Abstract
Indigenous and community lands, crucial for rural livelihoods, are typically held under informal customary tenure arrangements. This can leave the land vulnerable to outside commercial interests, so communities may seek to formalize their land rights in a government registry and obtain an official land document. But this process can be time-consuming and complex, and in contrast, companies can acquire land relatively quickly and find shortcuts around regulatory burdens. This article reviews and maps 19 community land formalization and 14 company land acquisition procedures is 15 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Comparing community and company procedures identifies multiple sources of inequity.
Highlights
As global demand for foods, fuels, minerals, fibers, and other nat ural resources grows, land acquisitions are on the rise around the world (World Bank, 2017)
Land that communities, including Indigenous Peoples hold under customary tenure arrangements1 is vulnerable to acquisition by powerful political and economic elites, if the land rights are not entered in a government registry or cadaster and the government has not issued the community an official document, such as a land certificate or title (Alden Wily, 2011a, 2011b, 2011c; Anseeuw et al, 2011)
While customary tenure systems historically provided communities with tenure security, the growing threats are leading to new insecurity (Chimhowu, 2019; Alden Wily, 2011b)
Summary
As global demand for foods, fuels, minerals, fibers, and other nat ural resources grows, land acquisitions are on the rise around the world (World Bank, 2017). Companies and investors are increasingly seeking to acquire land for long periods of time As this competition intensifies, land that communities, including Indigenous Peoples (hereafter com munities) hold under customary tenure arrangements is vulnerable to acquisition by powerful political and economic elites, if the land rights are not entered in a government registry or cadaster and the government has not issued the community an official document, such as a land certificate or title (Alden Wily, 2011a, 2011b, 2011c; Anseeuw et al, 2011). Land Use Policy xxx (xxxx) xxxx countries, national laws do not recognize collectively-held land or es tablish a formalization procedure (Alden Wily, 2017). Formal land documents can help communities convince others of their legal rights, ensuring that they will be recognized and respected by others. This article provides the findings of a review of 33 community and company procedures for acquiring formal land rights in 15 countries
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