Author: Amrit Bhandari

In the first week of June, the International Land Coalition (ILC) coordinated a workshop to design a Rangelands Observatory, intended to link a network of organizations that will partner in an effort to collectively monitor land acquisitions in rangeland areas, and promote more participatory decision making in regards to land use.

Because rangelands that lack permanent residents are often seen as being under-utilized and free from use rights, they are particularly at risk of being acquired by investors through large-scale land acquisitions. However these rangelands are often crucial to the survival of grazing animals – both wild and domesticated – as well as to the communities whose livelihoods depend on those animals.

Over the course of the workshop it was noted that only about half of the 30+ attending organizations had defined the boundaries of their traditional grazing areas using some form of geospatial technology. The need to spatially define claims and use rights relevant to pastoralists was quickly recognized and the possibility of utilizing crowd sourced spatially referenced data was raised.

As the Rangelands Observatory and similar regional observatories are developed, it will be interesting to see whether such crowd sourced data regarding grazing rights might provide a level of protection to traditional land users that might lack formal documentation. Lessons learned by the Rangeland Observatory could also be applied in other countries where USAID is working on pastoral tenure issues, such as Ethiopia.

Through the recently launched Evaluation, Research and Communication (ERC) project, USAID is also exploring opportunities for using low-cost mobile phone technology to collect geospatial data and demarcate boundaries through crowd sourced methods. According to Frank Pichel, USAID Land Tenure and Property Rights Specialist, “We are looking at ways to leverage increasingly available and low cost technologies with innovative data collection models to help record and protect the property rights of some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations.”

From Latin America to Southeast Asia, land rights and resource governance are at the center of many conflicts around the globe. In Colombia, land and rural development are the first agenda items in the ongoing peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In Burma, the world’s longest-running civil war has left over 450,000 people internally displaced, with approximately 215,000 more in refugee camps along the Thai border. In both countries, the governments have been involved in peace negotiations with various armed ethnic rebel groups. In Burma, however, the ongoing peace process has largely ignored housing, land and property rights of the country’s displaced ethnic people according to a recent report from the international NGO, Displacement Solutions.

A major risk identified in the report is that large numbers of people have been displaced from areas with strong customary tenure systems. Given that the Burmese government does not recognize rights granted under these systems, significant populations are at risk of not being able to return to lands they once occupied. By not allowing hundreds of thousands of people to return to land they fled during the conflict, the government’s position contravenes the Pinheiro Principles and other widely accepted international legal standards, which give displaced people the legal right to recover their homes, lands and properties. The failure to address these issues could pose significant challenges to recent ceasefires or result in a return to full blown civil war.

Burma should look to other countries around the globe, including Timor-Leste and those of Central and Eastern Europe, to learn how important questions of land restitution have been addressed. Other valuable resources include the Land and Conflict Prevention Handbook and USAID’s Issue Brief on Land Disputes and Land Conflict.

A recent CIFOR paper finds that addressing tenure and property rights issues at the REDD+ project level may be insufficient to achieve REDD+ objectives. REDD+ proponents in several countries are devoting substantial resources to address tenure issues at a project level, but the authors suggest that these efforts may be insufficient to address tenure problems that arise from broader national conditions. These tenure challenges “…have deep roots in history, are national in scope, and have origins that often lie well beyond the boundary of the project site. The best remedies in many cases cannot be the piecemeal efforts at tenure clarification within the bounds of the project, but instead require wholesale, landscape-wide reform.”

The authors used surveys and focus groups to collect data from REDD+ project proponents (international non-governmental organizations and others involved in REDD+ planning and implementation) and community stakeholders at 19 project sites and 71 villages in five countries, including Brazil, Cameroon, Tanzania, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Household respondents were asked to comment on perceived tenure insecurity, outsider use of forest land and resources, exclusion rights, and local rule compliance.

The authors found that REDD+ proponents are devoting substantial resources to address tenure issues at the project level, but suggest that these efforts may be insufficient to address tenure problems that arise due to national circumstances. Further, all but one of the REDD+ proponents interviewed for the study intend to restrict access to some portion of local forests, with possibly negative implications for the rights and livelihoods of local stakeholders

The perceived right to exclude “outsiders” will be important for communities that take on the responsibility of forest management to achieve REDD+ emissions reductions. Villagers surveyed reported success in excluding outside claims in 58% of the villages and failure to exclude outside claimants in 18%. The authors suggest that this reported percentage of successful exclusion is insufficient if the number of outside claimants and the extent of competition from “outsiders” increases. There is also concern that poor seasonal, temporary, and nomadic resource users may lose the ability to access and use forests where community rights are strengthened, such as the Baka of Cameroon.

In order to achieve equitable and effective REDD+ objectives, the authors recommend that clarity is needed around the following tenure and property rights problems: rights over forest carbon; the undetermined structure and amount of incentives; benefit sharing among stakeholders; and the ability to exercise rights of exclusion to avert a rush on resources.

USAID has launched the Tenure and Global Climate Change Project to support efforts in REDD+ countries to integrate tenure policies and laws with local efforts to clarify and recognize land and forest rights. The project aims to clarify: forest carbon ownership, the rights of various stakeholders, and the distribution of benefits from REDD+. This focus reflects the emerging consensus that, as the authors note, “general tenure clarification…is important for attaining a broad range of development and environment goals…” and that “resolution of tenure is crucial” for implementing REDD+ measures that are effective and equitable. This reinforces a recent commentary that noted the importance of reforming tenure in order to create enabling conditions for REDD+.

The same issue of World Development also includes supporting case studies from Ecuador, Brazil, and Indonesia, all of which were presented at a USAID TransLinks-supported workshop in October, 2011.

During the recent “Open for Growth: Trade, Tax and Transparency” event preceding this week’s G8 summit in Northern Ireland, the United States and Guinea announced a partnership focused on supporting transparency in extractive industries. Transparent management of Guinea’s mining sector – which accounts for 95 percent of the country’s exports – is essential for the nation’s long-term economic growth and sustainable development.

The partnership will focus on supporting Guinea to enhance its compliance with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) and adopt principles outlined in the recently adopted Washington Declaration. USAID will build off of its prior investment in the Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) project and work with the Guinean Ministry of Mines and Geology to clarify and strengthen the property rights of artisanal miners. Through strengthened property rights and improved tracking of diamonds from mine site to export, the diamond industry will achieve greater transparency, resulting in a greater number of diamonds entering the formal sector and ensuring that the Government of Guinea benefits from taxes.

Additionally, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Ministry of Mines and Geology will continue to collaborate in an effort to better define the production capacity of the alluvial diamond sector and develop local ability to measure and analyze rough diamond production capacity. Developing greater understanding of market potential will ensure increased transparency as well as better monitoring and enforcement of the KPCS.

While enforcement of the KPCS has lagged in recent years, with rough diamond exports more than double the estimated carat production capacity, the Government of Guinea has made a renewed commitment to transparency in the extractive industries, as demonstrated by their recently launched public database detailing all national mining contracts.

Frank Pichel, USAID Land Tenure and Property Rights Specialist, said “USAID is excited to restart PRADD activities in Guinea, a sentiment echoed by the Guinean delegation at the recent Kimberley Process Intercessional in Kimberley, South Africa.”

See here for more information on Guinea.

On June 18, the 2013 G8, under UK leadership, announced bold steps to strengthen land governance and improve transparency in land transactions. G8 leaders expressed support for and announced a series of concrete steps to accelerate implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security and the African Union Land Policy Initiative (LPI).

To achieve the objectives of improving land governance and enhancing transparency – major themes of the 2013 summit – the G8 announced a series of country-level Partnerships to accelerate support for the Voluntary Guidelines and the LPI. The Partnerships will be tailored to the needs of each country and will support existing land governance programs in conjunction with businesses and civil society. The initial Partnerships are: Burkina Faso (US), Tanzania (UK), Nigeria (UK), Senegal (France), Niger (EU), South Sudan (EU), and Namibia (Germany).

In their official communique, G8 leaders noted that “increasing security of land rights and transparency of land governance fosters participation of citizens, contributes to government accountability, reduces costs for businesses, and strengthens the climate for responsible investment.” The 2013 G8 built on progress achieved under US leadership in 2012, when the G8 initiated support for the Voluntary Guidelines and launched the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.

“This is an important step for improved land governance and transparency. The action taken by the G8 this week furthers the development of land and resource governance priorities that will enhance food security and foster responsible economic growth and trade. I want to commend to the UK for their leadership on this critical issue,” said Dr. Gregory Myers, USAID Division Chief, Land Tenure and Property Rights.

Where the rights of communities to manage and benefit from good stewardship are clearly defined and respected, communities can play an important, leading role in achieving climate change mitigation objectives. According to the Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources, since 2009, a pilot REDD+ project supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) has resulted in measurable increases in sequestered carbon and payments to communities.

One hundred and twelve Community Forestry User Groups, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the Federation of Community Forest Users, Nepal (FECOFUN) are collaborating to implement the project. A key factor in its success to-date may be the Forest Carbon Trust Fund (FCTF) established in 2001, which included development of an institutional mechanism to ensure equitable benefit sharing and forest carbon payments to local communities. Communities are managing forest areas and receiving training to monitor the resulting carbon sequestered.

The pilot demonstrates that when community rights to manage and benefit from forests are recognized and supported with training and other resources, community-led forest management has the potential to achieve REDD+ objectives.

On June 14, the United States announced a Partnership with Burkina Faso, in coordination with the G8, to improve land governance and strengthen transparency. The Partnership will build on progress achieved under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact and the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition Country Cooperation Framework with Burkina Faso, which support a number of the principles of the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of the Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security.

The partners will work together to:

• reduce land conflicts in rural areas, increase the recognition of household rights to land, and enable local land use planning for the equitable allocation and use of natural resources through the MCC Compact; and
• encourage shared learning, enhanced program coordination, and identification of gaps in policy, regulations and practical tools, with a particular emphasis on gender and transparency in land transactions.

The announcement came at the G8 pre-summit, Open for Growth: trade, tax and transparency event. Under U.K. leadership, transparency in land transactions has become a major focus of the 2013 G8. “We need transparency over who is buying up land and for what purpose so that people get a fair deal when they sell or lease out their land and the property rights of people and communities are properly protected. Today G8 and developing countries have agreed to work together to make the most of these huge advances on both land and extractives,” said U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron. Dr. Gregory Myers, USAID Division Chief, Land Tenure and Property Rights added “resource governance has taken center stage as the G8 continues work started by the U.S. G8 leadership in 2012 to promote the Voluntary Guidelines. Congratulations to the U.K. for bold leadership on this issue.”

In addition to the partnership between the U.S. and Burkina Faso, several other land transparency partnerships were announced, including: Tanzania (U.K.), Nigeria (U.K.), Senegal (France), Niger (EU), South Sudan (EU), and Namibia (Germany).

See here for more information on land tenure in Burkina Faso.

This week marks the 10-year anniversary of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KP), an international certification process that regulates trade in rough diamonds in an effort to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the market and fueling rebel movement.

The U.S. Government continues to be an active member of the KP, and over the course of the 2013 Intercessional Meeting, symbolically held in Kimberley, South Africa, USAID was able to further the development agenda within the KP. Building on the recent adoption of the Washington Declaration, which formally incorporates development goals into the KP and specifically addresses the artisanal mining sector, USAID developed a diagnostic tool for Member states to measure progress in the implementation of the Washington Declaration. During a one-day workshop attended by over 50 representatives, the draft version of the diagnostic tool was presented, reviewed and commented on, which will result in a revised version ready for testing later this year.

Throughout the week, USAID also collaborated closely with The Central African Republic and Cote d’Ivoire, partners to the Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) program. With the provision of short-term technical assistance from USAID and its implementing partner Tetra Tech International Development, Cote d’Ivoire has made significant progress in recent months towards re-establishing KP compliant processes in country, as recognized by the Working Group on Monitoring, in an effort to have the ban on the diamond trade lifted. The Central African Republic, which recently underwent an unsanctioned transfer of power and was subsequently temporarily suspended from the KP, faces significant challenges as the new government tries to establish itself without the benefit of an industry that made up approximately 60% of exports. With assistance from USAID, the EU and other partners, a plan has been developed which would ensure a partial lifting of the suspension, should basic targets be met over the remainder of the year.

Recent stories from Burma and Ethiopia illustrate the contentious issues surrounding the large-scale acquisition of land for agricultural production. In Ethiopia, the government may be re-assessing its policy of granting large tracts of land to investors, reducing the size of initial allocations and increasing the scrutiny of investors’ capacity to achieve their proposed plans and fulfill contractual obligations. The Minister of Agriculture, Tefera Derbew, has indicated that once investors demonstrate the capacity to productively manage 5,000 hectares, then the government can reasonably consider the allocation of additional land. While the government favors investment to boost Ethiopia’s commercial agriculture production, it wants to ensure that the land granted to investors is put to productive use.

There are important lessons from Ethiopia for Burma, which is rapidly emerging from two decades of political and economic isolation and increasingly the focus of foreign investment in numerous sectors, including agriculture. The rapid increase in the allocation of land to investors reflects the government’s intent to restore agricultural productivity. The policy of allocating large tracts of land to agricultural investors has raised fears of large-scale displacement of smallholder farmers, exacerbating an existing problem of landlessness in Burma. Nor is it clear whether investors will be able to make full use of allocated land, either due to lack of sufficient resources or the failure to consult and collaborate with affected communities. Displacement and other grievances can generate conflict and thus, inhibit the ability of investors to fully use the allocated land and realize its productive potential.

Basing incremental allocation upon conditions such as engagement with and benefits for surrounding communities and evaluating investors’ demonstrated use of initial allocations according to contractual obligations before allowing additional holdings could help ensure that the large-scale allocation of land to investors benefits host country stakeholders.

For more information, see USAID’s recently published profile on Burma.

A recent paper from the Global Canopy Programme, “Land tenure and fast-tracking REDD+: time to reframe the debate?” rightly points out that legally defensible and enforceable land rights are an essential condition for effective, equitable implementation of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus augmentation of carbon stocks). The authors assert that clear land tenure and usage rights determine who should be compensated for reducing deforestation or held accountable for continuing it. This will require reform of laws and policies surrounding land tenure “to ensure that REDD+ projects will both reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation, and positively impact the livelihoods of forest communities by maximising the flow of REDD+ benefits to these groups.”

However, the authors note that legal reform is a lengthy process with uncertain outcomes. Over the time that such reforms unfold, forests remain under pressure, subject to widespread clearance and unsustainable use. Even where forest and land governance laws are reformed and harmonized, the authors contend that poor implementation, weak enforcement, and unsustainable practices can thwart achievement of desired REDD+ objectives.

Citing examples from published literature and brief case studies from Nepal and Papua New Guinea, the authors argue that legal reform of land and forest tenure will not successfully advance REDD+ objectives if the de facto power of communities remains weak, enforcement is poor, and the influence of powerful political and economic stakeholders who benefit from unsustainable forest practices remains unchecked.

The authors propose immediate interim measures that can help foster successful REDD+ efforts; their description of these measures implies that the proposed steps differ from and fall outside the typical reform of legal land tenure systems. They propose: mapping laws and policies across sectors to ensure policy consistency and to identify perverse incentives, legal loopholes, and conflicting priorities; the use of moratoria and the revision of concessions; and the engagement of community forestry user group networks with governments to expand recognition and protection of de facto community land rights.

While these are all important steps, they are an integral part of the longer-term process of reforming tenure governance to develop clear, enforceable land and forest rights for communities. The international Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security adopted in 2012, outlines these and other principles and practices.