Integrating Communal and Individual Property Rights: Learning from the Mexican Ejido Experience
Grenville Barnes et al.
Mexico has led the way in Latin America, both in terms of land reform as well as in developing extensive land governance institutions over indigenous and other community held land. When Mexican land reform ended in 1992 more than half of the land area of Mexico and approximately 80% of the countryys forest resources, was covered by communal land holdings known as ejidos. This experience and how land administration institutions have been adapted over time is of particular relevance to countries, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa, which are trying to formalize customary land administration and at the same time accommodate both statutory and customary processes. In this paper we describe the communal land tenure and administration system in Mexico and how it has transformed over the past century. From this we draw potential lessons for other countries contemplating formalizing community property rights in rural areas. This study is part of a broader UN-Habitat GLTN initiative on customary tenure tools designed to identify appropriate mechanisms for promoting tenure security.
Event: Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2015
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