Land Regularization Research Articles

Territorial Conflicts and Land Management in the Amazon: Challenges and Dynamics in Rondônia

Objective: This article investigates the interaction between agrarian conflicts and territorial management in Rondônia, analyzing the relationship between land disputes, crime, and public policies. Theoretical Framework: The Amazon, vital to the global climate and rich in biodiversity, faces deforestation and territorial conflicts. These challenges, exacerbated by the lack of land regularization, require policies that promote socio-environmental justice and territorial rights of traditional populations (Sauer & Marés, 2013; Clement & Fonseca, 2008). Methods: The research adopts a methodological approach based on literature review and analysis of data from institutions such as IBGE, INCRA, and Comissão Pastoral da Terra. The triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data allowed for an in-depth understanding of occupation patterns and territorial conflicts in Rondônia. Results and Discussion: The results demonstrate a correlation between conflicts, crime, and territorial management. The lack of effective public policies results in violent disputes, highlighting the need for integrated strategies to resolve these conflicts. Research Implications: The research shows that public policies should focus on land regularization and peaceful mediation of conflicts to reduce violence and improve security in rural areas of the Amazon. Originality/value: The study contributes by analyzing the relationship between land management and agrarian conflicts in Rondônia, proposing integrated and inclusive approaches to reduce violence and promote sustainable development.

A governança fundiária no município de Oiapoque-AP-BR, sob a ótica das transferências de terras da união ao patrimônio fundiário do estado do Amapá

The article analyses the process of land regularization in the municipality of Oiapoque (Amapá’s state), with a theoretical perspective on the discussion of land governance in the municipality based on transfers of land from the Federal Government to the state of Amapá. The methodology was based on the main legal documents that attest to the transfer of land, especially Law No. 10.304/2001. The relevance and importance of the article lies in highlighting the overlapping parcels of land in the territory, and how the municipality is organizing itself to address the issue of a new territorial planning through responsible governance and effective planning.

Dynamics of Modern Property in Brazil: social function, land regularization, and challenges for effectiveness

Dynamics of Modern Property in Brazil: social function, land regularization, and challenges for effectiveness

Decoding the puzzle: exploring the factors influencing homeownership in Togo

Purpose This study aims to analyze the factors influencing households housing tenure choices in Togo. Design/methodology/approach The authors applied a rigorous econometric approach, using Harmonized Household Living Conditions Survey (EHCVM) data from 2018 and 2021 to construct a longitudinal panel, and Unified Basic Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (QUIBB) data from 2006, 2011 and 2015 to construct a pseudo-panel. Findings The study reveals that a household’s life-cycle variables like age of the household head, marital status, household size and place of residence, have a significant influence on homeownership. In addition, households in the highest wealth quartiles and used heads of household are more likely to own their home. Research limitations/implications Housing policies focused on improving the financial sustainability of low-income households and reducing the transaction costs associated with property acquisition are essential to promoting homeownership. Practical implications As part of the implementation of the Government Roadmap 2020–2025, the government has committed to providing 20,000 affordable social housing units, aiming to significantly boost the supply of decent housing. However, the findings of this study highlight the need for targeted subsidy programs for low-income households, particularly for female-headed households and those living in urban areas. These subsidies could cover part of the cost of purchasing homes. For middle-income households, it is crucial to develop suitable financing mechanisms, such as low-interest mortgages and loan guarantees. Given demographic pressures and the high cost of public housing programs, promoting self-build remains essential. This support should be accompanied by the provision of low-cost building materials and technical training in innovative, sustainable construction methods. Additionally, improved access to employment and land regularization are essential prerequisites for the success of these initiatives. Originality/value Research on the determinants of tenure choice is relatively limited in sub-Saharan Africa due to the unavailability of housing survey data. This paper proposes a case study of Togo, whose housing market characteristics correspond to most sub-Saharan African countries. Furthermore, this study applied two methodological approaches commonly used in dynamic analyses, thereby enhancing the robustness of the findings.

From bureaucratic practice to competing policy: examining the durable and redistributive nature of land regularization politics in Bangalore

This article examines the politics of land regularization pushed for by lower and middle-income groups across various sites post the expansion of Bangalore in 2006, which has created numerous non-master planned settlements, especially in peri-urban areas. I argue for a rethinking of the debates on urban informality in Global South urbanisms through a focus on this politics. I describe the production of the urban through an ethnography of land’s social and administrative embeddings, which pays close attention to the historical and competing claims on land and the institutional complexity of bureaucracy. I also foreground the interpretative frames of residents, rather than planning codes. This methodological approach reveals how non-plan actors channelize various bureaucratic modalities, including higher state spaces, in order to negotiate and co-produce land policy. In sum, the article reveals how this mode of urbanization arises due to the state’s need to navigate complex rival claims on land and residents’ push for more equitable redistribution. This contests the sweeping diagnosis of land grab, failures of Master Planning, and the reckless extension of free markets on land, which usually frame analyses of urban informality.

Territorial Development Public Policy in The Amazon: Agro-Extractivist Settlement Project on The Lower Amazon Floodplain

Objective: To Analyse the advances and obstacles of the land regularization policy implementation based on agro-extractivist settlement projects on the Lower Amazon Floodplain, Santarém municipality, Pará state. Method: The research has a quantitative and a qualitative approach, based on bibliographic and participant observation data collection. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were applied to understand the studied phenomenon in a depth-way. The bibliographic method contributed to a wider compréhension of the thematic analysis and to identifying relevant aspects of land regularization problems in the communities. Result and conclusion: It was confirmed the models of agro-extractivist settlement projects and the public policy access on the Lower Amazon Floodplain. Implications of the research: The study demonstrates the evolution of agro-extractivist settlement projects, their challenges and advances, in Brazil. Originality/value: This study aimed to analyze the process of implementing the land regularization policy, pointing out the socio-environmental advances and obstacles of agro-extractivist settlements in the floodplain region of the municipality of Santarém, Pará.

Sustainable land use: Policy implications of systematic land regularization in Mozambique

Security of land tenure is key to achieve the sustainable development goal of eradicating poverty and can be improved through the regularization of rights to land, property, and natural resources. Making cities and human settlements sustainable, requires participatory and integrated land use planning, accounting for the land’s potential and constraints, with a view to medium and long-term use. The government of Mozambique is actively promoting a process of massive regularization, under common terms of reference for service providers. The terms of reference also intend to achieve a linkage between regularization and community land use plans. The aim of this research is to assess the robustness of such plans to detect and overcome potential conflicts between the given and the potential land use, as well as constraints, weaknesses and threats. This research uses a mixed documental analysis to undertake an ex-ante assessment of 15 participatory community land use plans. Five categories are assumed as a reference of good practices in land use planning suggested by universal and African literature. It was found that the common terms of reference and guidelines promote participatory capacity and provides general directions of community development. However, good practices of land use planning such as effective participation in all phases, alternative scenarios for future land use, regional integration, and disasters risk management are less promoted. It is suggested that the guidelines go beyond the immediate needs of land register, to consider that such interventions in rural areas shape the culture of land use, which, in turn, will influence sustainability in higher level settlements.

Dois tempos do neoliberalismo brasileiro como governo das cidades

Abstract This article discusses two different phases of neoliberalism as city government practice in Brazil: the first one as progressive neoliberalism and the second as authoritarian, austere, and militarized management of social collapse. In the first part of the text, I use the works of Christian Laval and Pierre Dardot (2009 [2013] and 2016) and Dardot et. al (2021) to inscribe the proposed debate in the transition between two expressions of neoliberalism, initially as world reason or political rationality and later as war strategy. In the second part, such phases will be observed through recent transformations in city government practices, using some examples related to the latest housing and land regularization programs.

The Public Dispute around the Definition of a Legal Framework for Land Regularization

Resumo O avanço da fronteira agrícola sobre reservas ambientais e territórios tradicionais tem estado no debate público desde o início do governo Bolsonaro. Quem tem o direito legítimo de pleitear terra é um dos elementos centrais na disputa de narrativas em torno da política agrária. Este artigo tem como objetivo explicar a controvérsia recente sobre a mudança na legislação de regularização fundiária promovida pela bancada ruralista e pelos setores do agronegócio que ela representa. Para tanto, parto de contribuições teórico-metodológicas advindas do campo dos estudos sociais da ciência e tecnologia e do campo da sociologia da capacidade crítica para analisar uma disputa pública no Legislativo. Essa abordagem traz ganhos analíticos na medida em que toma como objeto a controvérsia, descentrando a variável explicativa dos atores e estruturas. Em torno da disputa se constituíram duas heterogêneas articulações que buscaram sustentar suas posições utilizando grandezas como a preservação ambiental e a justiça ao pequeno proprietário. O trabalho identifica quais têm sido as estratégias de legitimação do direito à terra e discute como elas se relacionam com o tratamento da questão ambiental e com uma racialização do acesso à terra, na forma do discurso de desenvolvimento e produtividade.

The Bureaucratic Politics of Urban Land Rights: (Non)Programmatic Distribution in São Paulo’s Land Regularization Policy

ABSTRACT How do bureaucrats implement public policy when faced with political intermediation? This article examines this issue in the distribution of land rights to informal settlements in the municipality of São Paulo, Brazil. Land regularization is a policy established over three decades, where politicians’ requests for land titles to their constituencies play a relevant role. Based on interviews and documents, this study finds that bureaucrats adopt a twofold approach to regulate distribution: they document informal settlements, enacting eligibility criteria; then, they manage and prioritize beneficiaries, accommodating qualifying political demands. In this process, they enforce eligibility rules consistently across cases, constraining political intermediation to a rational scheme. Therefore, bureaucrats reconcile nonprogrammatic politics and policy rules by separating eligibility assessment from beneficiary selection. This paper bridges urban distributive politics and street-level bureaucracy literature by revealing that policy implementers may use technical expertise to curb political influence and negotiate conflicting interests and constraints.

The struggle for housing and land regularization in Vila Recanto II, Sobral – CE

The struggle for housing and land regularization in Vila Recanto II, Sobral – CE

The constitution of the owner subject in the neoliberal discourse of land regularization.

The constitution of the owner subject in the neoliberal discourse of land regularization.

Challenges of Land Regularization in Unplanned Peri-urban Settlements in Tanzania

Land regularization has been implemented in Tanzania to promote formal land rights through the issuance of certificates of right of occupancy to land owners in unplanned settlements in peri-urban areas. However, information on challenges in the implementation of land regularization and the extent of issuance of the certificates of right of occupancy (CRO) to land owners in these settlements remains a grey area. A study to explore the challenges of land regularization and the extent of the issuance of certificates of right of occupancy was carried out in two peri-urban areas, Kimara and Buhongwa wards, in the cities of Dar es Salaam and Mwanza, respectively. A total of 441 households were involved in the study. Data were collected through a household questionnaire, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in data analysis. Findings indicate that the major challenges of land regularization were bureaucracy in the issuance of rights of occupancy, high costs in the issuance of formal land rights, and conflicts on the demarcation of land parcels for public use. A significant relationship (P<0.05) between felt challenge and socio-economic and demographic variables (education, age, and ward location) was also observed. The findings further indicate that the issuance of CROs was low and varied depending on location. Kimara Ward in Dar es Salaam City was relatively more disadvantaged than Buhongwa Ward. To mitigate these challenges, researchers recommend devolution of power to the local institutions at the ward and sub-ward level. This can reduce bureaucracy and can capture and contextualize people’s aspirations during early planning processes.

Land regularization in housing complexes in Natal/RN

Resumo O processo desordenado de urbanização do Brasil resultou em problemáticas que persistem até o século XXI, como é o caso da irregularidade fundiária. Essa irregularidade está presente até mesmo em conjuntos habitacionais edificados a partir do poder público, a exemplo de parte dos construídos pela Companhia de Habitação Popular do Rio Grande do Norte (COHAB-RN) em Natal. Este trabalho investiga a contribuição da parceria entre o Governo do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte, a partir da Companhia Estadual de Habitação e Desenvolvimento Urbano (CEHAB), e a Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido (UFERSA) para a superação da irregularidade fundiária de conjuntos habitacionais implantados pela COHAB em Natal/RN. Para tanto, analisaram-se os produtos desta colaboração entre 2018 e abril de 2022. Esta parceria resultou na emissão de títulos do conjunto Eldorado em 2021, do Gramoré e do Nova Natal em 2022, transformando o quadro de irregularidade fundiária contido nesses desde as décadas de 1980 e 1990. A regularização fundiária coopera para a efetivação do direito à cidade e da moradia adequada, à medida que possibilita acesso a recursos, garante segurança jurídica, propicia planejamento e destinação de ações de melhoria da qualidade de vida e ambiental.

Urban mapping and impacts assessment in a Brazilian irregular settlement using UAV-based imaging

Remote sensing methods has been commonly used by urban planners for irregular settlement management, however, they can be expensive considering the financial resources context of some cities. In Brazil, from the legal and planning perspective, irregular urban occupations need to be regularized to become an effective part of the city. In order to initialize the regularization process, Brazilian legislation requires a complete georeferenced planialtimetric survey, mapping constructions, properties boundaries, existing urban infrastructure and environment features (for impacts assessment). Given this context, we conducted an assessment to the potentialities of using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) products to map a favela located in the Brazilian city São José do Rio Preto (São Paulo State). From UAV image acquisition, an orthomosaic (3.2 cm2/pixel), a digital surface model (DSM), a digital terrain model (DTM) and topographic contours were built. These products were used to provide the essentials requirements for subsidizing urban land regularization, being promising for environmental and social impacts identification such as deforestation, soil erosion, irregular waste and sewage disposal and lack of basic infrastructure. The use of UAV proved to be an efficient and low-cost alternative compared to the conventional aerial survey and commercial high-resolution satellite images.

Production and selection of accessions of Opuntia spp. with resistance to false carmine cochineal

The genetic improvement program for Opuntia spp. aims to select new genotypes to meet the demands of rural producers in the Brazilian Semiarid region and to expand the genetic base of the crop. The aim of this study was to select accessions of Opuntia spp. with foraging potential and resistance to false cochineal carmine. The research was carried out at the Active Germplasm Bank (BAG) of Opuntia spp. of Paraíba Company Research, Rural Extension and Land Regularization (EMPAER), Pendência Experimental Station, Soledade, Paraíba, Brazil. Accessions were cultivated in rainfed and evaluated in August 2019, 12 months after the implementation of the BAG. The measurement of the Total Green Mass weight of the plants of 121 accessions of the BAG was carried out and the productivity (ton/ha-1) was estimated in a dense cultivation of 100 thousand plants/ha-1. The accessions of Opuntia spp. nº 10, 110, 115 and 119 have growing potential in the Brazilian Semiarid region, as a function of productivity (532.6, 118, 164 and 481 tons/ha-1, respectively) and resistance to false carmine cochineal, in addition to genetic divergence (specific agronomic characteristics) in relation to currently cultivated varieties.

Implication of Land Regularization in Accessing Credits from Financial Institutions in Tanzania

A linkage between land regularization and access to credit has been a policy priority in developing countries including Tanzania. However, formal credit markets in these countries are underdeveloped and expectations that land titling through land regularization improves access to credit are muted. A study to examine the implication of land regularization in accessing credit from formal financial institutions in Tanzania was carried out in two areas of Kimara and Buhongwa Wards in cities of Dar es salaam and Mwanza respectively. Data were collected through household questionnaire survey and key informant interviews. A total of 450 respondents were involved in this study. The regression model was used to estimate credit access from financial institutions. Findings observed insignificant implication to credit access mainly because most land owners with certificate of right occupancy had no enabling environment to link legally documented plots with the formal financial institutions to support household activation of investment on land. We also found that land owners issued with certificate of right of occupancy felt that, lack of collateral was a major stumbling block for formal credit access. We conclude that there is a need to restructure the financial plans to get coordinated and/or integrated with plans to regularize land and structure strategies to mitigate risks from households and/or firms and financial institutions to enhance household to access formal credits and activation of investments on land in regularized areas.

Challenges of Regularisation of Informal Land Holdings in Lagos Mainland, Nigeria

This study investigated the regularization of informal land in Lagos Mainland in order to identify the challenges that are militating against formalization of such holdings. The objectives were to identify all areas that can be regularized by the public authority, to examine the factors militating against public efforts on informal land holders within Lagos-Mainland. The study was conducted with a survey of residents of Odogunyan-WAEC acquisition land community. A second survey was carried out for all professionals in the field of Town Planning, Estate Management and Valuation who were staff of the Directorate of Land Department in the Lagos State Lands Bureau. The data were analyzed mainly with descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Findings showed that factors such as high land charges by the government, complexity of modern methods of land holdings, increased rent seeking behavior, high land values, were considered as problems that hindered residents from formalization. Reducing the charges attached to land regularization is expected to have significant positive impact in Lagos State in general.

Twenty Years of the National Protected Areas System: are Brazilian National Parks achieving their legal objectives?

Among the policies for the creation of protected areas, the "Park" category is the best known worldwide. In Brazil, the national parks are important areas for the conservation of biodiversity and for ecotourism, but twenty years after the enactment of the law that regulates the National System of Protected Areas, there is no clear scenario of the National Parks' current situation regarding the fulfillment of their legal objectives. Aiming to understand this scenario in the six main Brazilian biomes, we evaluated variables related to: level of land regularization, existence and updating of management plans, number of authorized scientific research studies, variation in the number of visitors, development of recreation activities, ecotourism, and existence of an Advisory Council. For all biomes, the results regarding the legal objectives' attainment are negative, mostly in terms of land regularization, with the worst results being found in the Caatinga biome < 2% of the area within parks regularized. We concluded that only in specific cases the legal objectives of these protected areas are being accomplished and, therefore, if we keep the pace and the implementation and management policies of the last 20 years, the outlook is pessimistic for the conservation of Brazilian biodiversity.

Problems Associated with Informal Settlements in a Planned Neighborhood; A Study of Eagle Island of Port Harcourt, Rivers State Nigeria.

Abstract: This study examined the problems associated with informal settlements in a planned neighborhood, using Eagle Island Port Harcourt, Rivers State as a study area. To achieve the objectives of this study, a detailed literature was reviewed on informal settlement. The study adopted survey research design as 120 structured questionnaires were designed and administered, eventually, 100 valid responses collected formed the data for analysis. The obtained data came from Eagle Island residents, officials of ministries of lands, Urban Development and Lecturers of Urban and Regional Planning in Rivers State University. In the course of the study it was discovered that the nature and conditions of existed informal settlements were identified as natural ageing of the building, poor sanitation within the vicinity, and poor health condition of the residents. The major associated problems of informal settlements as exposed by the study included increase in illness, forceful eviction, overcrowding, lack of privacy, low quality houses and uncontrolled development, marginality generation and exclusion of the vulnerable, structures demolition without prior notice and without adequate compensation. This study was restricted to Eagle Island Neighborhood, Port Harcourt, Rivers State and the selection of Eagle Island was mainly influenced by accessibility of the researcher and the recent forceful eviction and demolition of structures by the Rivers State Government, consequently the findings of this research will be taken as a representative for the entire country. The study provides detailed comprehensive propoor strategies which will contribute to the integration of informal settlements into a planned neighborhood to include poverty reduction strategies, site and services housing schemes, land regularization, provision of array basic facilities, comprehensive housing schemes and provision of public rental housing alongside the planned development. The study thus recommended that low income housing alongside comprehensive housing scheme should be provided. Similarly there should be provision of low cost public rental housing, provision of interventions in the housing sector among others. Keywords: Informal Settlements, Planned neighborhood, Eagle Island