Governance of land

Many conflicts occurring today all over the world are still related to land issues. These land tenure related conflicts can be classified in three main categories according to their origin:

• A very unequal distribution of land. This is a situation that calls for the implementation of agrarian reforms.

• An insecure access to land or to resources: non-recognition of customary rights, access to land not secured for the farmers renting land or for the sharecroppers, precarious rights for those who exploit natural resources…

• The claims from social or ethnic groups for recognition of their right to exercise over a territory. The case of indigenous people demanding the recognition of their land tenure rights is a typical situation. But cases also occur of demands bound to historical backgrounds, sometimes including religious or cultural connotations.

These observations call for three major questions related to the governance of land resources :

• How to secure the users’ rights?

• How to ensure that access to land complies with the interest of the majority of the population?

• How to manage territories as well as possible in the general interest?

Read the dossier Governance of land on AGTER, an association to contribute to improve the governance of land, water and natural resources

This dossier is also available in french and spanish.