Forms Of Land Tenure Research Articles

The Case for Long-Term Land Leasing: A Review of the Empirical Literature

Land, as a factor of production, has a vital role within the agricultural sector compared with other sectors. However, in recent years, land mobility has become a significant issue around the world with increased concentration and competition for land ownership, limiting the overall competitiveness of the agri-food sector and constraining the potential opportunities for new entrant farmers to access land. While land leasing is increasingly being embraced as a common form of land tenure serving as an alternative to the purchase of land for agriculture, the length of lease has been shown to have a significant impact on land productivity and sustainability. In this study, we provide a comprehensive and systematic review exploring the benefits of longer-term land leasing with a particular focus on developed countries and some selected developing countries in the context of commercial farming with more formal arrangements. Specifically, we highlight the barriers to long-term land leasing and identify potential incentives that might be adopted to encourage long-term land leasing for both landowners and farmers who seek to rent land.

Grassroots and Global Governance: Can Global–Local Linkages Foster Food System Resilience for Small Northern Canadian Communities?

Communities in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) are at the forefront of the global climate emergency. Yet, they are not passive victims; local-level programs are being implemented across the region to maintain livelihoods and promote adaptation. At the same time, there is a recent call within global governance literature to pay attention to how global policy is implemented and affecting people on the ground. Thinking about these two processes, we ask the question: (how) can global governance assist northern Indigenous communities in Canada in reaching their goals of adapting their food systems to climate change? To answer this question, we argue for a “community needs” approach when engaging in global governance literature and practice, which puts community priorities and decision-making first. As part of a collaborative research partnership, we highlight the experiences of Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation, located in Kakisa, NWT, Canada. We include their successes of engaging in global network building and the systemic roadblock of lack of formal land tenure. Moreover, we analyze potential opportunities for this community to engage with global governance instruments and continue connecting to global networks that further their goals related to climate change adaptation and food sovereignty.

Working with the Ancestors: Mana and Place in the Marquesas Islands by Emily C Donaldson

Reviewed by: Working with the Ancestors: Mana and Place in the Marquesas Islands by Emily C Donaldson Seth Quintus Working with the Ancestors: Mana and Place in the Marquesas Islands, by Emily C Donaldson. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019. isbn hardback: 9780295745824; isbn paper: 9780295745831, 280 pages. Hardback, us$95.00; paper, us$30.00 In Working with the Ancestors, Emily Donaldson provides welcome documentation of the enduring importance—yet ambiguous significance—of ancestral landscapes in Oceania. While focused on the Marquesas, Donaldson’s primary thesis will resonate with scholars across the region who are grappling with the idea of ancestral landscapes as spaces actively negotiated by multiple stakeholders. However, the analysis of how these landscape negotiations intersect with contemporary issues of historic preservation and conservation within the context of global heritage development is perhaps the work’s most important contribution. Donaldson’s sensitive attention to the complexity of these issues has resulted in a multi-faceted work well suited for a broad audience. While the disparate narrative may at times raise questions about Donaldson’s primary purpose, the text as a whole hangs together sufficiently to raise the question of whether this complexity is, after all, the point, as stakeholders of different backgrounds bring into view distinct engagements with place and the past. This ethnography brings contested meanings and events to life through an effective melding of voices, substantive global comparisons, and theoretical contextualization. The first chapters provide a background that helps the reader to understand the complexity of land rights in the Marquesas. While readers familiar with Oceania will recognize many elements of this form of land tenure, it is nevertheless enlightening to read about this manifestation within the context of mission activity and French territorial governance. Importantly, these chapters highlight the changing meanings of ancestral landscapes and the contexts that give rise to those meanings. This sets the stage for the latter three chapters, which operationalize this background to contextualize the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (unesco) world heritage movement within the Marquesas. [End Page 278] There is a contemporary tendency, especially in the West but also globally, to view archaeological remains, ruins, and historical landscapes as divorced from present concerns, apart from their place in educating the present about the past. This is probably best typified, as Donaldson points out, by the fortress approach to historic preservation, which seeks to limit the kinds of engagement with these resources. The goal of this approach is preservation and maintenance of the site for tourist consumption and, at times, targeted cultural activities. The meaning and value of a site or landscape is often defined by professionals—generally foreign archaeologists—rather than by those who have land-use rights. It is not difficult, then, to see how tensions might arise between the goals of local communities and those of state and national heritage projects. As Donaldson discusses, these tensions arise for several reasons, ranging from the increased territorialization of land to perceived disconnects between ancestors and the people interpreting the behaviors of those ancestors. Even within small communities, tensions can arise regarding the interpretation of ancestral places and the potential of heritage to increase tourism and, therefore, to bring about an improved economic future. As an archaeologist who works in Oceania, I found this book engaging and thoughtful. It left me considering in a more nuanced way how people think about the past and how meaning about the past is produced and eventually used. Important in this discussion is the definition of the word “heritage.” Donaldson notes that the term is not widely understood—or at least has different meanings—in the Marquesas (121). This is an important point in that it demonstrates a different way in which people engage with the past. In as much as heritage is “what the ancestors left for the people of today” (121), the work of world heritage is an overarching paradigm that structures how one should engage with and think about the past. The growth of a heritage industry or heritage initiatives, while perhaps not intending to, can change how communities think about and interact with their past and ancestral places. The foundational issue that Donaldson confronts in Working with...

Livelihood Impacts of Plantation Forests on Farmers in the Greater Mekong Subregion: A Systematic Review of Plantation Forest Models

Background and Objectives: Plantation forests remain a highly contested element of rural development. Successive reviews of large-scale plantations established under land concessions identify predominantly negative impacts on local farmers’ livelihoods. Although concession models of plantation development have been common in the global South, other models characterised by different forms of land tenure, labour arrangements, and plantation design have also emerged. The impacts of these models on the livelihoods of local farmers are likely to be more varied. This paper presents the results of a systematic review on the impacts of different models of plantation forests on the livelihoods of local farmers in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. Materials and Methods: Seventy-two of more than 1000 publications were identified as meeting review criteria and were assessed systematically to identify how plantation forests impacted on the natural, financial, human, physical, and social assets of proximate rural communities. Plantation models included: state forest plantations; land and land-sharing concessions; land purchase programs; and “enrolled”, contracted, and independent smallholders. Results: The results confirm those of earlier studies that land concessions delivered lasting livelihoods benefits only to few communities. A small number of positive examples among these cases demonstrate, however, that these plantation models are not necessarily detrimental to local livelihoods. Other plantation forest models, based on contract farming, land purchase, and independent smallholders have generally brought economic benefits to local people, although differentially. Research Highlights and Conclusions: Overall, this review suggests that plantation forests are not inherently positive or negative for local livelihoods, and all plantation models have the potential to contribute positively to local livelihoods. Future research on this topic needs to adopt more holistic livelihoods perspectives.

‘Estates’ or ‘forts’ in Persian period Yehud?

ABSTRACT A series of large Persian Period buildings dots the Judean Mountains; they are usually located alone in prominent places without nearby villages or other remains. Their presence stresses the scarcity of towns and villages in Yehud. In a recent article in this journal, Faust, A. (2018. ‘Forts or agricultural estates? Persian period settlement in the territories of the former Kingdom of Judah’, PEQ 150/1, 34–59) noted difficulties with the interpretation of these buildings as forts. He suggested that they were estates, and that their ‘settlers’ were Judean or Jewish returnees from Babylonia. Moving this discussion forward, we stress that the archaeological data does not furnish clear answers, mainly since functions of ‘forts’ and ‘estates’ are not mutually exclusive. Such buildings are not limited to Yehud: they appear also in Idumea, Samerina, and Transjordan. An estate is not a certain type of building that can be easily identified by archaeologists, but a set of land rights and obligations. The variety of Persian Period forms of land tenure should be acknowledged. We suggest that these buildings served more than one function. Perhaps some of those living in them followed haṭru-like arrangements (thus Faust), but if so, they were colonial settlers in the service of Persia, who received their land from the king or satrap, rather than free persons returning to their ancestral lands. They also did not remain there for long, since the phenomenon of the buildings was limited in duration and numbers of dwellers. The buildings did not develop into larger settlements; most were abandoned and did not continue into the Hellenistic Period.

Cross Leases Confused and Confounded – AAL Holdings Ltd v Dai

Cross leases are a uniquely New Zealand form of land tenure, the implications of which are not widely understood by either the legal profession or by members of the general public. This note critically examines a recent High Court decision released in February 2020 concerning problems concerning a “staged” cross lease development. It suggests that the judgment in AAL Holdings Ltd v Dai is not only incorrect in its reasoning, but also sets a bad precedent for resolving future cross lease disputes.

The land tenure and the land use among supiori in Papua

This article aims to explore various forms of land tenure and land use in Sorendiweri Village in East Supiori District, Papua Province. This research uses descriptive research using ethnography. The technique of determining informants is done purposively by determining key informants first that guides researchers to search for further informants. Data collection techniques used are in-depth interviews and FGD (Focus Group Discussion). Data analysis was carried out based on the factual culture of the community. The results show that the pattern of land tenure in the local population is communal at the clan level. Then, according to the local population, psychomo-logical and historicize view of customary land is very dominant because it states that customary land tenure in popular clans such as Sauyas that is more in line with history and relationships between clans. In addition, land tenure conflicts often occur because of the spread of land clearing in customary rights for infrastructure development and etc.

Tribe or Title? The Effect of Coethnic Neighbors on the Demand for Formal Property Rights in a Tanzanian Slum

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between ethnic heterogeneity and the demand for formal land tenure in urban Tanzania. Using a unique census of two highly fractionalized unplanned settl...

An assessment of the implications of alternative scales of communal land tenure formalization in pastoral systems

Pastoralism faces diverse challenges, that include, among others, land tenure insecurity, that has necessitated the need to formalize land rights. Some governments have started regularizing rights for privately owned land, but this is complex to implement in pastoral areas where resources are used and managed collectively. Our aim was to assess how the scale of communal land tenure recognition in pastoralist systems may affect tradeoffs among objectives such as tenure security, flexibility, mobility, and reduction of conflicts. We used a participatory scenario-building approach to investigate alternative scenarios of land tenure recognition in southern Ethiopia where a new communal land tenure system is in the early stages of implementation. Through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and a workshop, respondents analyzed the likely outcomes of communal land tenure recognition at different scales. Our findings suggest that there is a good chance of success when the tenure policy is embedded onto customary structures. All scales have some shortcomings, but Reera seems best, yet pastoralists preferred the Dheeda which despite its challenges, is the best for maintaining flexible mobility. There are multiple uncertainties and complexities, which suggest the for multi-pronged approaches and various support mechanisms when implementing a formal land tenure system in these areas.

Land tenure as a cause of tensions and driver of conflict among mining communities in Karamoja, Uganda: Is secure property rights a solution?

This paper offers insight on the missed narrative of land and resource conflict beneath the reality of gemstones and ores in the inchoate industry of limestone, marble and gold mining by communities in Karamoja – Uganda. Land tenure is often overlooked as a cause of tension or driver of conflicts especially in the design of responses to conflict situations in mining areas. Land tenure is considered to be an intricate, historical and perplexing factor in conflict, and the response to its manifestation is often limited to the formalization of land rights. This paper describes the forms of land tenure induced conflicts in mining communities. It articulates the need to address such land-resource conflicts by applying responses based on property rights recognition to that capture the full bundle of rights especially on customary land and improve the leverage of communities in claiming benefits from mining actions.The paper is arranged in six sections; a short introduction, background, and methods, women in mining, description of conflicts due to land-resource tenure and property rights recognition as a response to conflict. It concludes that property rights are essential in supporting claims to entitlement and benefits for communities, as they improve the bargaining power of communities while avoiding the coalescing ability of land grievances in driving mining communities into conflict. Under customary-communal tenure, surface rights are well defined but rarely are sub-surface rights. Legal and formal instruments to guarantee economic value and costs, transmitted in compensation payments, royalty fees and in benefits to communities are necessary to lessen the frictions about quantifications and measures.

Gendered livelihoods and land tenure: The case of artisanal gold miners in Mali, West Africa

Artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) is an important source of income for millions of sub-Saharan Africans. Scholars from various disciplines have demonstrated that urban and rural Africans take up mining as a response to unemployment, lack of credit and poor income prospects in the agricultural sector, and as a way for young people to achieve a degree of personal autonomy. Although several studies have investigated the role of women in artisanal mining, little attention has been given to the gendered land tenure rights that govern mineral resource access and that shape the prospects for mining as a viable livelihood strategy. This article presents evidence that women exploit artisanal mining opportunities in ways that differ from those of men based on gender differences in land tenure relations. Customary and freehold tenure regimes—through their flexibility and place-based functionality—create unique income-generating and investment opportunities for women at artisanal gold mining sites in western Mali. Specifically, the unique labor demands and commercial aspects of artisanal gold extraction interact with the host-stranger dynamics of customary tenure regimes to create labor market opportunities that women are able to exploit. Mining income invested in freehold land property enables women to achieve or at least strive for a degree of financial autonomy that is difficult or impossible within the unequal gender relations that characterize other rural economic activities, especially agriculture. Customary and formal land tenure institutions play a complex role that both constrains and enables these livelihood strategies, which are based on geographic mobility and power-laden social relations within rural economies that are increasingly monetized.

Women's and Men's Work: The Production and Marketing of Fresh Food and Export Crops in Papua New Guinea

ABSTRACTFresh food markets have been a fixture of the social and economic landscape of urban and rural PNG since colonial times. They were often the first points of engagement with the market economy, especially for women, who as small‐scale producers, sold surplus produce from their food gardens located on communally‐owned land. Although local food markets have remained an important livelihood for women, the later adoption and expansion of perennial export cash crops like coffee and cocoa overshadowed food production for local markets as men dominated export crop production on land alienated from communal ownership for decades or permanently. New forms of social relations of production and more exclusive forms of land tenure emerged to accommodate export crop production that were very different from those governing the production and marketing of fresh food. Market values and a trend towards individualisation of production with less capacity to mobilise labour through reciprocal labour exchange networks have characterised export crop production. With the income benefits captured largely by men, women began redirecting their labour to fresh food production where they were able to exercise more control of production and income while still mobilising labour through indigenous labour exchange arrangements. Attempts by men to appropriate the income of women and sons’ labour in export cropping were greater during flush periods when income levels were high, and they were less likely to attempt to appropriate this income in low crop periods when incomes were lower. However, with the recent emergence of female entrepreneurers earning relatively large sums of money in large‐scale, profit‐driven vegetable production, the moral frameworks governing food production are coming to resemble those governing export crops, and making labour more difficult to mobilise. Despite women being key players in these changes, we argue there is an emerging risk that men will attempt to assert control over this income or move into vegetable production themselves and possibly marginalise women in the process.

The value of the untenured forest: land rights, green labor, and forest carbon in the Brazilian Amazon

ABSTRACTTropical forests are newly valuable because of the carbon they sequester. Yet it is not clear who will benefit as a result. This article examines forest carbon’s new value in Acre, Brazil. It argues that a state program (the System of Incentives for Environmental Services – SISA) shifts forest carbon’s value from land to certain forms of labor. This approach allows the government to allocate it to poorer people without access to formal land tenure, a form of environmentally-premised redistribution. It also increases governmental power, favors intensive land use, and threatens to unmoor forest carbon from struggles for rights.

The effect of choice of targeted market, production scale, and land tenure on the economics of integrated tilapia-prawn production

Integrated aquaculture systems have the potential to enhance the environmental sustainability of aquaculture production, if economically feasible. Data from integrated tilapia-prawn production trials were used to develop economic-engineering enterprise budgets for ponds with and without substrate that targeted two different types of markets, using two production scales and two forms of land tenure. Inclusion of substrate increased investment and fixed costs and decreased net returns. Recreational markets (live tilapia for fee fishing and live prawns as bait) were profitable, but sales to supermarkets were not. Production scale and land tenure affected economic outcomes with increased pond size and leasing ponds demonstrating greater profitability. Results provide evidence of the need to carefully evaluate economic trade-offs associated with varying commercial-scale applications to increase the likelihood of adoption of new technologies.

Conceptual principles of the organization of the agricultural land land market in Ukraine

The article assesses the current state of the land fund of Ukraine in the light of the transformation processes of ownership. It is determined that after the reforms carried out, along with changes in the forms of land tenure, the forms of management have changed. Attention is drawn to the fact that the forms of management of the individual type, popular in Europe, are gaining momentum in Ukraine, which is manifested in the gradual growth of the area of ​​farms. It is noted that a significant proportion of private land holdings speaks of a sufficiently formed proposal in a potential land market, with regard to which perspectives in the Ukrainian society are being actively debated. The general results of sociological research conducted by a number of scientists in different regions of Ukraine are outlined, and the results of which determine the position of the population regarding the sale of agricultural land. Analyzing statistical data, and assessing scientific developments in the field of land sales, summarized key theses of the global trends in institutional conditions for the functioning of the land market in the leading EU countries. The key features of land resources and their market circulation are outlined. The specificity of the land is determined by the fact that it is immovable, therefore, unlike other resources that can be moved, only the rights to continuity of its use are sold on the land market. The emphasis is placed on the fact that the commodity in such a market is the right to land, which ensures comprehensive and predictable access to opportunities for profit from its exploitation, as well as obligations related to land and its exploitation, in accordance with the objectives of sustainable development. The article describes the price situation on the land market in the EU countries and states that an efficient land market can improve the productivity of the country's economy and increase its recovery, since it will allow landowners to turn their assets into capital that can be used for other purposes and the money received by farmers through the mortgage system, can be used to finance the development of production activities. Conceptual basis for the introduction of the market of agricultural land. land protection of interests of land plot owners; creation of a strong economically active middle class in rural areas; improvement of leasehold land relations; provision of sustainable land use; increase of employment of rural population; prevention of depreciation of agricultural land; introduction of mechanisms for preventing speculation in agricultural land and monopolizing it; increasing capitalization and liquidity of land as an economic asset. In our opinion, the fundamental positions of an efficient agricultural land market are: establishing a private ownership limit in one hand up to 200 hectares; in cultivation for farms – up to 1000 hectares; fixing of the minimum term of lease (already settled up to 7 years); development of a mechanism for preventing speculation and monopolization in the land market by establishing a land sales tax for the first 5 years (at the rate of 100% of the selling price); introduction of antitrust sanctions, by limiting the maximum area of ​​land use by one enterprise – no more than 30% of the area of ​​one OTG; consolidation of land for the establishment of a minimum land parcel that is not subject to parceling; prevention of depreciation of agricultural land through the introduction of a minimum price level; the development of mechanisms for mortgage lending to farmers for the purpose of land acquisition and financing for the development of production. Subjective composition of the land market, to include: citizens of Ukraine; family farms, established by citizens of Ukraine; 3) territorial communities; 4) the state in the person of the special regulatory institute. The main expected results from the introduction of regulated market turnover of agricultural land are: ensuring the constitutional rights of citizens to land and disposing of them; avoidance of depreciation of land; introduction of preventive mechanisms for market circulation of land; increasing the role of the state in the initial stage of the introduction of theland market in terms of its regulation. Key words: land relations, land market, mortgage lending, agriculture.

Just Sustainability in the Global South: A Case Study of the Megacity of Dhaka

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, accommodates 18 million people and is one of the largest megacities in the world. A large share of its population is poor and lives in informal settlements which can be called slums. In addition to precarious and unhealthy living conditions, these slum dwellers lack formal land tenure rights and therefore are subject to government-supported evictions. Slum evictions due to various urban development pressures may bring short-term benefits to the urban real estate market but have adverse long-term effects on sustainability and livelihoods of the city’s poor residents. Using the conceptual lens of just sustainability (JS)—which facilitates an investigation of the normative and practical challenges of sustainability and environmental justice—the authors argue that urban development in Dhaka needs to ensure social justice and sustainability. While the geographic focus of this article is Dhaka, this study has direct relevance—in terms of policy and planning implications—for other cities in the Global South.

Whose Agency Counts in Land Use Decision-Making in Myanmar? A Comparative Analysis of Three Cases in Tanintharyi Region

Myanmar has experienced profound transformations of land use and land governance, often at the expense of smallholders. Empirical evidence on the agency of actors included and excluded in land use decision-making remains scarce. This study analyses who influences land use decision-making, how they do this, and under what circumstances smallholders are included. Comparing three land use trajectories in southern Myanmar, we analysed actors’ agency—conceived as the meanings and means behind (re)actions—in land use decision-making using data from focus groups and interviews. Results showed that uneven distribution of means can lead to unequal decision-making power, enabling actors with more means to exclude those with less means: smallholders. However, this only applies in the case of top-down interventions with mutually exclusive actor interests regarding use of the same land. Where interests are compatible or a mediator supports smallholders in negotiations, actors are likely to develop a collaboration despite unequal means, leading to smallholders’ inclusion in decision-making. Transformation of current land governance towards sustainable development could be promoted by providing mediators to actors with few means, ensuring equal access for all to formal land tenure, engaging with brokers in the land governance network, and improving access to knowledge and financial capital for actors with few means.

Ecosystem service analysis in marginal agricultural lands: A case study in Belize

Globally, marginal lands, or less favored areas (LFAs), cover significant areas with large human populations, yet are relegated in policy making due to their perceived low agricultural value and a lack of information about other ecosystem services (ES) they may provide. Here we applied a simple, inclusive and qualitative ES inventory and Bayesian Belief Network modelling approach to a neo-tropical savanna LFA in Belize to assess its ES benefits, and potential trade-offs from future conversion to agriculture or a protected area. We found that consulting a broader selection of stakeholders elicited a more diverse range of ES, beyond the agricultural provisioning services considered in government planning. Further, the majority of the ES identified were accessed informally and so may be diminished under land use alternatives that formalize land tenure. We argue that, given the similar context of other LFAs, and the wider applicability of our technique, these findings have broader significance in the natural resource management and ES assessment field. Generally, we argue that simple qualitative ES analyses can efficiently provide useful planning information, and can assess how land use changes may impact local livelihoods. We argue that such methods can help improve natural resource management in LFAs and elsewhere.

Landlord villages of Iran as examples of political economy and materiality

SUMMARY: This paper uses a political economy framework to explore the role of external agents of change in Iran, and the impact of foreign trade during the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly with Russia and Britain. The results of an historical archaeology exploring landlord villages in the Tehran Plain are analysed here to show how the extremely long-lived landlord village form of land tenure and economic and social control offers a useful case study through which to approach an understanding of the impact of the political economy on rural populations of the period.

Firewood: Cause or consequence? Underlying drivers of firewood production in the South of Chile

Chile's native forests are one of the world's 25 priority conservation ecoregions due to their high levels of endemism and anthropogenic pressure. Seventy percent of these forests are in private lands, and firewood is the main use for native woods (93% of the total timber extracted from native forests). Yet, drivers of firewood production have not been adequately studied. In this research we analyzed if firewood is a primary production goal (the cause of extracting timber from native forest), or it is more a consequence of other processes. 275 surveys with landowners were used to perform a cross-sectional analysis in the Los Rios Region. We found that the decision to produce firewood is positively related to native forest cover (%) in the farm and the presence of forest plantations, and negatively related to the proportion of off-farm income (%). These variables affect the options facing landowners and help assess whether firewood is either a primary part of the productive system, or an outcome from other activities (by-product). The results show that firewood producers are not very responsive to firewood prices and only a small proportion of farms engage in commercial firewood production as their primary activity (landowners are not really interested in firewood production). Further, a growing firewood supply from forest plantations implies a lower pressure on native forests. This suggests that firewood production is less likely to be a driver of forest degradation than the literature points out, although the context of firewood production does identify areas where harvesting activities could be higher, e.g. where there are fewer off-farm income opportunities for landowners, who have lower schooling levels and do not hold formal land tenure, and where governmental interventions could be targeted to reduce excessive pressure on native forests.