Securing land and property rights in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of local institutions

Toulmin, Camilla

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.07.006

Cited by 285 publications

(236 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…It is reported that although the incidence of titling is higher in East and Southern Africa, titling does not necessarily provide sufficient tenure security in these regions (Toulmin 2008). In addition, the critiques point to the dangers of such programs in aggravating socioeconomic inequalities.…”

Section: The Land Formalization Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

Unlocking Land Markets and Infrastructure Provision

Bah

Faye

Geh

2018

Housing Market Dynamics in Africa

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This chapter focuses on the challenges and opportunities related to the provision of land and infrastructure for affordable housing. It drills down on three key challenges impeding the supply of affordable housing in Africa: poor land governance and weak management systems; the multiplicity of conflicting land tenure regimes; and the rapid growth of low-density, informal residential developments, leading to urban sprawl in peri-urban areas. The chapter also argues that the provision of basic infrastructure, especially transport infrastructure, not only shapes cities, but is also an important determinant of housing affordability, particularly for low-income families.

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Section: The Land Formalization Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

Unlocking Land Markets and Infrastructure Provision

Bah

Faye

Geh

2018

Housing Market Dynamics in Africa

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“…Many of these traditional systems are now in transition to more formal systems in which common property becomes state property managed by government authorities, private property owned by individuals, or-less commonly-common property officially possessed and managed by a defined community of users through a formal legal agreement (Galvin 2009;Lane 1998;Toulmin 2009). 25 In still other cases the state may have formal control over an area but lack the capacity to manage it effectively; much of the Sahel is "state property" in a formal sense, but the state has little influence over resource rights or use (Turner, personal observation).…”

Section: Pivotal Issues and Conceptual Advancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rangeland Systems in Developing Nations: Conceptual Advances and Societal Implications

Coppock

Fernández‐Giménez

Hiernaux

et al. 2017

Springer Series on Environmental Management

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Developing-country rangelands are vast and diverse. They are home to millions who are often poor, politically marginalized, and dependent on livestock for survival. Here we summarize our experiences from six case-study sites in subSaharan Africa, central Asia, and Latin America generally covering the past 25 years. We examine issues pertaining to population, natural resource management, climate, land use, livestock marketing, social conflict, and pastoral livelihoods. The six study sites differ with respect to human and livestock population dynamics and This chapter is dedicated to the memory of an exemplary international rangeland scientist, Thomas L. Thurow (1955Thurow ( -2016. the resulting pressures on natural resources. Environmental degradation, however, has been commonly observed. Climate change is also having diverse systemic effects often related to increasing aridity. As rangelands become more economically developed pastoral livelihoods may diversify, food security can improve, and commercial livestock production expands, but wealth stratification widens. Some significant upgrades in rural infrastructure and public service delivery have occurred; telecommunications are markedly improved overall due to widespread adoption of mobile phones. Pressures from grazing, farming, mining, and other land usescombined with drought-can ignite local conflicts over resources, although the intensity and scope of conflicts markedly varies across our case-study sites. Pastoralists and their herds have become more sedentary overall due to many factors, and this can undermine traditional risk-management tactics based on mobility. Remote rangelands still offer safe havens for insurgents, warlords, and criminals especially in countries where policing remains weak; the resulting civil strife can undermine commerce and public safety. There has been tremendous growth in knowledge concerning developing-country rangelands since 1990, but this has not often translated into improved environmental stewardship or an enhanced wellbeing for rangeland dwellers. Some examples of demonstrable impact are described, and these typically have involved longer-term investments in capacity building for pastoralists, local professionals, and other stakeholders. Research is shifting from ecologically centered to more human-centered issues; traditional academic approaches are often being augmented with participatory, community-based engagement. Building human or social capital in ways that are integrated with improved natural resource stewardship offers the greatest returns on research investment. Our future research and outreach priorities include work that fortifies pastoral governance, enhances livelihoods for a diverse array of rangeland residents, and improves land and livestock management in a comprehensive social-ecological systems approach. Keywords IntroductionIn this chapter we focus on rangelands of the developing world. By rangelands we refer to landscapes-largely unsuitable for sustained cultivation-providing forage, water, ...

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“…We thereby test the hypothesis that good institutions are likely to facilitate coordination and cooperation reducing social conflicts among households in a community (Bellows and Miguel 2009;Toulmin 2009) and consequently promote private investments, thereby increasing household adaptive capacity. If in contrast, good institutions reduce the incentive for investments due to free riding for example, the coefficients will be negative.…”

Section: Association Between Ac Adoption and Local Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation of agriculture to climate change in semi-arid Borena, Ethiopia

Ng’ang’a

Wijk

Rufino³

2016

Reg Environ Change

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Livestock production is very risky due to climate variability in semi-arid Sub-Saharan Africa. Using data collected from 400 households in the Borena zone of the Oromia Region, we explored what drives adoption of agricultural practices that can decrease the vulnerability of agro-pastoralists to climate change. Households with more adaptive capacity adopted a larger number of practices. The households' adaptive capacity was stronger when the quality of local institutions was high. However, adaptive capacity had less explanatory power in explaining adoption of adaptation options than household socio-economic characteristics, suggesting that aggregating information into one indicator of adaptive capacity for site-specific studies may not help to explain the adoption behaviour of households. Strong local institutions lead to changes in key household-level characteristics (like membership to community groups, years lived in a village, access to credit, financial savings and crop income) which positively affect adoption of agricultural practices. In addition, better local institutions were also positively related to adoption of livestock-related adaptation practices. Poor access to a tarmac road was positively related to intensification and diversification of crop production, whereas it was negatively related to the intensification of livestock production, an important activity for generating cash in the region. Our findings suggest that better local institutions lead to changes in household characteristics, which positively affect adoption of adaptation practices, suggesting that policies should aim to strengthen local institutions.

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Securing land and property rights in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of local institutions

Cited by 285 publications

References 16 publications

Unlocking Land Markets and Infrastructure Provision

Unlocking Land Markets and Infrastructure Provision

Rangeland Systems in Developing Nations: Conceptual Advances and Societal Implications

Adaptation of agriculture to climate change in semi-arid Borena, Ethiopia

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