Download file (588.14 KB)Like many of its neighbors, Tanzania is experiencing a well-documented surge of land grabbing related to investments in industries such as agriculture, biofuels, tourism, hunting, and forestry. Land grabbing in Tanzania is best understood and analyzed as both a symptom of and contributor towards wider political economic processes of change occurring in Tanzania. These changes involve the collapse of single-party hegemony of the ruling party and affiliated elites, the increasing influence of civil society and media organs, and a more open and participatory public political and policy discourse. This paper attempts to contextualize land grabbing within these contemporary macro-political transformations, and to examine how these shifts are shaping land grabs at a variety of local and regional scales with their diverse causes and drivers. The case studies demonstrate the way that new pluralist dynamics in Tanzania are creating new opportunities for local mobilization and resistance and greater agency for influencing the outcome of land disputes.
Authors and Publishers
Fred Nelson, Emmanuel Sulle and Edward Lekaita
African Land Policy Centre (ALPC)
The African Land Policy Centre, formerly called the Land Policy Initiative (LPI), is a joint programme of the tripartite consortium consisting of the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Its purpose is to enable the use of land to lend impetus to the process of African development. The programme is governed by a Steering Committee that meets periodically, while a joint secretariat implements day to day activities. The secretariat is assisted by an African Taskforce on Land.
African Land Policy Centre (ALPC)
The African Land Policy Centre, formerly called the Land Policy Initiative (LPI), is a joint programme of the tripartite consortium consisting of the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Its purpose is to enable the use of land to lend impetus to the process of African development. The programme is governed by a Steering Committee that meets periodically, while a joint secretariat implements day to day activities. The secretariat is assisted by an African Taskforce on Land.
Data provider
Maliasili Initiatives (Maliasili)
Maliasili Initiatives is a non-profit organization that supports the growth, development and performance of leading civil society organizations working to advance sustainable natural resource management practices in Africa.