Recent research has pointed to the significance of environmental variables as structural causes and sustaining factors in struggles for power in the Great Lakes. Contested rights to land and natural resources are significant, particularly in light of land scarcity in many areas and the frequency of population movements. Based on interviews in Goma and Ituri, as well as an extensive review of secondary literature, examines issues in Masisi and Ituri, and includes a number of recommendations for the DRC Government, the international community, and civil society actors.

Stresses the growing body of evidence illustrating the positive correlation between secure land rights and food security and nutrition. Also looks at constraints to secure land rights for women. Enforcement of laws can be challenging. Women’s access to land through the state or the market is often limited.

Part of the ongoing process of producing a National Land Policy and the product of research and consultation by 6 thematic groups. Report includes country framework and wide range of policy issues and recommendations included within rural land use, environment and informal sector; urban land environment and informal sector; land tenure and socio-cultural equity; land information management systems; legal, institutional and financing framework.

Investigates private sector investment in conservation and ecotourism through conservancy land leases in the Mara region of Kenya. In recent and growing tourism development, groups of Maasai landowners are leasing their parcels of land to tourism investors and forming wildlife conservancies. Examines this model and the implications it has for Maasai livelihoods and the environment. Given the large extent and recent change in ownership in these areas, land leases do however keep the lands they cover together and are potentially an optimistic outlook for such open rangeland areas.

Equitable access to land is vital for inclusive economic growth, sustainable development and food security. Much is known about the topics of land governance and food security, but it is not always clear how the two relate to each other, especially in specific country contexts. Brings together findings and outcomes from Uganda, Ghana and Ethiopia to provide policy recommendations for improved land governance and food security in Africa.

During the last two decades, local conventions have increased in the field, and are now considered as promising alternative solutions for a participatory management of natural resources and land. But what does the concept ‘local conventions’ mean? What is the contribution of these conventions to the improvement of natural resource and land management? Are they recognized by the law? What are their limitations?

Includes presentation of the conference; land grabbing: what is it? – old phenomenon, new appearance, scale and speed, the ‘everyone wins’ myth; testimonies and analyses by peasants and family farmers from different continents- Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe; conclusion – global land grabbing: some critical reflections by Jun Borras.

Includes views of land registration in Omahalya Village in the Omusati Region of Namibia, connection to the land, value of registration, protection from land grabbing and conflicts, investing in their land, women’s empowerment, the commonage. Concludes that the village is a promising example of the benefits of Communal Land rights registration. The villagers feel safer on their land, invest more, have fewer conflicts and more equitable inheritance.

Contains introduction; the goals and objectives of land policy; land sovereignty; land tenure classification; incidents of tenure; historical claims; tenure of land-based resources; productive and sustainable land use; the management and development of land; land rights delivery; demarcation and cadastral survey; land market regulation; land dispute resolution; appendix on national civil society land policy principles.

Contains introduction, 3 farms – the beginnings of land expropriation in Namibia; the Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act 6 of 1995; the process of land reform in Namibia; the resettlement programme revisited; farm workers and resettlement; conclusions and recommendations. Argues that Namibia has to reconceptualise its agrarian model because the present land reform programme is setting impoverished black farmers up to fail.

Seeks to answer the question, where collective tenure arrangements are either being formalized or supported for the sake of securing the community’s rights to land, what steps are required to strengthen women’s land rights in the process? Synthesizes findings from case studies in China, Ghana, India, the Kyrgyz Republic, Namibia, and Peru that assess interventions to strengthen collective tenure and ensure that both women and men benefit from improved land tenure security.

Includes study rationale and methodology; land acquisitions and agribusiness in Tanzania: a review of the literature; legal framework and the policy on land acquisition for agribusiness in Tanzania; acquisition of land for agribusiness in selected regions; emerging issues and way forward.