Examines the relationship of people’s rights in land to the manner in which they may be involved in the management of forests in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Lesotho and to a lesser degree Botswana and Swaziland.Includes examination of property relations, state power, land reform, recognition of customary rights, the changing nature of tenure, and the impact of new land law on community forest rights.

Improving land governance is key in assuring that land resources can be enjoyed by all parts of the population. Donors can play an important role in combatting corruption in land administration and building a well-functioning land administration by both supporting domestic government efforts as well as engaging in international and multi-country initiatives. However, donors are advised by experts and civil society organisations to be mindful of the possible impact of their interventions on issues of land grabbing and forced relocations.

In India, the Schedule Tribes have remained on the fringes of growth, but less so in the majority tribal areas of the North East. This has increased the interest in the Sixth Schedule, the special constitutional provision relating to these areas, recognising the tribal communities’ rights of ownership and control over their land and natural resources.

In contemporary South Africa, land use management may be considered to be a crucial, but weak link in the transformative project attempted by the overall land management system, and planning activity in general. Land use management is increasingly recognised to have been a neglected area of engagement, and this neglect has had significant consequences.

Farmland consolidation is the act of consolidating a series of fragmented and irregular farmland plots to enlarge plot their size and support sufficient irrigation. Farmland consolidation also combines and groups the proprietor’s farmland into one area by administrative give-and-take as well as division-and-junction of their land. Moreover, it also includes the rearrangement of farmland, which is small or lacks sufficient infrastructure due to farmland consolidation or earthwork waterways projects that were done in the past.

This sourcebook is intended as a ready reference for practitioners (including World Bank stakeholders and clients in borrowing countries as well as Bank project leaders) seeking information on the state of the art about good land management approaches and innovations for investments, and close monitoring for potential scaling up.

Originally Published In: World Bank, Agriculture and Rural Development Department (2008)

This book is a challenge to those who see the drylands as naturally vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty. 

It argues that improving agricultural productivity in dryland environments is possible by working with climatic uncertainty rather than seeking to control it – a view that runs contrary to decade of development practice in arid and semi-arid lands.

Across China, Kenya and India – and most other dryland countries – family farmers and herders relate to the inherent variability of the drylands as a resource to be valued, rather than a problem to be avoided. 

Evaluation of LAMP in different contexts:broader change processesdevelopment thinkingcomparative analysis of different conditions of LAMP in the four districts it has been implemented inFindings include: recommending that the programme shifts focus from considering its core as natural resources management to one of support to the empowerment, mobilisation and capacity building of village communities with emphasis on natural resource managementconcentration should be on production, environment and rightstechnical assitance should shift towards capacity building and empowermentstakeholder par

This study aims to examine current land access and youth livelihood opportunities in Southern Ethiopia. Access to agricultural land is a constitutional right for rural residents of Ethiopia. We used survey data from the relatively land abundant districts of Oromia Region and from the land scarce districts of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ (SNNP) Region. We found that youth in the rural south have limited potential to obtain agricultural land that can be a basis for viable livelihood. The law prohibits the purchase and sale of land in Ethiopia.

Land has always been an important site of struggle in Mexico, often bringing peasant movements and peasant communities into conflicts with the Mexican military. This CMI Insight focuses on the key conflict dimensions since the Mexican revolution (1910-1917) and up till today.

The Korea Land Information System (KLIS) aims to provide information necessary for land policy establishment promptly and accurately. This system manages accurate information on land use zoning designated by land use regulations and provides it to government agencies, local governments, and people. KLIS manages and provides specifically the land information database to prevent duplication of investment among agencies and to effectively manage the land by securing the compatibility of data sets.

In the wake of the 2008 global food crisis, African capitals have been buzzing with renewed talk of the need for food self-sufficiency, and rice is often at the top of government agendas. Although everyone agrees on the need to increase production, the solutions coming out of the corridors of power boil down to the old formula of getting more fertilizers and “high-yielding” seeds to farmers.