Publication features the key provisions on land governance in recent relevant international frameworks. Presents where new issues or themes appeared, issues that have gained additional support and those that have received less attention. Also highlights the particularities, strengths and potential gaps of the individual frameworks, as well as their similarities, complementarities and differences. Emphasizes the critical role of land governance in the realization of human rights, enjoyment of secure land rights and in the overall achievement of sustainable development objectives.

A wide-ranging examination of the history of the land question in Uganda, and diagnosis of land policy development, principles, and implementation. Suggests a number of concrete policy guidelines for a future national land policy.

Analyses inclusive land governance in Mozambique. Focuses on the country’s legal framework and the DUAT, the right to use and benefit from the land. The DUAT is a distinctive element of the Mozambican legislation that has land as the property of the state but recognises land use rights for occupants and users on the basis of a unitary system of tenure. The challenges of putting in practice what is thought to be one of Africa’s most progressive legal frameworks are discussed.

Training volunteers to help their communities defend their land rights has proved an effective approach for promoting land justice in Tanzania. Report documents how Hakiardhi, a Dar-es-Salaam based research institute working on land governance issues, has established and trained a 600-strong network of male and female ‘Land Rights Monitors’ (LRMs) operating in 300 villages on various aspects of the land law, so they can help people and local governments to exercise and ensure respect for their legal rights in land disputes, particularly in relation to large-scale agricultural investments.

Provides a backdrop of relevant policies and practice; a gender analysis of the policy framework governing land and investments; and recommendations on how to work towards land rights securing and better inclusion in land governance processes for women in Tanzania. Concludes that implementation of laws, including key gender equality principles, has been weak, and gender inequality in land access persists largely due to the continued dominance of (patrilineal) customary land laws and practice.

Despite progressive provisions on gender equality in Tanzania’s land laws, women have little representation in land allocation decisions. Mainstreaming gender in local regulations can help address this problem. The Tanzania Women Lawyers Association, in partnership with the World Resources Institute and Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team, developed model by-laws to improve women’s participation in local-level decision-making on village land management. This took place in Kidugalo and Vilabwa villages in Kisarawe district.

Recent years have seen a new wave of large-scale acquisitions of farmland for plantation agriculture in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Less tangible changes are also taking place. In a globalised world, land governance is increasingly shaped by international law, developments in which law are shifting the balance between competing land claims and between private interests and public authority. International developments are also creating new spaces for contestation and accountability.

Includes colonial rule and land frontiers, late colonialism and modernisation, post-colonial nation-building and state-led development, community participation and community-based solutions, harmonising and devolving land administration, women’s land rights, pastoral land rights, market-led land redistribution in Southern Africa, foreign direct investment in land.

Includes land and violent conflict in Africa; land policy in conflict-affected or conflict-prone contexts; key elements of conflict-sensitive land policy; the framework and guidelines for land policy in Africa; role of the different actors; conclusions and recommendations.

The Land Campaign (Campanha Terra), which formally came to an end in November 1999, will re-emerge as a Land Forum. Describes the background to and results of the campaign and the activities in its first and second years, mentions how it was organised, and briefly outlines plans for the future.

Describes how the Land Campaign (Campanha Terra) emerged and was organised, its objectives and messages, and the materials produced.

The 3 case studies are located against the backdrop of changing land governance, tenure policy and legislation in Botswana, Madagascar and Mozambique. They examine how power and authority over decision-making and resources or functions is distributed between central, regional and local levels of governance. They explore the roles and perspectives of other actors such as non-governmental bodies, traditional governance institutions, user associations or village committees, the private sector and other organisations of civil society.