inherent legal pluralism as a result of multi-cultural ethnicity and imperialism.

This policy brief was developed in order to enable a meaningful engagement and policy dialogue with government institutions and other relevant stakeholders about challenges and opportunities related to recognizing customary tenure in Viet Nam.

UNCCD Decision 26 / COP.14 Land tenure

From 2009-2015 Namati and partners CTV in Mozambique;LEMU in Uganda and SDI in Liberia supported more than 100 communities to document and protect their customary land rights. In late 2017 Namati evaluated the impacts the process had on communitiesresponses to outsiders seeking community lands and natural resources. Of the 61 communities assessed;46% had been approached by outside actors seeking community lands and natural resources since completing their land protection efforts.

From July 17 to August 7, 2019, the Land Portal Foundation, the African Land Policy Center, GIZ and Transparency International Chapters in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda co-facilitated the dialogue Land Corruption in Africa addressing the role of traditional leaders in customary land administration, forced evictions as a form of land corruption and its Impact on women’s land rights and an analysis of alternative dispute resolution systems in addressing land corruption.

This brochure briefly summarizes the systematic approach of the Global Programme Responsible Land Policy implemented by the German Development Cooperation Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and provides examples.

In August 2017, Botswana’s parliament passed the Tribal Land Bill, which became the Tribal Land Act no. 1 of 2018. It shall come into operation once the minister sanctions. Until then, the 1994 Act shall be operational. The new Act is aimed at addressing the challenges that cannot be effectively addressed by the operational Act. Some hail it as progressive, but this article argues that the Act has some limitations. Its insistence on the registration of customary grants with the Registrar of Deeds may lead to unintended consequences, such as family conflicts.

This policy brief was developed in order to enable a meaningful engagement and policy dialogue with government institutions and other relevant stakeholders about challenges and opportunities related to recognizing and protecting customary tenure in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

Les lois de la République du Congo et de la République centrafricaine (RCA) accordent une protection limitée aux communautés locales et populations autochtones (CLPA) en matière d’accès aux ressources foncières et forestières. Il arrive souvent que des concessions forestières chevauchent les territoires des CLPA et limitent leur accès aux terres et aux ressources. Cependant, les forêts communautaires gagnent progressivement du terrain dans la région.

The laws in the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic provide limited protection to indigenous peoples and local communities regarding access to land and forest resources. Often, logging concessions overlap their territories, restricting access to lands and resources. However, the development of community forests is gaining momentum in the region. These can help secure customary tenure, sustainably manage resources and improve livelihoods for indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs).

The need to strengthen the capacity of CSOs, DLOs, ICU and partners working on land governance in Teso has become obvious if harmonisation of the customary and formal land management systems is to be realised. This is expected to enable a coordinated and systematic approach with one voice.

Knowledge of policies on land governance not only improves the way issues pertaining to land rights are handled; but also minimises waste of time and money lost on land conflict.

There is no doubt that the Global Data Revolution has reached the land sector. Government data portals, open access academic journals, community mapping initiatives and other citizen-generated data - there is a palpable positive drive across the world that allows processes such as data collection to be more inclusive and open. But within this data momentum, there are still many barriers and questions: Who can access the data, and how? What data is reliable? Who owns the data? What data is up to date? Can I use the data without inflicting harm?