Land rights reform and governance in Africa

Highlighting the need to recognise customary land rights in Africa

By: Wily LA
Published by: United Nations [UN] Development Programme (UNDP) , 2006
Via: Eldis

The main argument of this paper is that insecurity of land tenure is a socio-political condition that can be made and unmade. This discussion paper focuses on customary land rights, particularly in the African context. The paper reveals that:

• land tenure policies in the 19th and 20th century failed to recognise indigenous property rights derived through customary occupancy
• these policies have deprived millions of poor of the protection they need to withstand the worst effects of social transformation and the commoditisation of land
• 20th century reforms often improved the access of poor to land through land redistribution and other schemes but made customary rights less secure
• in Africa over 90 percent of the rural population access to land through indigenous customary mechanisms, and around 370 million of them are definably "poor"
• while rights over farms and houses are not routinely interfered with, common property ownership of pastures, forests and woodlands see constant attrition through state appropriation and reallocation to investors or interest-holders of its choice
• the lucrative and rising values of pasture, forest and woodland are still typically captured by governments in the form of logging, agribusiness land leasing and other fees depriving poor communities of a crucial capital base which could help them escape poverty.