Location
Mokoro is pleased to host the ’Land Rights in Africa’ site as a contribution to the land rights dialogue and related debates. This website was created in January 2000 by Robin Palmer, and was originally housed by Oxfam GB, where Robin worked as a Land Rights Adviser. A library of resources on land rights in Africa – with a particular focus on women’s land rights and on the impact of land grabbing in Africa – the portal has been well received by practitioners, researchers and policy makers, and has grown considerably over the years. Since 2012, Mokoro has been hosting and maintaining the site.
The views expressed on the Land Rights in Africa site as well as the publications hosted there, are those of the authors and do not represent those of Mokoro. Wherever possible, we link to the source website of publications.
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Resources
Displaying 496 - 500 of 1134Rights to Resources in Crisis: Reviewing the Fate of Customary Tenure in Africa
5 briefs analyse the roots of African land tenure systems, recent policy trends and the phenomenon of large scale land acquisitions. The briefs are: Customary Land Tenure in the Modern World; Putting 20th-Century Land Policies in Perspective; Land Reform in Africa: A Reappraisal; The Status of Customary Land Rights in Africa Today; The Global Land Rush: What this Means for Customary Land Rights.
Contemporary processes of large-scale land acquisition by investors. Case studies from sub-Saharan Africa
Includes land reform and customary tenure in sub-Saharan Africa: a brief review; methodology; the statutory underpinnings of large-scale land acquisition; land acquisition in practice: evidence from case-study countries – Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia; discussion and conclusions – legal protection of customary rights, customary rights in the context of large-scale land acquisitions, evidence from implementation.
Are land deals driving ‘water grabs’?
Investors often look for land with a high growing potential, which means land with lots of rainfall or land that can be irrigated. In multimillion dollar investments involving irrigation, investors typically want to secure water rights as part of the deal. Motivated by potential revenues from water fees and the prospect of improved agricultural productivity, many African governments are signing away water rights for decades to large investors. But they are doing so with little regard for how this will impact the millions of other users whose livelihoods depend on customary access to water.
Who Owns the Land? Perspectives from Rural Ugandans and Implications for Land Acquisitions
Includes key concepts for understanding land rights; land tenure and women’s property rights in Uganda; land acquisition in Uganda; who owns the land? Perspectives from the local level. Analyses how different ways of defining landownership provide very different indications of the gendered patterns of landownership and rights. Although many households report that husbands and wives jointly own the land, women are less likely to be listed on ownership documents, especially titles, and women have fewer land rights.
The Forgotten Villages – Land Reform in Tanzania
Includes uneven implementation, to title or not to title?, a demand-driven land reform please, a decoupled land administration structure, don’t forget the villages, Tanzania’s new wave land reform, recommendations. Argues that much could be achieved if higher level authorities and NGOs systematically strengthened the village authorities and enabled them to deliver their services. But as long as this level is forgotten, land reform will not work in practice.