Civil Unrest and Land Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa
David Leonard et al.
National laws governing land tenure in Africa frequently are inconsistent with the systems operative on the ground and in practice are enforced irregularly and discriminatorily. The land governance systems in place generally draw heavily on kinship relationships and the history of land clearance. They also were designed as much to secure labor as to provide access to natural resources and are based on use rights rather than transferable disposal rights. With the land frontier closing in much of Africa, youth drifting toward the cities, and agriculture frequently dependent on the labor of ethnic outsiders, the existing operational rules governing tenure and the transfer of property have been a source of stress and of outbreaks of substantial rural violence. The natural syncretic evolution of operational governance is inhibited by formal national laws but nonetheless exists. A number of communities have evolved operational land governance systems such that violent outbreaks are no longer occurring. These syncretic adaptations need to be documented and disseminated to other communities to add to their options. Further qualitative studies by local academics, focused on places where successful adaptations have taken place is proposed.
Event: Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2015
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