Much of the international commons literature reveals a decreased functioning of local traditional institutions that regulate natural resource harvesting. In South Africa, it is believed that the creation of new democratic structures at the end of Apartheid has contributed significantly to the deterioration in traditional resource regulation and this in turn has led to the extensive resource degradation seen in parts of the country. Many of these assertions, though, remain anecdotal in nature.

Peer review is an essential part in the publication process, ensuring that Land maintains high quality standards for its published papers. In 2017, a total of 88 papers were published in the journal.[...]

Political transformations in most developing nations have been accompanied by vast land claims by indigenous communities who were forcibly detached from their traditional land during colonisation and apartheid-like dispensations. In the context of sub-Saharan African countries (including South Africa), the need for land reform has been aggravated by the great scarcity of farmland. However, most of the reclaimed land is in areas pursuing conservation activities.

Recognition and respect for tenure rights has long been recognized as an important concern for development, conservation, and natural resource governance. This paper discusses why secure tenure rights for local communities, indigenous peoples and women are central to good natural resource governance and important for livelihoods and human rights, as recognized in multiple international conventions. The paper reviews both challenges and opportunities for securing rights in practice and highlights successful cases of tenure reform.

African universities have a key role to play in developing technical and human capacities to support land policy development and implementation, according to experts attending a two-day meeting to validate a study on ‘Land, Ethnicity and Conflict in Africa’, held last month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

This LEGEND bulletin explores early experiences and emerging lessons from four of these projects, and includes testimony from community members attesting to their positive results.

Constitution of Côte d'Ivoire 2016

We envision a world in which land governance systems, both formal and informal, are effective, accessible, and responsive for all.

...The main purpose of this paper is to examine legal measures taken to recognize
indigenous groups and provide for their ongoing operation; the paper starts, therefore, from an
underlying assumption that indigenous groups have continued relevance to the needs and wishes
of the people who operate within them. Nevertheless, while it is beyond the scope and purpose of
the paper to explore this complex issue in any depth, it may be useful to present – however briefly
– some of the arguments made for and against the preservation of indigenous groups. In the

Conclusions: "Widespread land conflicts and pending land governance reform, also in relation to the larger
ongoing peace process, form the key reason for opposition to the pending EU-Myanmar IPA.
As previously explained, land rights are not well established and populations living or working
on land acquired for large-scale investment projects have protested over forced evictions, loss
of livelihoods, inadequate consultation and compensation. Land governance reform is