Redistributive land reform in southern Africa is reviewed against the background of the recent land crisis in the region. The dilemmas created for governments and donors are described, as are attempts to grapple with them. Answers are sought to four questions: What has been the experience with land redistribution in the region over the last decade or so? What has been the impact on people's livelihoods? How are redistribution programmes expected to develop in future?

"The hour of capitalism's greatest triumph," writes Hernando de Soto, "is, in the eyes of four-fifths of humanity, its hour of crisis." In The Mystery of Capital, the world-famous Peruvian economist takes up the question that, more than any other, is central to one of the most crucial problems the world faces today: Why do some countries succeed at capitalism while others fail? In strong opposition to the popular view that success is determined by cultural differences, de Soto finds that it actually has everything to do with the legal structure of property and property rights.

Based on a case study of two Moldovan regions, the paper challenges the favourable assessment of recently established peasant farms in a World Bank study by LERMAN et al. (1998).

Gives details on a province by province basis of the number of farm workers resettled in the current fast track resettlement programme in Zimbabwe. Argues that farm workers need to be considered in this programme and the Farm Community Trust is closely monitoring the situation with this in mind.

An overview of land reform in South Africa, containing the integration of land reform and agricultural development; defining policy agenda; squaring circles – restitution, land rights, redistribution, the contradictions of land reform; going back to the beginning – reviewing reforms, land reform in historical and comparative perspectives; the ironies of the new – transferring land, policies, plans and outcomes.

The various legal, political, economic and social perspectives that have influenced the land reform discourse in Kenya are examined. The historical perspectives of the land question in Kenya are outlined, and the factors that shaped the content of Kenya's land law and attendant institutional and constitutional regimes are addressed. The operationalization of the legal regimes and policy frameworks emergent from the colonial legacy is also extensively dealt with, focusing on the way the state has sought to balance private and public interests in land through the instruments of law.

Este nmero de Unasylva no se articula en torno a un tema especfico, sino que recoge varias cuestiones implcitas y relativas al concepto de los programas forestales nacionales.

Announces publication of a manual on the creation of land reform joint venture partnerships. These are commercial partnerships between landowners and historically excluded worker households or local communities. The manual is intended to assist those involved in commercial land reform ventures. Also provides details of the Land Reform Credit Facility.

Examines the experience of land reform in Namibia over the past decade and how this might develop in the coming decade. Little progress has been made but developments in Zimbabwe have hugely increased interest and awareness. Discusses political and ethnic challenges, environmental constraints, institutional tensions, redistribution of commercial farms, SWAPO’s Land Reform Policy, the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme, the resettlement programme, land tenure reform in the Communal Areas, and problems of institutional capacity.