This is the first in a series of briefs about modern African land tenure that provides up-to-date analysis on the status of customary land rights in Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of the series is to inform and help to structure advocacy and action aimed at challenging the weak legal status of customary land rights in many African countries. The focus of the five briefs is the tenure status of naturally collective resources such as forests, rangelands, marshlands and other uncultivated lands. Governments often regard such lands as un-owned public lands or state property, making them particularly vulnerable to involuntary loss. A premise of this series is that most of these lands are rightfully the property of rural communities, in accordance with customary norms. This conflict of claim and interest directly affects most rural Africans and among whom 75 percent still live on less than US$2 a day.1 As affirmed by international development agencies, the poorer the household the greater its dependence on off-farm natural resources.2 Just as importantly, many African rural poor no longer have sufficient access to farmlands to compensate for the loss of their collective lands. This first brief provides a general background to customary land tenure today. A main conclusion is that this form of tenure represents the major tenure regime on the continent and one which is vibrantly active. This is not least because it is community-based and thus easily attuned to the concerns of present-day communities. Changes in customary land tenure also reflect often January | 2012 Liz Alden Wily* inequitable trends, including accelerating class formation and the concentration of landholding. Such trends, which jeopardize the rights of the majority poor, are increasingly having a direct effect on precious local common resources such as forests. Advocates must seek to ensure that land reforms are structured with the interests of poor majorities in mind.

Customary Land Tenure in the Modern World: Rights to Resources in Crisis – Reviewing the Fate of Customary Tenure in Africa – Brief #1 of 5

Resource Key: E5RM5UBL

Document Type: Report

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Author:

  • Liz Alden Wily

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Place: Washington D.C.

Institution: Rights + Resources Intiative (RRI)

Date: January 2012

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This is the first in a series of briefs about modern African land tenure that provides up-to-date analysis on the status of customary land rights in Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of the series is to inform and help to structure advocacy and action aimed at challenging the weak legal status of customary land rights in many African countries. The focus of the five briefs is the tenure status of naturally collective resources such as forests, rangelands, marshlands and other uncultivated lands. Governments often regard such lands as un-owned public lands or state property, making them particularly vulnerable to involuntary loss. A premise of this series is that most of these lands are rightfully the property of rural communities, in accordance with customary norms. This conflict of claim and interest directly affects most rural Africans and among whom 75 percent still live on less than US$2 a day.1 As affirmed by international development agencies, the poorer the household the greater its dependence on off-farm natural resources.2 Just as importantly, many African rural poor no longer have sufficient access to farmlands to compensate for the loss of their collective lands. This first brief provides a general background to customary land tenure today. A main conclusion is that this form of tenure represents the major tenure regime on the continent and one which is vibrantly active. This is not least because it is community-based and thus easily attuned to the concerns of present-day communities. Changes in customary land tenure also reflect often January | 2012 Liz Alden Wily* inequitable trends, including accelerating class formation and the concentration of landholding. Such trends, which jeopardize the rights of the majority poor, are increasingly having a direct effect on precious local common resources such as forests. Advocates must seek to ensure that land reforms are structured with the interests of poor majorities in mind.

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