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News 2011
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| 28 October 2011
 Land and Power
A
major new report by Oxfam looks at the growing trend for large land
deals in the developing world for commercial agriculture
that benefits foreign investors and local elites to the detriment
of local farmers. Oxfam aserts that "companies and governments must
take urgent steps to improve land rights outcomes for people living in
poverty. Power relations between investors and local communities must
also change if investment is to contribute to rather than undermine the
food security and livelihoods of local communities." The report can be
downloaded from Oxfam's website here. _________________________________________________ | | 30 September 2011
 Reaction on South African Government's Land Reform Proposals
The
Green Paper on Land Reform released last month by the ANC Government
proposes the establishment of a land management body reporting to a
Government Minister with the powers to determine expropriation
value of land. "Unconstitutional" is the response of some vested interest groups; best left to the Courts or an independent body is the response of the Parliamentary opposition. "Then we'll amend the Constiution" is the response of the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform. 'No Zimbabwe-style land grabs in SA' says President Jacob Zuma, appearing to contradict his Minister, and many commentators remain sceptical. Source: Fin24. | | 31 August 2011
 South African 'Road Map' for Land Reform
Today
the South African Minister for Rural Development and Land Reform
released the draft green paper to the media. As anticipated, it
proposes changes to the land tenure system with four tiers of rights: state and public land on leasehold, privately owned land on freehold with
limited extent, land owned by foreigners on freehold but with precarious tenure
and obligations and conditions to comply with, and communally owned land on
communal tenure with institutionalised use rights. Source: Fin24. | | 25 August 2011
 East African Land in Demand
According to a report in today's Guardian
newspaper Indian investors plan to spend $2.5bn on acquiring vast
tracts of farming land in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. These
potential sales or rentals will add to the 60m hectares of land
or so, mostly in Africa that have been acquired for commercial
agriculture or investment. China, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well
as many smaller Middle East countries have also done deals. However,
deals are not always done, as the Guardian also reports that the lease
of 1m hectares in South Sudan by a U.S. company appears to have stalled
following protests by local communities. | | 21 June 2011
 Emerging into the 21st Century
The
land law of England and Wales is catching up with many parts of the
world, including parts of the developing world, and looking like its
embracing the 21st Century. The reason? The latest Law Commission
Report on the land law that governs neighbouring plots of land.
Obscure, complex and full of potential pitfalls, the old law will be
revised to make, for example, covenants to be enforceable against
subsequent owners and easier acquisition of easements. Minor rights
they may be, but they are essential to the effective use of land and
impact most property owners in England and Wales. More here.
| | 24 May 2011
 Averting a Planet of Slums
The latest Policy Focus Report published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
examines Regularisation of Informal Settlements in Latin America, where
one in every four urban residents lives in a dwelling that does not
have legal title, or lacks urban services such as water and sanitation,
or is constructed in a precarious location. Regularisation is often
seen as the solution to this problem, although regularisation can mean
different things in different contexts and different outcomes with
widely different costs. What is more widely understood, however, is
that something must be done and it's not 'slum clearance' but making
informal settlements a part of the formal city, through legal
recognitions and providing basic services and infrastructure. Download
the policy focus report here. | | 5 May 2011
 FAO E-consultant
An e-consultation on the first draft of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines
on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and other Natural Resources is currently taking place and closes on 16 May 2011. The guidelines can be accessed and download from the FAO land tenure website and comments made here. | | 5 April 2011
 Lessons Re-Learned
The
implementation status and results of the Ethiopia Sustainable Land
Management Project (P107139) published recently by the World Bank
suggest that lessons learned in other parts of the world are being
re-learned in Ethiopia. This is not altogether a bad thing. It's
important to learn by doing and to seek locally appropriate solutions
based on experience - successful or otherwise. However, it is expensive
to keep re-learning lessons, especially when they are blindingly
obvious. For example, that precise land survey of hundred of thousands
small and fragmentment plots of rural land is
expensive, time-consuming and demanding of skills. Hopefully the
expected further World Bank support and scaling up of the
projects for rural land tenure security will abandon "second stage
certification" and get the job done better in the first stage. | | 28 March 2011
 The Future of UK AidThe
expected aid review (following the change of government) brings some
changes to the UK's aid strategy and priorities for the Department for International Development.
Most controversially the UK is withdrawing support from many countries,
some of which, like Lesotho, have been long-term beneficiaries, to
achieve more focus and hopefully a greater impact. As expected the
health and education sectors receive the bulk of the funding, but added
emphasis has been made on the importance of property rights as one of
"the building blocks of wealth creation". The review highlights the
support that DFID have been providing to the land tenure regularisation
programme in Rwanda. Further evidence of this focus on land and property rights is anticipated.
| | 28 February 2011
 Land Deals in Africa: read the fine printA new report from the International Institute for the Environment and Development (IIED)
shows how secret land deals can fail to benefit African nations and
suggests how these contracts can be improved. The report analyses 12
recent contracts through which investors have leased large areas of
land in East, West, Central and Southern Africa for various
agricultural activities. It found many problems with the contracts but
also some signs of positive deals.
The
report also argues that, irrespective of contract terms, process is
also critical. In many of the contracts reviewed, local people appear
to have been marginalised in decision-making – it is the government
that usually calls the shots. This is because land is often owned by
the state. But local people – farmers, herders, hunter-gatherers – may
have used that land for generations and see it as theirs. The problem
is that their customary rights may have no or little recognition under
national law. The full report can be downloaded here. | | 26 January 2011
 Land Policy for South Africa
The
much-awaited Green Paper on land reform in South Africa is still
much-awaited. And according to the deputy minister of rural development
and land reform, in an article published recently in the South African Sunday Times
newspaper, the country will have to wait a little longer. The issues
are complex and difficult - balancing socio-political pressures with
economic pragmatism. A taster of what may be coming is revealed as one
of the 'challenges' facing land reform according to the deputy minister, that is of "farmers demanding
excessivley high land prices - based on so-called market valuations in
which land prices are often deliberately inflated".
STOP PRESS: "SA Cabinet to glimpse new land ownership plans soon" (Business Report, January 26, 2011) | | 12 January 2011
Land Policy for Africa
 Toward the end of 2010 the Afican Union published a key policy document for the continent: Framework and Guidelines for Land Policy in Africa. At a launch in Lilongwe, Malawi, it was stressed that "it is not a policy document; it is not a strategy; it is just a tool to help
formulate and implement comprehensive land policies...for this sector that is the
pivot of all development initiatives". The document can be downloaded here (2.73 Mb pdf). |
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