Will intensifying the road network around market areas produce greater economic returns and less environmental damage than extending the road network into new areas?Rural roads promote economic development but also facilitate deforestation. To explore the trade-offs between development and environmental damage posed by road building, Chomitz and Gray develop and estimate a spatially explicit model of land use.

This study explores the relationship between HIV/AIDS and land rights in Kenya, with a particular focus on women as a socially vulnerable group. It examines: the ways that HIV/AIDS-affected households are coping in terms of land access, use and management; the consequences of these coping strategies on security of access and rights to land; and how changes in land tenure, access and rights to land among different categories of people are affecting agricultural productivity, food security and poverty.

Policy Brief 41
by Ruth Hall

This case study draws on research that investigated the extensive informal land market in Maputo, Mozambique; specifically, how urban land is transacted and the mechanisms by which it is secured. The case study is based on a research study managed by Caroline Wanjiku Kihato and Lauren Royston, and undertaken by José Alberto Raimundo (Universidade Pedagógica, Maputo) and Inês Macamo Raimundo (Universidade Eduardo Modlane, Maputo). The work received technical and financial support from Urban LandMark.

Attempts at settling or sedentarizing nomadic herders in semi-arid and arid regions have been largely unsuccessful, partly on account of the difficulty of restricting the movements of domestic livestock in areas where low and irregular rainfall lead to scant and unreliable sources of water and grazing. But for the herders in sub-humid regions, where both water and vegetation resources are much more reliable and substantial, there appear to be different possibilities.

Assesses the process of rural land registration in Mozambique and the outcomes for poor and marginalised groups. The research finds that community land registration, under the 1997 land law, can strengthen community rights to use and benefit from their land in relation to outsider interests in land. However, intra-community and intra-household land rights are not addressed, since it is only community land boundaries which are registered.

Examines international evidence on the relationship between asset ownership and growth and the impact of redistributive land reform, plus evidence of the impact of land reform in Zimbabwe.Asks why it appears that resettled farmers are among the poorest in the population. Concludes that asset redistribution can be a viable strategy to enhance growth, that the performance of resettled farmers in Zimbabwe is better than is conventionally believed, and that if a land reform programme is well designed, it can have a large impact on equity as well as productivity. [author]

This paper looks at the dynamics of land and violent conflict. It states that conflict situations in rural societies deeply affect the politics of land, and that land requires a careful approach by policy makers because it is a central element in the evolution of societies. As a result, policies pertaining to land are not neutral in terms of conflict management.The paper argues that donors seeking to promote peace and development should tackle land issues in recipient countries more systematically, more carefully and in a more coherent manner.

Tackling the issue of land and resource tenure is one of the prerequisites for mechanisms such as REDD+ to have positive impacts not only on reducing emissions from the forestry sector but also in reducing poverty and achieving food security. These new guidelines by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) outline principles and practices that governments can refer to when making laws and administering land, fisheries and forests rights.

Land policies in Africa have often overlooked the interests of certain social groups. In some areas, traditional access and ownership rights for women, migrants and pastoralists have been ignored or reduced.  The rise of HIV/AIDS in the region has created new social groups who are vulnerable to discrimination by land policies. As new policies are formed in the region, it is important to consider why these groups have been excluded. This will help to ensure that future policies represent these groups more fairly.

Mediating Land Conflict in Burundi: A Documentation and Analysis Project was an assessment and evaluation project undertaken by ACCORD between July 2009 and February 2010. The purpose of the project was twofold. First, it explored how land conflict mediation addresses or relates to other more long-term challenges for peace in Burundi – principally, the utilisation of land and increasing access to sustainable livelihoods.

This paper reviews the literature to identify the relationship between tenure security and food security. The literatures on tenure issues and food security issues are not well connected and the scientific evidence on the causal links between tenure security and food security is very limited. The paper explores the conceptual linkages between land tenure reforms, tenure security and food security and illustrates how these vary across diverse contexts.