Land tenure sustainability : the case of family land in Tobago
Sunil Lalloo & Charisse Griffith-Charles
Family land is the name given to the tenure type found in the Caribbean defined as land inherited from generation to generation but not registered formally as such in the legal land registers of the country. In Tobago this type of tenure is prevalent as a result of historical factors including the geographical remoteness of the island of Tobago from Trinidad and its centralised cadastre and land registry. Arguments put forward to support the continued existence of family land tenure must be grounded in a discussion of its sustainability. This study uses the analysis of governance along with resilience tests to justify the creation of a new formal registration system for family land. Sustainability, though difficult to assess directly, is evaluated using several key variables that have been identified in the literature as critical elements of sustainable common-pool resources. The paper concludes by suggesting that family land tenure sustainability is a function of the following ten variables: Parcel size; rights activation; Ability to function alongside formal systems; tenure security perception; dispute resolution; land use practices and productivity; ability to alienate the parcel; ability to create economic opportunity (and access credit); perspectives on the social and cultural retention of the tenure; and the willingness to support formalisation.
Event: Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2015
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