Climate Benefits Tenure Costs: The Economic Case for Securing Indigenous Land Rights in the Amazon

A new report offers evidence that the modest investments needed to secure land rights for indigenous communities will generate billions in returns—economically, socially and environmentally—for local communities and the world's changing climate. The report, Climate Benefits, Tenure Costs: The Economic Case for Securing Indigenous Land Rights, quantifies for the first time the economic value of securing land rights for the communities who live in and protect forests, with a focus on Colombia, Brazil, and Bolivia

LAND RIGHTS, FARMER INVESTMENTS INCENTIVES, AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN CHINA

The overall goal of our paper is to estimate the impact of China's land rights on farm investment incentives and agricultural production. To meet the goal, the paper pursues three specific objectives. First, the paper briefly reviews the various linkages between land rights and investment incentives. Next, we demonstrate how land use behavior differs according to the tenure regime and land rights. Third, by using our field survey data, this paper identifies the links between specific land rights, instead of just the land tenure type, and investment incentives. The paper also measures the size of efficiency loss from the current land rights arrangements.Farm Management, Land Economics/Use,

Land rights of indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia

Very little has been written on indigenous rights in South-East Asia. This article attempts to address issues concerning indigenous land rights in the region, arguing that there is a clear gap between the existing situation and the relevant standards of the international human rights system. After a short overview of the international human rights framework currently binding South-East Asian states, the article analyses issues of indigenous land ownership and control by indigenous peoples over matters affecting their land rights. The article then discusses traditional economic activities, natural resources, indigenous environmental management and finally to issues of relocation and compensation. In each of the aforementioned areas, indigenous land rights are generally non-existent or very weak. Even on occasions when national legislation has recognised strong indigenous land rights, the lack of political motivation to properly enforce these rights impedes their full realisation. The article demonstrates that this inadequacy is inconsistent with international standards on the prohibition of discrimination, protection of minority cultures and more specifically on indigenous land rights, as are recognised in international instruments, interpreted by international bodies and transferred into national practices

Reforming land rights in Africa

"Advocates of reforms in land rights and land markets frequently posit two important hypotheses: (1) African countries must grant land titles to farmers because titles increase land tenure security and facilitate access to input, land, and financial markets; and (2) land markets constitute the most efficient mechanism for allocating resources and improving access to productive resources by the poor, especially women and other marginalized groups... Research must focus on understanding the dynamics of land values in the different markets for land rights and devise ways to improve the marketability of customary rights through simple processes that also increase the demand for agricultural land and effectively contribute to the reform of land rights." from TextLand rights ,Land markets ,Land tenure ,resource allocation ,Women ,Poor Africa ,Land values ,Agricultural policies ,

Land Rights

This documents contains technical information related experiences of people who have struggled ? and sometimes failed - to keep their rights to their land. There are examples from Cameroon, Malawi, Zimbabwe and The Gambia

Female Land Rights and Rural Household Incomes in Brazil, Paraguay and Peru

This paper explores the determinants of female land rights and their impact on household income levels among owner-operated farms in Brazil, Paraguay and Peru. Previous studies in Latin America suggest that the gender of the household head is not a significant predictor of household income, not unsurprising given the ambiguities with which self-declared headship is associated. We hypothesize that female land rights, by increasing women's options, are a positive determinant of household income, but given the disadvantages that they face as farmers, that their land rights will more likely impact upon off-farm rather than farm income. Regression analysis indicates that female land rights are positively related to off-farm income in Peru and Paraguay, but significantly so only in the case of dual-headed households in Peru where the bargaining power thesis is operative. They are negatively associated with farm income in both countries and with farm revenue in Brazil.Gender, Land Rights, Household Income, Female-headed Households, Intrahousehold Bargaining Power, Latin America

THE ROLE OF LAND RIGHTS IN URBAN HERITAGE MANAGEMENT – THE EXPLANATORY POWER OF INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS ANALYSIS IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE OF KOTAGEDE YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA’S POST EARTHQUAKE

This paper discusses the importance of land rights in providing ways and means for the improvement and preservation of urban heritage cultural values in Yogyakarta. The use of comprehensive institutional approach considers actors’ behavior within their informal institutions in the reconstruction of cultural heritage post earthquake. Discussion focuses on the way landowners may constrains or enabling the reconstruction process. Interviews conducted with selected landowners indicated the way in which land rights impede the urban cultural heritage reconstruction. In the end, it shows how institutional economics analysis explains the role of land rights in the improvement of cultural heritage in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.land rights, cultural heritage, institutional economics analysis

Strengthening Women's Access to Land into IFAD projects: The Rwanda Experience

This paper is a joint effort of IFAD and RISD to analyse and investigate women's land rights in Rwanda. It presents the outcomes of the investigation on women?s land rights and its implications in the redistribution, delimitation and registration process carried out in the Nyagatare, Gatsibo, Kayonza and Kirehe Districts in the Eastern Province. For the assessment, meetings were held in the four Districts, with IFAD project staff, beneficiaries, Cell and District Executive Secretaries, Districts Mayors, members of various men and women cooperatives, District Land Officers, members of Cell and District Land Committees