Post Type: Article

According to a new research report from the Enough Project, there is a brief open window for peace to take root in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The DRC conflict, which has lasted for over two decades, has left more than 6 million people dead, displaced countless others within DRC and throughout the region, and has led to trans-boundary regional conflict. The report recommends that the keys to forming a credible peace process include: 1) incentives for DRC and its neighbors to cooperate on economic, security, and refugee issues; 2) institutional reforms that allow for democratic transformation; and 3) repercussions for those who have committed mass atrocities.

The report’s authors point out that governments in the region sponsored armed groups to extract or control natural resources such as land, minerals, and smuggling routes. It recommends that land conflicts must be resolved as part of the national democratic reform process; “Armed groups are taking over large tracts of land in eastern Congo, displacing more than 2 million people. Congolese military commanders and militia leaders have set up cattle ranches and other businesses on these properties. Some of them occupy the land as squatters, and others obtained titles to land from successive national governments… A land commission should be set up, investigations should be conducted on land titling, the national land law should be reviewed, and land-reform proposals should be discussed in a national dialogue.”

The Dodd-Frank Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 2010 included a provision that requires U.S. companies to examine their product supply chain for the presence of conflict minerals. As a result, says the report, “Armed groups’ profits from these minerals are now significantly lower than their pre-2010 levels, which was the high point for smuggling.” The Inter Press Service News Agency reports that there are new opportunities for the United States government to address mounting conflicts in the DRC. The U.S. House of Representatives will soon consider a bipartisan bill to support a peace deal in DRC, including the creation of a special envoy from the president to the DRC and the surrounding Great Lakes region. In addition, policy makers can also draw on the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security as a tool.

The Land Tenure and Property Rights portal features research on land tenure in DRC as well as research on land tenure and vulnerable populations, including populations that have been displaced by war or civil conflict.

Karol Boudreaux has recently penned this article, Addressing Land Rights Can Make Social Change Possible for the Guardian. USAID is delighted to see an important foundation taking a public and carefully articulated stand on this vital development subject. Ms. Boudreaux correctly notes “The challenge is to expand people’s opportunity to improve their lives by securing their property rights.” This is indeed one of the most fundamental objectives in addressing challenges related to property rights.

“While the right itself is important, what you can do with the right is perhaps more so,” says Dr. Gregory Myers, USAID Division Chief, Land Tenure and Property Rights. “Rights allow you to make more decisions about what you want to do with your assets. Strong rights allow you to take risks, be more entrepreneurial, or withdraw when risks are determined to be too high.” While these rights generate economic and social gains across all segments of society, stronger property rights greatly benefit one vulnerable group in particular: women. Stronger property rights allows women to control assets upon divorce or death of a spouse, exclude men and brothers who might take land from them, and leverage assets for access to investment to increase productivity. As Ms. Boudreaux’s article points out, USAID and its partner Landesa are piloting an innovating model for improving women’s access to customary justice, particularly related to women’s land rights in Kenya.

For a more robust discussion on women and property rights, see this paper from USAID.

The New York Times reported that Greece’s land administration system is a major impediment to economic growth. After a history of occupations, wars, and shifting population centers, less than 7 percent of the country has been properly mapped, while most land transaction records are handwritten and lack clear boundaries or zoning. Property ownership is often unclear, especially in rural areas, and that has led to competing claims for property and a backlog of court cases.

According to the article, “As Greece tries to claw its way out of an economic crisis of historic proportions, one that has left 60 percent of young people without jobs, many experts cite the lack of a proper land registry as one of the biggest impediments to progress. It scares off foreign investors; makes it hard for the state to privatize its assets, as it has promised to do in exchange for bailout money; and makes it virtually impossible to collect property taxes.”

USAID recognizes that clear, secure, and negotiable rights to land and resources are an essential foundation for trade and a key component of a growth-friendly enabling environment.

The vast majority of Liberian citizens – those living in rural communities – are on a path toward having customary land ownership rights recognized for the first time in Liberia’s history. A major milestone in Liberia’s lengthy land tenure reform process was reached on May 21 when the Liberian Land Commission presented President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf with the country’s first-ever Land Rights Policy, which defines Public Land, Government Land, Customary Land, and Private Land, as well as Protected Areas that will be conserved for the benefit of all Liberians.

The Land Rights Policy recognizes that “practice has become the law and policy, rather than the law and policy guiding the practice.” The formulation of the Land Rights Policy was guided by the following principles: secure land rights, economic growth, equitable benefits, equal access, equal protection, environmental protection, clarity, participation and evidence-based. Most significantly, the policy aims to address historic inequalities by recommending that customary lands are given protection equal to that of private lands.

Although the country emerged from a 14-year civil war in 2003, disputes over land and resource rights remain a source of potential conflict. In her remarks at the public ceremony, President Sirleaf said, “By clearly defining the various categories of land and accompanying rights and responsibilities, the Policy will assist in the development of appropriate legal mechanisms and procedures for the resolution of the numerous contentious land disputes.”

According to the new policy, since 1824, “the Government of Liberia has treated all land that is not deeded as public,” regardless of occupancy, historic use, or intended use. As a result, rural communities have often been displaced and dispossessed of their lands while companies were awarded timber, mining and agricultural concessions. The physical occupants of the land were left without a stake in the negotiation process and without the ability to benefit from the proceeds. According to Frank Pichel, Land Tenure and Property Rights Specialist at USAID, “The Liberian land governance system had been largely limited to the urban elite who could access the formal system. With the new land policy, property rights will finally be available to all Liberians.”

True to its principle of participation, the policy was developed through a broad two-year nationwide consultation process that gathered the views of Liberians in every county, including youth and women, the private sector, and international partners. USAID’s Land Policy and Institutional Support (LPIS) Project, which is funded through a Millennium Challenge Corporation Threshold Program and implemented by Tetra Tech with support from Landesa and Thomson Reuters, supported the development of the Land Rights Policy through research on customary tenure and women’s property rights, support to the consultative process and technical support to the Liberian Land Commission.

While finalization of the draft land policy is an important achievement, making improved land governance a reality for all Liberians will require additional measures and political will. As President Sirleaf stated at the National Validation Conference, implementation of the policy will require laws to be changed or repealed, institutions to be restructured, and the public to be educated. Speaking to the assembled delegates from all 15 Liberian counties, she said, “As we try to right the historical wrong, we must all be prepared to be a part of this process, to work for this change, to support the reform process that has brought us to where we are and to make sure that this new Liberia, of which we all speak and which we all want, indeed will ensure the rights to private land, to public land, to government land, and to community land.” The policy will next move to the Land Rights Legal Drafting Team, which will draft laws to send to the Executive and Legislature.

On May 17, Liberian President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will discuss her administration’s goals, her perspective on land rights and land tenure security, and some of the challenges facing Liberia at a Thomson Reuters Newsmaker in Washington DC. A live stream of the event will be available at 2:30 p.m. EDT on May 17.

Land tenure and resource rights are critical issues in Liberia, which emerged from a 14-year civil war in 2003, and where land rights remain a source of conflict. President Sirleaf has acknowledged the importance of improving land and resource governance and made it a priority for her administration. In her annual message to the national legislature in January, she said “the administration and management of land and governance of our natural resources continue to pose major challenges and will become one of our principal areas of concentration during 2013.”

USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), along with partner organization Thomson Reuters, have supported President Sirleaf and the Government of Liberia’s efforts to address land tenure and resource rights through the Liberian Land Policy and Institutional Support (LPIS) project. Through an inclusive and participatory process, LPIS helped develop a National Land Policy that recognizes customary property rights, and also developed a roadmap for the creation of a new land administration entity. While these achievements are notable, much remains to be done. Liberia has a complex land rights environment and the country’s infrastructure and government capacity were weakened by the prolonged civil war. According to Frank Pichel, Land Tenure and Property Rights Specialist, USAID, “President Sirleaf has recognized and prioritized the critical need for reform within land administration, and with the help of leadership at the Land Commission and the Deed Registry, has made significant strides over the last three years.”

As co-chair of the U.N. Secretariat’s High-Level Panel on the post-2015 Global Development Framework agenda, President Sirleaf is playing a leadership role in the development of the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). “We hope that President Sirleaf will take note of the growing support for the inclusion of a land governance indicator that could measure progress towards improved land rights for both women and men in the post-2015 MDGs,” said Dr. Gregory Myers, USAID Division Chief, Land Tenure and Property Rights. As we noted in a previous commentary, comparable land governance indicators would also help document and assess the status of land governance, identify priority areas for improvement, and measure progress over time.

Learn more about land tenure and resource rights in Liberia.

Jonathan White, writing for German Marshal Fund, discusses the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in the context of “Enlightened Capitalism.” Launched in 2012, the New Alliance seeks to lift 50 million people out of poverty in ten years by aligning local country plans, private sector investments, and G8 government commitments behind agriculture and nutrition in Africa. White notes that country ownership and public-private partnerships (PPP) are key to achieving the objectives of the New Alliance.

Overseas Direct Assistance (ODA) rose nearly three-fold in the New Alliance countries from 2000 to 2010, White notes. Public-private partnerships create an opportunity to link development assistance with private investment to achieve larger, more inclusive and broad-based development goals.

Work in Malawi, Ethiopia and Tanzania reveals that PPPs can connect smallholder farmers to markets, through for example, contract farming and benefit sharing models. USAID has advocated these types of models for many years; however, the key to success in the PPPs is the property rights that each partner holds, which in turn dictates who has a seat at the table during the negotiations over benefit sharing. USAID’s new Land Administration to Nurture Development (LAND) program in Ethiopia will push the boundaries of this model even further by securing the property rights of pastoral communities and linking them to private commercial abattoirs.

White correctly notes that each of the existing New Alliance “Cooperation Frameworks,” include commitments to address policy constraints, including for land and gender. In fact, he goes on to say that “Land governance is the weakest link in New Alliance country ownership, potentially threatening support for private sector engagement, and requires prioritizing the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, and the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment.”

Dr. Gregory Myers, USAID Division Chief, Land Tenure and Property Rights says, “It is for this reason that G8 countries, under U.S. leadership in 2012 and under U.K. leadership in 2013 are supporting implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines, including increased transparency in land transactions. Doing so, will create conditions fostering private sector investment for all producers—local smallholders to large scale commercial farms—thus lifting millions from poverty.”

In his conclusions, White argues that for the New Alliance to succeed each partner needs to continue to build trust. Governments need to support “transport, electricity, water, telecommunications, and physical storage, providing stable regulation and property rights…, contributing to research and extension services, and facilitating trade through customs reforms and compliance with international standards.” Governments also need to reduce interference in markets. The private sector needs to focus on creating greater transparency, including in land transactions. White notes that the “mutual accountability” built into the New Alliance Frameworks could also help build greater trust between private and public sector actors.

Strengthening women’s rights to own and inherit property provides them with greater opportunities to generate income and exercise control over family resources, which can improve women’s ability to feed and educate their children. This simple but powerful message is highlighted by Deborah Espinosa’s recent Huffington Post blog In Kenya, Land Rights Bring New Hope for Women and Girls. Espinosa is a senior attorney and land tenure specialist at Landesa, which implements USAID’s Kenya Justice project.

The Kenya Justice project works with local communities and traditional authorities to improve women’s knowledge and practice of their rights, including the rights to own and inherit land and property. One of the project’s notable successes is that local chiefs and elders now require spousal consent (with witnesses) for all land transactions, including leases. The Justice project has also helped to elevate the status of women in the local community. Last year, for the first time, women were elected as tribal elders. As Espinoza notes, “women’s new roles as tribal elders and managers of family resources are creating a virtuous cycle – reinforcing the need for girls to be educated so they can assume important family and community responsibilities just like their brothers.”

The virtuous cycle has begun to produce tangible results. This year, for the first time, the number of girls enrolled in the local secondary school is almost equal to the number of boys, where boys had once outnumbered girls 3 to 1.

This week marks the first anniversary of the adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (commonly referred to as the VGs) by the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS). The VGs are an international soft law instrument that outline principles and practices to which governments can refer when making laws and administering land, fisheries and forest rights.

The VGs are intended to: create a better environment for investments in agriculture, reduce land-related conflicts, recognize the rights of women, promote improved natural resource management, and address challenges related to global climate change. As Dr. Patrice Talla, Legal Officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), noted in a paper presented at the Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2013, “By providing an effective basis for the governance tenure of land, fisheries and forests, the Guidelines provide a realistic method for achieving food security and protecting human rights by allowing vulnerable communities to ensure their own livelihoods through protecting their rights to their natural resources.”

Over the past year, the VGs have received increasing media attention and global recognition, including at the 2012 G8, G20 and Rio+20 meetings. The UN General Assembly has also encouraged countries to consider adopting the VGs. As awareness of the VGs continues to increase, demand for implementation is rising. As of April 2013, FAO had received requests for technical assistance to implement the VGs from 22 countries. “The real value of the Guidelines will, however, be determined by their contribution to changes in the lives and livelihoods of men and women around the globe, and particularly of the vulnerable and marginalized,” according to Andrew Hilton, Senior Land Tenure Officer at FAO.

In order to make improved land governance a reality, many organizations, including USAID, are working to support implementation of the VGs. FAO has become a focal point for implementation and has initiated a four-year program, which focuses on raising awareness of the VGs, developing capacity building tools, supporting countries with implementation, strengthening partnerships, and monitoring and evaluation. These capacity building tools will include technical guides and e-learning courses. The first of these technical guides, Governing Land for Women and Men, which focuses on the achievement of responsible gender-equitable governance of land tenure, was published earlier this year.

More recently, “under UK leadership, the G8 in 2013 is again focusing on implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines, and importantly, on creating more transparency around large-scale land transactions. G8 members are very serious about addressing land issues as they relate to food security and nutrition” says Dr. Gregory Myers, USAID Division Chief, Land Tenure and Property Rights.

Read more information on the Voluntary Guidelines from USAID.

Global climate change cannot be addressed effectively through Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) without addressing land tenure and property rights systems. Critics of REDD+ initiatives fear that it could undermine indigenous and local claims as national governments enforce their central authority over forests.

USAID’s issue brief on Land Tenure and REDD+ identifies land tenure as the foundation for REDD+ success. The brief identifies critical challenges to REDD+ readiness and key priorities to ensure that REDD+ contributes to tenure security. Critical challenges include defining stakeholders, defining rights, and establishing responsibilities.

Political will to address land tenure and governance at both the national and local levels is crucial. Without clearly defining the rights of local stakeholders to participate in the governance of forests and share in the benefits from REDD+ management, there is a fear that the benefits from REDD+ will be captured mostly by central governments and political elites. Local stakeholders whose rights and claims are not adequately considered in REDD+ planning and implementation may continue to practice land uses that ultimately negate any additional carbon sequestered through REDD+ projects.

The right to full and effective participation will be challenged by REDD+ efforts being coordinated at the national level, which may prioritize expediency, statutory law, and centralization. Meanwhile, the right to benefit from carbon transactions is ill-defined, as is the responsibility to manage and protect forests. These challenges must be tackled by national governments in the early stages of REDD+ readiness. Rights of different stakeholders must be clarified and contesting claims managed prior to establishing REDD+ in an area.

In order to ensure that REDD+ contributes to tenure security, the issue brief recommends three priorities:

• Find the proper blend of centralization and decentralization to coordinate activities, reduce transaction costs, avoid corruption, and protect rights;
• Validate overlapping rights to trees, water, pastures, and sub-soils claimed by multiple stakeholders;
• Utilize standards as a tool for safeguarding rights in forest carbon projects.

See here for more information on land tenure and climate change.

In April, the U.N. Committee on Food Security (CFS) released the Zero Draft of the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) in the Context of Food Security and Nutrition. The release of the RAI Zero Draft marks an important step in the process toward the adoption of a framework that will guide national regulations, international investment agreements, global corporate social responsibility initiatives, and individual investor contracts covering all types of investment in agriculture.

Greater investment in agriculture is essential for enhancing food security and nutrition, particularly in a global environment faced with dwindling natural resources, increasing populations, and the effects of global climate change. In order for food systems to meet present and future challenges, increased investment in agriculture is required. The RAI will provide a framework to help ensure that investment in agriculture is transparent, responsible, environmentally sustainable, and contributes to inclusive growth and poverty reduction.

The RAI – much like the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security adopted in 2012 – require an inclusive, participatory consultation process to develop a relevant, broadly validated set of principles that can effectively guide laws and policies. The U.S. Government (USG) recognizes the importance of promoting responsible agricultural investment and is supporting the RAI’s inclusive consultation and validation process. The USG, along with representatives from other governments, the private sector and civil society, will be participating in regional multi-stakeholder consultations on the RAI later this year. Input from these regional consultations will be used to inform the next draft of the RAI, due out in early 2014. There will then be negotiations to finalize the draft principles, which will be submitted for endorsement to the CFS in October 2014.

More information was presented at the 2013 World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty in a paper by Christina Blank, Chair of the Open-Ended Working Group and Permanent Representation of Switzerland to FAO, IFAD and WFP.