Fodder for war: getting to the crux of the natural resources crisis

Jan 2010

The balance of State-people landholding is altering, with gradual or sudden surrender of state landlordism over lands which were never government’s to take. Observant forest-related agencies, for example, begin to note how slowly but surely much more natural forest estate is being acknowledged as community property.
It is true that land and property issues are now better placed on the agenda than they were even five years past in post-conflict states. Humanitarian and reconstruction agents are taking a deeper look at the issues and moving beyond a narrow focus upon restitution of property wrongfully taken during the war. The knee-jerk reaction of donors to solve land problems with house and farm registration, is being rethought.
Reform in the land and property sector as a whole has seen movement over the last several decades. One of the common themes is towards improvement in the tenure security of rural citizens who have not acquired land through introduced property systems and whose rights have therefore been ignored

By: L. A. Wily

 
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