Land Tenure Information Research Articles

Mapping high-altitude peatlands to inform a landscape conservation strategy in the Andes of northern Peru

SummaryThe wetlands of the jalca ecoregion in the Andes of northern Peru form peat and play a major role in the hydrological ecosystem services of the ecoregion. Although peat is globally valued for carbon sequestration and storage, peatlands have not yet been mapped in the jalca. In this region, the Gocta waterfall, one of the 20 highest waterfalls in the world, depends on the jalca’s wetlands ecosystem. The local population depends on tourism to the waterfall and is concerned about preserving its drainage area. To inform conservation planning, in this study we delimited the drainage area of the Gocta waterfall and identified land tenure by applying Geographic Information System (GIS), remote sensing and participatory mapping techniques. Then, by classifying optical, radar and digital elevation models data, we mapped peatland in the jalca of the Gocta drainage area with an overall accuracy of 97.1%. Our results will inform conservation strategy in this complex area of communal, private and informal land tenure systems. At a regional level, this appears to be the first attempt at mapping peatlands using remote sensing imagery in the jalca ecoregion, and it represents a milestone for future efforts to map and conserve peatlands in other tropical mountain areas of the world.

Revisiting British Malaya's Era: An Intriguing Historical Legal Analysis of Land Administration and Colonial Forestry

The land and forest administration system in Malaysia faces a complexity bias due to the misinterpretation of rules and legislation, leading to increased disputes. The reliance on British law for matters like land ownership amplifies this issue, and the intricacies of static and dynamic arrangements further compound the complexity. Previously, Malay rural land rights were based on usufructuary principles, but the colonial land alienation policy redefined unalienated land, land reserved for public purposes, and reserved forests as State Land. This study seeks to comprehensively review and analyse legal rules, cases, statutes, and regulations to understand ancient land law practices and the influence of British colonial land law on land administration. Conducted in Peninsular Malaysia, the study focuses on primary documents, cases, and critical analyses from three states: Perak, Penang, and Kelantan. The findings of the study highlight the contentious nature of land rights and autonomy in utilizing natural resources in Malaysia. The country inherits both formal and informal land tenure systems rooted in customary law, making dispute resolution challenging. The principal characteristic of ancient land law is based on a hypothetical model of the ancient customary land tenure system, encompassing different eras, missions, and principles. Significantly, the study reveals a direct and strong connection between colonial land law and current land law practices in the respective states. Additionally, Malaysia's land law has been influenced by Islamic law (Syariah) to some extent and blended with other ancient customary laws before the introduction of Torren in 1897.

Study of Various Obstacles on Land Tenure on Jakarta Vertical Land Consolidation in Housing Development Program

The topic of “illegal” settlements cannot be separated from the topic of agrarian tenure, specifically the tenure of land, water, plants, and mining resources. In the development of a capitalistic city, the emergence of settlements through informal land tenure is inevitable due to the inability of the marginalized community to afford the high price of land. Presidential Regulation Number 86 of 2018 regarding Agrarian Reform at first glance looks like fresh air for the urban marginalized communities who have difficulties having asset and access to argarian resources. However, cities in Indonesia have diverse dynamics due to different backgrounds and also due to urbanization, therefore various alternatives are required in the implementation process. One of the Government’s instruments in implementing the agrarian reform mandate to distribute land rights to the people is Land Consolidation, espescially Vertical Land Consolidation in Jakarta due to limited of coverage area. An alternative is needed to ensure that the right to a decent standard of living is fulfilled without making marginal communities merely objects of planning but also subjects of planning.

Exploring the Characteristics, Drivers and Control Strategies of Informal Settlements on Mkimbizi Hill in Iringa Municipality, Tanzania

This study explored the characteristics, drivers, and control strategies of informal settlements on MkimbiziHill in Iringa Municipality, Tanzania. The study employed a mixed research design whereby heads ofhouseholds were randomly selected while key informants were purposively sampled. Data were collectedthrough a questionnaire survey with heads of households, in-depth interviews with key informants, and fieldobservations. Quantitative data were analysed by statistical product and service solution software.Qualitative data were organised into themes and involved content analysis. It was established that the studyarea is occupied by individuals of different social and economic characteristics with informal land tenure,limited access to social services, and are exposed to the risk of the collapse of buildings and rockfalls. Thestudy also found that informal settlements in the study area were caused by the lack of education on urbansettlements, proximity to essential social services, cheap plots, and poor settlement planning. Nonetheless, thestudy showed that the strategies used to control informal settlements in the study area included intermittentpatrol, awareness creation on sustainable urban development, and settlements for economically weakindividuals. The study recommends proper land use planning for sustainable urban development by theauthorities.

City of Rebels: Considering Migrant History-Telling in an Ethnographic Inquiry of a Neighborhood’s Past

This article deals with the question of how perceptions of history adhere to space and focuses on one of many neighborhoods in Istanbul being haunted by the legacy of informal land tenure. The hills of the megacity have borne witness to industrialization, mass migration, and socialist anarchy, all of which have contributed to land squatting and the iconic gecekondu (squat) architecture. However, what had served as a signifier of the tradition of local organization among domestic migrants from the 1950s is now being destroyed by so-called urban renewal projects leading to either displacement or a vicious circle of poverty. As a result, the current housing problem in Istanbul illuminates the residents’ coping strategies that are paradoxically intertwined with memories of past events in the area. To grasp the temporal experience of the neighborhood in question, I argue for the importance of narrativity, and the practice of history-telling in particular, in undertaking an ethnography of history.

Land formalization – The new magic bullet in counternarcotics? A case study of coca cultivation and tenure (in)formality from Colombia

Both policymakers and scholars have suggested that informal land tenure contributes to the perpetuation of illicit drug crop cultivation and, conversely, that land formalization programs serve counternarcotics aims. This article examines some of the key causal mechanisms said to underlie the posited relationship between land tenure (in)formality and the cultivation of crops used for illicit drug production. Our analysis is grounded in the context of Puerto Asís, Colombia – one of the most important coca-producing municipalities in a country that produces the majority of the world’s cocaine. The case study is based on extensive fieldwork in Puerto Asís, including in-depth interviews with peasants who cultivate(d) coca, community leaders and local officials. We found: (i) that informal and semiformal institutions provide a basic level of land tenure security for both those with and without state-recognized property titles; (ii) that peasants invest considerable amounts of money and labor in their farms and community infrastructures, despite lacking formal land titles; (iii) that coca cultivation itself is a comparatively costly investment, with eighteen months minimum before payback; (iv) that peasants’ access to credit is not conditioned on them having a formal land title; (v) that bank loans do not make people less dependent on coca cultivation; and that (vi) farmers find it difficult to survive with legal livelihoods and thus permanently exit the coca economy for a long list of reasons, which are not addressed via land titling and registration programs. These findings are contrary to popular policy narratives. We conclude that formal titles are an important tool for Colombian peasant farmers to defend their land against powerful external actors but will not necessarily serve the purposes commonly presented in the literature on illicit drugs.

THE MATRIX OF LAND TENURE PROPERTY RIGHT FOR WATER SETTLEMENT AREA

The Land Tenure Property Right (LTPR) concept is critical for establishing ownership and rights to land or property. Land is inextricably linked to a community's social identities, and it is critical for them to understand their rights. Water settlement areas are not included in the formal LTPR, which results in ambiguous rights, informal land tenure, and ambiguity regarding certain LTPR elements. As a result, this article will discuss the difficulties associated with LTPR in this area. The article employs a qualitative approach, with data collected via face-to-face interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. Three case studies are included, in which all of the villages are located in a water settlement area. Six challenges are identified in the context of LTPR that require revision and strengthening. By combining the general LTPR framework and the results, a Matrix of LTPR that meets the criteria in the water settlement area is produced.

Barriers and enablers of the use of digital technologies for sustainable agricultural development and food security

Digitization in agriculture is gaining momentum in developing countries. Digital technology aims to improve linkages along the agriculture value chain, thereby enabling farming communities and systems to recover from stresses and to absorb shocks to which farmers are exposed. However, there is the concern that digital technologies have not benefited the agricultural sector in a sustainable way. Stakeholders along the agriculture value chain need significant amounts of information to which they do not have access. In Mali, smartphones and earth observation data are used to support the development of land tenure information services and to improve agriculture statistics. To multiply business opportunities, the scope of the use of these technologies is being expanded to include agronomic advisory next-gen, franchised farm extension services. This article aims to evaluate these initiatives to further understand the way digitization could contribute to sustainable agricultural development and food security. In addition, it aims to determine how effective these technologies are under different conditions and how they can contribute to better sustainable development outcomes. Most evaluation studies of agriculture technology place emphasis on the economic aspects of productivity, profitability, and technical efficiency of the technology and the implications for users’ livelihoods. This study considers technology as a socio-technical phenomenon to understand the underlying processes that may enable or constrain the takeoff and the sustainability of technology. Furthermore, understanding these processes provides valuable theoretical and methodological insights to stakeholders for necessary adjustments of technology to given biophysical, socioeconomic, cultural, and cognitive conditions.

Rural landscapes and agrarian spaces under soybean expansion dynamics: a case study of the Santar\xe9m region, Brazilian Amazonia

Following the boom of soybean production from 2000 to 2006 in the Santarém region of the Brazilian Amazon, the mechanized agricultural area remained stable, unlike other regions. Deforestation was controlled, but this initial expansion led to the restructuring of the agrarian space in the region. Given this scenario, we aimed to understand the mechanized agricultural expansion effects in the region by comparing the periods 1999–2007 and 2007–2015. Our hypothesis was that it impacted heterogeneous actors and land tenure categories. We combined multi-temporal land change maps derived from remote sensing to land tenure information to evaluate how land change transitions differed over time, both in public (traditional and sustainable use official settlements) and private areas. In private areas, we observed a 12% reduction in forest cover in 1999–2007 and a 2.5% reduction in 2007–2015. In sustainable use settlements, forest loss was only 3% and 2% in each period, respectively. Mechanized agriculture occupied areas of family farming (42%), secondary vegetation (20%), pasture (20%), and forest areas (18%). Family farming lost most of the area to other uses. Within settlements, the area of family farming increased by 50% at the expense of the forest area. We conclude that the rise and fall of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hide multiple social and territorial processes. Understanding such dynamics is critical for establishing measures toward a sustainable future.

Deliberate displacement during conflict: Evidence from Colombia

• Forced displacement is not a mere side-effect of conflict. • Price shocks generate a higher level of forced displacement in conflict settings. • Forced displacement takes place in districts with more labor-intensive commodities • When armed actors collude with the government, forced displacement is more frequent. Do economic incentives explain forced displacement during conflict? This paper examines this question in Colombia, which has had one of the world’s most acute situations of internal displacement associated with conflict. Using data on the price of bananas along with data on historical levels of production, I find that price increases generate more forced displacement in municipalities more suitable to produce this good. However, I also show that this effect is concentrated in the period in which paramilitary power and operations reached an all-time peak. Additional evidence shows that land concentration among the rich has increased substantially in districts that produce these goods. These findings are consistent with extensive qualitative evidence that documents the link between economic interests and local political actors who collude with illegal armed groups to forcibly displace locals and appropriate their land, especially in areas with more informal land tenure systems, like those where bananas are grown more frequently.

Remote sensing and GIS application for mapping data base of sustainable agriculture land in Denpasar City

The Government of Indonesia has issued legislation in an effort to protect sustainable food agricultural land (SFAL), supplemented by Ministerial Regulation, which the aim is for national food security and sovereignty. The assessment accuracy of rice field data is depending on the spatial resolution and temporal variation. Geospatial based agricultural database inventory supports agricultural development programs. The research objective was to compile the SFAL data base (agricultural resources and ownership map). Research methods include analysis of high-resolution Word View 2018 satellite imagery, field surveys and thematic mapping. QGIS 3.6 software, SAS Planet and Locus GIS. Land resources inventory (paddy area in three subak 59.8 ha, Typic Tropaquepts, rainfall of 1,500 to 2,000 mm year−1, origin slope 3 to 8%, terraced, very suitable for lowland rice, suitable for horticulture). Human resources (82 people as owner, 88 farmers as cultivator), 70.95% of those have primary school education and 78.3% are aged 51 to 70 years old. Artificial resources (4,800 m tertiary irrigation channel, 2,470 m farm roads, 5 tractors), rice-rice-horticulture cropping pattern, produce 6.5 t ha−1 of rice. Map and information system of subak rice fields, land suitability and geospatial-based land tenure information as SFAL database can assist local governments in sustainable agricultural development.

Local Domain Models for Land Tenure Documentation and their Interpretation into the LADM

With an estimated 50% of global land held, used, or otherwise managed by communities, interfacing indigenous, customary, and informal land tenure systems with official land administration systems is critical to achieving universal land tenure security at a global scale. The complexity and organic nature of these tenure systems, however, makes their modelling and documentation within standard, generic land administration systems extremely difficult. This paper presents a model that loosely integrates a Local Domain Model (LDM) developed for a Maasai community in Kenya with the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM). The LDM is an ontological schema which captures local knowledge in a systematic, formal way that is directly or indirectly relevant to land administration. The integration with LADM is achieved through an ontological schema called the Adaptor Model. The concept of conditional RRR (Rights, Restrictions, Responsibilities) is introduced within the Adaptor Model to express the dynamics of social tenures. The three domain models LDM, LADM, Adaptor Model are used in the community-based land tenure recording tool SmartSkeMa. Four implementation examples demonstrate how the case-specific LDM extends the range of concepts representable in LADM in order to meet land administration needs from the local community’s perspective. A panel of land administration experts found the LDM model and the functionality of the Adaptor Model to be fit-for-purpose for the Kenyan case and to be addressing an important gap in the land administration tools landscape.

Baleni v Minister of Mineral Resources 2019 2 SA 453 (GP): Paving the Way for Formal Protection of Informal Land Rights

In Baleni v Minister of Mineral Resources 2019 2 SA 453 (GP) the court, duly following the judicial guidance provided in Maledu v Itereleng Bakgatla Mineral Resources 2019 2 SA 1 (CC), made an important pronouncement on the rights of people who hold informal land tenure. The question in the Baleni judgment concerned the level of consent required to obtain a mining right over property held by a community with informal or customary land tenure. The court specifically considered provisions of the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act 31 of 1996 (IPILRA) and the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA), and concluded that the provisions of these Acts should be read together when determining the level of consent required. The court found that a community's consent, as required by IPILRA, and not merely consultation with a community, as required by the MPRDA, is necessary before a mining right can be obtained over a community's property. The Baleni and the Maledu judgments set an important judicial precedent protecting informal land owners against the potentially harmful effects of mining activities, and establish a higher standard for obtaining a mining right over such property. However, despite the success of the judgment, many questions remain regarding the longevity of IPILRA, in particular, and a long-term solution to informal land tenure and land security in general. This case note argues that final legislation should be enacted to provide protection for people who hold informal land rights, and consequently to formalise indigenous communities' land rights to ensure that these judgments act as the precursor for fundamental change in the current debate regarding informal land rights.

Application of LADM for disaster prone areas and communities

Disaster prevention, response and recovery require information about land tenure. Though, in many high-risk contexts, such records are non-existent or not up to date. As a result, vulnerable groups are often passed over by the government during risk management activities. At present there exists no dedicated tool for supporting land tenure recordation of all people-to-land relationships for the purposes of disaster risk management. More specifically, the required supportive data models and standards that could enable integration of concepts from the respective domains of land administration and disaster risk management are also lacking. Standardized data models could support software and service designs. This paper introduces a model linking the domains of land administration and disaster risk management – with the goal of supporting resilience against natural disasters and providing an approach for collecting data once, and using it multiple times. A design approach was used to develop the model – with adaption of the international Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) standard acting as a basis. Key features of the model include the support of interoperability through standardisation, the inclusion of all people-to-land relationships including those specific to disaster contexts, and the potential of the model to contribute to each of the disaster phases. The model is suggested to be highly applicable in natural disaster contexts where no land tenure information exists or the national mapping authority already uses a land administration system compatible with LADM. Overall, the model is considered as a step toward an implementable strategy for applying responsible land administration in the context of disaster risk management.

Impact of sharecropping on rice productivity in some areas of Khulna district

The study reveals the effect of sharecropping on rice productivity in some selected areas of Khulna District in the South-West region of Bangladesh. Access to land for the landless farmer is governed by informal land tenure arrangement, which in turn affects the productivity of the rice farm. In exploring the debate on sharecropping and farm efficiency, the present study has been conducted to assess the effect of sharecropping on rice productivity. During June 2014, a field survey was conducted by using a semi-structured questionnaire in two villages of Khulna District where sharecropping is one of the dominant land tenure arrangements in rice farming. A Cobb-Douglas production function estimation showed that type of land ownership, use of fertilizers, human labor, and modern variety (MV) including hybrid seed and high yielding varieties (HYVs) of seed had the positive and significant influence on rice production. There was a significant mean difference between the sharecroppers and the owner farmers regarding their volume of rice production. The production volume of the owner farmers was significantly higher by around 781 kg ha-1. The study result from the production function revealed that on an average owner farmers’ output was significantly higher by 10% than that of the sharecroppers. The study also observed that higher land rent in form of a fixed amount of cash or a higher crop share demotivated the sharecroppers to supply the optimum level of input and to use the land intensively. The result implied that the sharecroppers are inefficient compared to the landowners. Therefore, it is recommended that sharing an equitable production cost and a justifiable crop sharing structure might be the better options to motivate the sharecropper to become more efficient concerning their volume of production.Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 43(3): 417-430, September 2018

Urbanization and land property rights

We analyze the joint dynamics of land property rights and urbanization, a key yet underexplored relation that underpins the process of economic development. Using a dynamic stochastic model of urbanization with endogenous demand for property rights over land use, we demonstrate that the costly provision of those rights may result in both residential informality that can persist over time and suboptimal urbanization whereby cities are too small and insufficiently productive. In developing countries, because land administrations in charge of issuing titles are difficult to reform, achieving the second best may require acceptance of some level of informality in spite of the negative externalities stemming from informal land tenure and informal settlements. This may not be easily implemented as urban elites may favor overall welfare-reducing policies that over-evict informal dwellers.

TOWARDS INNOVATIVE GEOSPATIAL TOOLS FOR FIT-FOR-PURPOSE LAND RIGHTS MAPPING

Abstract. In large parts of sub Saharan Africa it remains an ongoing challenging to map millions of unrecognized land rights. Existing approaches for recognizing these rights have proven inappropriate in many cases. A new generation of tools needs to be developed to support faster, cheaper, easier, and more responsible land rights mapping. This is the main goal of its4land, an European Commission Horizon 2020 project that aims to develop innovative tools inspired by the continuum of land rights, fit-for-purpose land administration, and cadastral intelligence. its4land is using strategic collaboration between the EU and East Africa to deliver innovative, scalable, and transferrable ICT solutions. The innovation process incorporates a broad range of stakeholders and emergent geospatial technologies, including smart sketchmaps, UAVs, automated feature extraction, as well as geocloud services. The aim is to combine innovative technologies, capture the specific needs, market opportunities and readiness of end-users in the domain of land tenure information recording in Eastern Africa. The project consists of a four year work plan, € 3.9M funding, and eight consortium partners collaborating with stakeholders from six case study locations in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda. The major tasks include tool development, prototyping, and demonstration for local, national, regional, and international interest groups. The case locations cover different land uses such as: urban, peri-urban, rural smallholder, and (former) pastoralist. This paper describes the project’s activities within the first 18 months and covers barriers discovered, lessons learned and results achieved.

Transitions in water harvesting practices in Jordan’s rainfed agricultural systems: Systemic problems and blocking mechanisms in an emerging technological innovation system

This study identifies systemic problems and opportunities for transitions in water harvesting − a water conserving agricultural practice − in the context of a developing country pursuing greater agricultural sustainability. We utilize a combined and enriched functional-structural technological innovation system (TIS) analysis to identify systemic problems in the water harvesting TIS in rainfed agricultural production systems of Jordan. Results indicate Jordanian water harvesting TIS development is hindered by three principal blocking mechanisms: 1) inadequate financial resources to support innovation; 2) lack of a common vision across government ministries; 3) institutional problems that inhibit legitimizing the technology. These challenges are caused by interlocking systemic problems, which indicate the need for integrated policy approaches and interventions. Our analysis reinforces the concept that in developing countries, donor interventions should be centrally considered because they play a role in influencing priorities throughout the system and in supporting TIS development. Donors can counteract TIS development and contribute to directionality problems that favor one form of the technology over another, which gives insufficient protection for the water harvesting TIS until markets for technologies form. This would require more effective coordination between different donors’ efforts to develop critical mass in TIS development. We also show that cultural institutions and interactions between formal and informal land tenure laws play a significant role in causing an erosion of trust in the government and counter efforts to promote and engage farming communities in water harvesting activities and innovation. This requires recognition that, in developing countries, informal institutions may have the same status as formal institutions.

‘The law is not for the poor’: Land, law and eviction in Luanda

This article investigates how an existing two‐tiered land tenure system creates a hybrid space that blurs, and essentially questions and problematizes the boundaries of the formal/informal divide as presented within Angolan political and legal discourses. It showcases how urban formality and informality exist alongside each other in Luanda and how people take recourse to both formal and informal channels in attempts to secure housing, land tenure and livelihoods in the city. Through case studies, the article describes how small‐scale farmers in Luanda's northern municipality of Cacuaco lost their lands to urban development in 2009–10 and the ensuing circumstances in which formal rights and informal land tenure became intermeshed and ambiguous. As the case studies illustrate, a gap exists between the legal code and practice on the ground. This gap is represented in how Angola's postconflict land strategy, with its forced evictions and demolitions of houses and neighbourhoods, often with little or no compensation, is at odds with the Angolan Land Law, which states that land may only be expropriated by the state or local authorities for specific public use and must be justly compensated.

Land Tenure as a Factor Underlying Agricultural Landscape Changes in Europe: A Review

Abstract Land tenure is generally considered to be an important factor affecting farming, landscape, and rural development. This paper reviews selected case studies to identify how land tenure influences agricultural landscape changes in Europe. We identified how land tenure information was transformed into variables, grouping these variables into general thematic categories: (1) land rights variables based on references to the type of stakeholders and duration of land occupancy, (2) land structure variables describing general land structure, and (3) behavioural variables dependent on stakeholders’ attitudes, perceptions, and personal values. Each thematic category can be defined on three spatial levels: parcel or production block, stakeholder, and landscape. The results show that the tenure factor is not frequently included into landscape-change studies. When a land tenure factor was part of a given study, it either played a minor role among other drivers of landscape change or, if it influenced significant landscape changes, it had only locally specific effects. Moreover, there were studies with contradictory results and so it is difficult to generalize specific findings. Nevertheless, land tenure is frequently discussed within landscape-change research in relation to land abandonment as well as green services and their connection with the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy.