Includes country context, legal and institutional frameworks, 4 case studies. The new government of South Sudan has begun promoting large-scale private investments as a shortcut to rapid economic development. Recent major land deals threaten to undermine the land rights of local communities.
5 briefs analyse the roots of African land tenure systems, recent policy trends and the phenomenon of large scale land acquisitions.
Includes land reform and customary tenure in sub-Saharan Africa: a brief review; methodology; the statutory underpinnings of large-scale land acquisition; land acquisition in practice: evidence from case-study countries – Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia; discussion and conclusions – legal protection of customary rights, customary rights in the context of large-scale land acquisitions, evide
Includes the approach of this study; land and governance; large-scale land deals; open door policy and land to investors; land deals; processes and outcomes; findings from Gambella Region and Bako Woreda in Oromia Region; conclusions; partial list of large-scale land transfers in Ethiopia; notes on Ethiopia’s administration.
Contains country context, study of land investment, benefits and impacts. Finds wide discrepancies between public positions and laws and what is happening on the ground, an absence of environmental controls, widespread displacement from farmland without compensation, little local benefit, many land deals involve small-scale investors with limited agricultural experience.
A surprising number of large-scale land acquisitions have taken place in Southern Sudan in recent years. Presents preliminary data on Central and Western Equatoria, examining company-community engagement and the extent to which communities are being involved. Presents a number of case studies illustrating the complex interplay between cultural sovereignty and post-war reconstruction.
Includes situation prior to acquisition, contract negotiations, employment, environmental impacts, crop production, ancillary services, responsibilities of key actors – the international community, national governments, local governments, communities and civil society, domestic and international investors.
Includes overview of phases of land deals and their gender implications, further evidence using recent case studies from Indonesia and Mozambique, promising initiatives and recommendations, identification of knowledge gaps.
An analysis of the gendered impacts of commercial pressures on land, based on a review of the literature and ILC’s country case studies, including Ethiopia, Zambia, Rwanda and Benin.
Covers world agriculture, a changing context; scale and geography of the phenomenon, key players; the nature of the land deals, process and terms; implications for local land access; conclusion and recommendations.
