Land consolidation on Ghana's rural customary lands: Drawing from The Dutch, Lithuanian and Rwandan experiences

Asiama, K.O.; Bennett, Rohan; Zevenbergen, J.A.

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.09.007

Cited by 70 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…This notwithstanding, the Nanton-Na (Chief of Nanton) has set up a Customary Land Secretariat (CLS) to assist with the management of the lands. However, since the LTR has no procedures for registering the customary interests, the CLS only focuses on the leasehold which are mostly held in residential properties, leaving out farm parcels which are mostly held in customary interests [5].…”

Section: The Area Of Interestmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An interview was first conducted with land registration officers and land surveyors of the Lands Commission of Ghana to ascertain the ascertain statutory land registration and survey process. The researcher together with the two groups, identified the land tenure arrangement in the form found by Asiama et al [5]. The Traditional Authority, the Farmers' Association and the researcher then used to develop the process of the mapping and recording of the land rights, with the researcher applying the inputs from the interview with the Lands Commission to align the developed process to the statutory process, and the former groups providing inputs on the local land administration.…”

Section: The Practical Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper focuses on the collection of land information to support land consolidation. The dearth of land information on Sub-Saharan Africa's rural customary lands has been shown to be one of the militating factors to undertaking land consolidation in the area [5]. This paper presents an experiment into a proposed approach to land administration on customary lands to support responsible land consolidation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Participatory Land Administration on Customary Lands: A Practical VGI Experiment in Nanton, Ghana

Asiama

Bennett

Zevenbergen

2017

IJGI

Self Cite

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Land information is one of the basic requirements for land management activities such as land consolidation. However, the dearth of land information on customary lands limits the development and application of land consolidation. This paper presents and discusses the results of an experiment carried out to test the potential of participatory land administration applied on customary lands in support of land consolidation. A brief overview of the evolution of crowdsourced, voluntary, and participatory approaches is provided alongside newly related insights into neogeography and neo-cadastre, and fit-for-purpose and pro-poor land administration. The concept of participatory land administration is then developed in this context. The area of the experiment is in Northern Ghana where the process was developed together with the local farming community. The study involved collecting land information relating to farms over a two-week period, using a mobile app and a satellite image, based on participatory land administration. The results show that Participatory Land Administration can potentially support land consolidation, though further investigation is needed on how it can be integrated into the formal land registration system, into an actual land consolidation project. mostly because first, their pace is very slow in relation to the urgency of the results. Secondly, they have been too expensive, leaving them out of the reach of most citizens. Thirdly, these approaches have largely failed to integrate all forms of land tenure arrangements, especially secondary and customary land rights. The outcome is that parts of the community are left vulnerable to land grabs, contentious land disputes, limited investment in land, and increase in food insecurity. In response, calls for pro-poor and fit-for-purpose approaches to land administration have emerged [7,8]. These approaches, that seek to adapt local needs and circumstances in tandem with legitimate and acceptable social, cultural, and institutional practices, are described by de Vries et al. [9] as responsible approaches.Advances in responsible approaches usually consider new ways through which different forms of legitimate land rights can be recorded and documented on one hand; and on the other hand, explore how emerging and cutting edge technologies in geospatial sciences offer faster and cheaper options for spatial data collection. New insights into documenting all forms of land rights have been made by the continuum of land rights by the GLTN [10], and several studies in customary and informal land rights [6,11,12]. On the part of spatial data collection, emerging and cutting edge technologies have advanced new approaches to land administration in the form of crowdsourcing, voluntary geographic information (VGI), and neo-cadastres. These technologies include the use of old map documents, high resolution satellite images (HRSI), tools based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as well as smart technologies such as Automatic Featu...

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Section: The Area Of Interestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Practical Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Participatory Land Administration on Customary Lands: A Practical VGI Experiment in Nanton, Ghana

Asiama

Bennett

Zevenbergen

2017

IJGI

Self Cite

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“…The indigenous members/groups have a lifelong right of use and access to the land by virtue of their membership of the land-owning group for their own use (Customary Freehold) [19,35,36]. The non-indigenous members, such as settlers and migrants in the area, may also be allocated a parcel of land subject to the land being vacant and the beneficiary's respect for the community's traditions and customs [37]. Though citizenship of a traditional area is conventionally based on the endeavors and the privileges of one's ancestors, and the resulting uterine lineage, Boni [38] describes situations in the cocoa growing regions of the country where settlers claim membership of the indigenous land-owning group as citizens (as opposed to being "strangers") due to their long stay in the area, as well as their participation and contribution to the group.…”

Section: Customary Landsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main method of public land acquisition in Ghana is through compulsory land acquisition [37,40]. The 1992 constitution of Ghana defines public or state land as "any land vested in the government in trust for, and on behalf of the people of Ghana for the public service of Ghana, and any other land acquired in public interest for the purposes of the Government of Ghana" [41].…”

Section: Customary Landsmentioning

confidence: 99%

In the Land of the Dammed: Assessing Governance in Resettlement of Ghana’s Bui Dam Project

Asiama

Lengoiboni

Molen

2017

Land

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Resettlement resulting from dam construction has raised several concerns due to the negative aftermath impacts. In Ghana, the construction of three hydroelectric dams resulted in large-scale resettlements. Given the little experience that Ghana has in resettlements, it is necessary for a robust monitoring structure for resettlements. However, this was not available in the last resettlement undertaken for the Bui Dam Project. This paper aims at developing an assessment framework for monitoring resettlement activities on customary lands from a good governance perspective. Based on four good governance principles, transparency, public participation and inclusiveness, equity and rule of law and accountability, a good governance assessment framework is built and applied to the Bui Dam Project using a case study approach. Data were collected through interviews and focus group discussion with the key actors of the resettlement project. It was first found that the planning stage of the resettlement came out with a robust plan that was to prevent the impoverishment of the affected persons. However, in the implementation of the resettlement, not all good governance principles were adhered to. In conclusion, it was found that by deconstructing the resettlement process with a good governance framework, the problematic areas of the resettlement can be effectively differentiated between the planning and implementation phases.

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Zoning management framework for comprehensive land consolidation in oasis rural in arid area: Case study of the Ugan‐Kuqa River Delta Oasis in Xinjiang, China

Ma,

Li,

Wang

et al. 2023

Land Degrad Dev

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Comprehensive land consolidation (CLC) is a strategy to promote the intensive, efficient, and sustainable use of land, and is of great significance in repairing degraded land in oases, reversing the decline of the countryside, and activating multiple values of land use. However, how to scientifically assess and zoning management of CLC in dryland oases remains an open question. In this study, a comprehensive analytical framework was established to assess the characteristics of land‐use transformation and the potential for CLC using remotely sensed and geospatial data and spatial analysis methods, a multi‐objective territorial differentiation model, and collaborative path for CLC in oasis villages was proposed. The following key results were obtained. (1) From 2009 to 2018, urban and rural settlements in the hinterland of the Weiku Oasis expanded by 40 km2, and shrub forests and grasslands in the oasis‐desert transition zone shrank substantially by 21.13 km2. The newly cultivated farmland in the oasis‐desert transition zone only offset 62.9% of the occupied farmland in the hinterland of the oasis. (2) The pattern of comprehensive rural land consolidation potential in the Weiku Oasis was consistent with territorial differentiation, with a gradient decrease from the hinterland of the oasis to the desert. The average potential for Comprehensive land consolidation (PCLC) index was 0.31. (3) Three consolidation priorities and six consolidation types were identified for the proposal of 14 combined modes of CLC. Territorial differentiation with respect to the combined modes was discussed. Overall, this study provides useful insights for promoting efficient and sustainable utilization of oasis land resources and implementing zoning management.

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Land consolidation on Ghana's rural customary lands: Drawing from The Dutch, Lithuanian and Rwandan experiences

Cited by 70 publications

References 58 publications

Participatory Land Administration on Customary Lands: A Practical VGI Experiment in Nanton, Ghana

Participatory Land Administration on Customary Lands: A Practical VGI Experiment in Nanton, Ghana

In the Land of the Dammed: Assessing Governance in Resettlement of Ghana’s Bui Dam Project

Zoning management framework for comprehensive land consolidation in oasis rural in arid area: Case study of the Ugan‐Kuqa River Delta Oasis in Xinjiang, China

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