Formalisation of land rights in the South: An overview

Formalisation of property rights has recently been proposed as a way of reducing poverty. The poor, it is said, do not lack assets, they lack only the formal, protected rights necessary to make these assets engines of entrepreneurship, thriving markets, and information networks. Historical evidence with regard to formalisation programmes is, however, mixed at best, and current universalist proposals contain numerous flaws. A more context-specific and flexible approach is needed, with greater attention to local settings and specific objectives and tools. Property formalisation should not be considered merely a technical tool but must take account of politics and culture.     

Trading-off: Rural food security and land rights in South Africa

In light of the high percentage of poor people in rural areas of South Africa, the post-apartheid government has, among other things, prioritized food security in their policy processes. However, these food security policies stop short of workable strategies for the most difficult situations, particularly in the former reserves (Bantustans). A case study of the Eastern Cape Province reveals that food security managed by government agencies experience difficulties at implementation stage due to land issues. At the heart of the problem is the poor understanding of rural people's land use plans and multiple livelihood strategies. The paper concludes that food security projects in the former Bantustans will continue to suffer unless food security policies are efficiently integrated to those of land reform.     

Securing land and property rights in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of local institutions

Central governments have neither the capacity nor the local knowledge to implement a just, large-scale national land registration system. Support to local institutions to undertake intermediate forms of land registration has been shown to be far more effective in many places—although these need careful checks on abuses by powerful local (and external) interests, measures to limit disputes (too many of which can overwhelm any institution) and measures to ensure that the needs of those with the least power – typically women, migrants, tenants and pastoralists – are given due weight. These locally grounded systems can also provide the foundation for more formal registration systems, as needs and government capacities develop. Even if there are the funds and the institutional capacity to provide formal land title registration to everyone in ways that are fair and that recognize local diversity and complexity, and could manage disputes, this may often not be needed. For the vast majority of people, cheaper, simpler, locally grounded systems of rights registration can better meet their needs for secure tenure.     

Racial land zoning in urban South Africa

The imposition of the policy of apartheid upon South African urban areas after the National Party electoral victory in 1948, led to profound changes in spatial planning and population distribution. All urban places were zoned with sectors set aside for the mutually exclusive ownership and occupation of legally defined racial groups. Between 1950 and 1991 over 1 million hectares of urban land were zoned in racial terms. Massive population movements took place to fit the population to the plans, which had built-in disparities between groups in access to urban land. Even with the repeal of this legislation, South African cities exhibit the heritage of apartheid planning, with the racially defined zones still apparent in the urban form.     

Developing an appropriate land use methodology to promote spatially just,formal retail areas in developing countries: The case of the City of Cape Town,South Africa

South African scholars have increasingly recognized that the prevailing management system for land use is one not relevant to the current spatial needs of the country's settlements. These include, in particular, the need to create sustainable, spatially just and resilient settlements and to develop land in a manner that promotes efficient urban development. The debate in the South African literature on land use management has, with a few notable exceptions, yet to venture into the specific mechanics of how to fix this system, ways the system can be used to create a spatially just urban form, or its applicability in formal retail areas.This paper addresses these questions within the context of formal retail areas and the zoning category that these are typically found in, namely that of the General Business zone. This paper initially investigates the current exclusionary nature of formal retail areas in the context of South Africa and within Cape Town and how this is linked to the more macro patterns of spatial exclusion within Cape Town. It is argued that within the context of Cape Town there is a need to focus on both commercial, particularly formal retail, as well as residential, areas with regard to the project of creating a more spatially just city. It is subsequently demonstrated, firstly, how zoning scheme provisions could be used as a mechanism to address these patterns of exclusion in formal retail areas, specifically exploring provisions that would encourage inclusion of informal and microenterprises within shopping malls. Secondly, it is demonstrated how provisions can be included that create a safer and more inviting environment for public transport users and poorer employees and consumers, in formal retail areas.The contribution of this paper is to initiate a long overdue conversation regarding the relationship between land use management and social justice within a developing world context, and in formal retail areas, and aims to set out ways in which land use management can be made more relevant; both for South African cities and cities in other developing countries.     

More Than Socially Embedded: The Distinctive Character of 'Communal Tenure' Regimes in South Africa and its Implications for Land Policy

This article analyzes debates over tenure reform policy in post-apartheid South Africa, with a particular focus on the controversial Communal Land Rights Act of 2004. Land tenure systems in the 'communal areas' of South Africa are described as dynamic and evolving regimes within which a number of important commonalities and continuities over time are observable. Key underlying principles of pre-colonial land relations are identified, which informed the adaptation and modification of tenure regimes in the colonial era and under policies of segregation and apartheid, and continue to do so today. Exploring the policy implications of this analysis, the article suggests that alternative approaches to that embodied in the Communal Land Rights Act are required. The most appropriate approach is to make socially legitimate occupation and use rights, as they are currently held and practised, the point of departure for both their recognition in law and for the design of institutional frameworks for administering land.     

Land claims and the pursuit of co-management on four protected areas in South Africa

Successful land claims on protected areas by previously disenfranchised communities often result in co-management agreements between claimant communities and state conservation agencies. South Africa, in particular, has pursued co-management as the desired outcome of land claims on its protected areas. We review four cases of co-management on protected areas in South Africa, and reflect on the appropriateness of the pursuit of co-management as the preferred outcome of land claims. Despite promises of pro-poor, democratically informed management, the practical experience of co-management has seen the continuation of the status quo in terms of conservation, with very few material benefits for claimant communities and limited sharing of responsibilities and decision-making functions. The findings underscore two deep challenges facing co-management in cases of land claims worldwide. First, during land claims negotiations in cases involving protected areas, the state cannot be expected to represent the best interests of its citizens (the land claimants), while simultaneously seeking to meet national and international obligations for protected area coverage. Second, the concept of democratic co-management may sit uncomfortably beside the realities of managing loss-making protected areas with ever-shrinking conservation budgets. Where co-management agreements have already been signed, ensuring that new landowners do indeed have a say in management should form the driving focus for co-management practice going forward.     

Tenure,land rights,and farmer investment incentives in China

The goal of this paper is to understand the nature of the property rights associated with China's land tenure systems and to study the impact of these property rights on agricultural production efficiency. The results show that land tenure and associated property rights in rural China affect the production behavior of farmers. The most robust finding is that the right to use land for long periods of time encourages the use of land-saving investments. While the results show that land tenure affects agricultural production decisions, the difference between collective and private plots, however, is small compared to the private plot - communal productivity gap that existed in the pre-reform period.     

The effects of land sales restrictions: evidence from south India

The effects of land sales restrictions on credit use, land investment and cultivation decisions are investigated using data from two villages in south India. Sales restrictions are found to have little ellect on credit supply and demand or demand tor land improvements. Some household characteristics are found to affect investment demand on plots subject to sales restrictions in one village, suggesting that the ‘transactions effect’ of such restrictions may be inhibiting allocative efficiency. However, we also find that household characteristics influence investment on titled plots, and that the magnitude of impact of such characteristics is greater on titled plots. These results imply that sales restrictions are not a major source of inelficiency in the villages studied, and suggest that the nature of village credit and land markets and enforcement ot sales restrictions are critical determinants of the impacts of such restrictions.     

Perennial grain crops in the West Soudanian Savanna of Mali: perspectives from agroecology and gendered spaces

Perennial grain crops may play an important role in environmentally sound and socially just food systems for Africa. We study the future possibility of integrating perennial grains into Malian farming systems from the perspective of agroecology, and more specifically using a gendered space approach. We interviewed 72 farmers across the sorghum-growing region of Mali. We found that perennial grains offer a vision for transforming human relations with nature that mirrors the resource sharing of customary land tenure, including patterns of extensive and intensive land use in time and space. Women interviewees identified a broad set of potential advantages and challenges to perennial grain production. Advantages include reduced labour, saving seed, and improving food security. Women farmers were concerned about livestock, water access, and resource limitations. We argue that perennial grains may increase access to land and natural resources for women farmers. Perennial grains may improve soil quality, reduce labour early in the rainy season, and provision more resources from fallow lands. Pastoralists stand to benefit from improved pastures in the dry season. We conclude that investments are needed to develop viable crop types in consideration of the complexity of West African farming systems and the local needs of women farmers and pastoralists.     

Land Reform in South Africa

An insightful study of the complexities of land reform in South Africa is reviewed, and its key arguments assessed. The study astutely combines ethnographic and historical detail from in-depth case studies in Mpumalanga Province with critical analysis of land reform policies, and locates these within larger theoretical debates on property rights, citizenship and identity. The author argues that a profound and unresolved tension exists within South Africa's land reform programme between broad and inclusive conceptions of 'rights' that are linked to notions of restored citizenship and sovereignty, and a conception of 'property' as individualized ownership of land, implying a much narrower conception of citizenship. The study also focuses on the roles of a variety of mediators and 'brokers' in land reform. Despite its many strengths, the study is not entirely convincing, partly because some key policy debates are mischaracterized. Its treatment of questions of agricultural production, rural livelihoods and the political economy of agrarian change is somewhat disappointing.     

Impacts and causes of land fragmentation, and lessons learned from land consolidation in South Asia

Landholdings and land parcels in South Asia are undergoing fragmentation, thereby accelerating the pace of their degradation and constraining agricultural development. Based on experiences gained in the region and elsewhere, this paper finds the fragmentation of small landholdings and tiny land parcels detrimental to land conservation and economic gain, thereby discouraging farmers from adoption of agricultural innovations. Primarily induced by the dependency of the major proportion of ever growing population on agriculture, the process of land fragmentation has been reinforced by the law of inheritance of paternal property, lack of progressive tax on inherited land, heterogeneous land quality and an underdeveloped land market. South Asian countries have had adopted policies and legal measures for facilitating land consolidation. However, desirable results were not achieved, as such interventions could not address structural causes of the problem. Broad policy and legal measures have been outlined for facilitating land consolidation in a sustainable way.     

A comparison of land unit delineation techniques for land evaluation in the Western Cape,South Africa

Land evaluation, an integral part of land use planning, has been established as one of the preferred methods to support sustainable land use management. In essence, land evaluation aims to compare and match each potential land use with the properties of individual parcels of land, also called land units. A land unit is an area that is, according to predetermined properties, different from the surrounding land and can be assumed to have homogeneous land properties (e.g. climate, soils, cover). Land components (also called landform elements, terrain units or land surface segments) are often used as land units, mainly because their boundaries frequently coincide with transitions in environmental conditions. Although land components have traditionally been delineated by studying topographical maps, interpreting aerial photographs and making field measurements, such manual mapping techniques are very time-consuming and subjective. Land component maps can be generated more objectively and faster by using computer algorithms. This paper compares the maps produced by three algorithms, namely the automated land component mapper (ALCoM), the iterative self-organizing data analysis technique algorithm (ISODATA) and multi-resolution image segmentation (MRS), to determine which technique produces the most homogenous and morphologically representative land components for an area in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The results revealed that the three methods produced significantly different land component maps. While ISODATA's units were relatively homogenous, their boundaries rarely followed morphological discontinuities. ALCoM performed better in delineating land components along terrain discontinuities, but produced relatively heterogeneous land components. Overall, MRS performed consistently well and was significantly more sensitive to morphological discontinuities than the other two methods tested. Land use managers should, however, use MRS with care as more research is needed to determine what effect its different input parameters have on land unit boundaries.     

Evolution of land tenure institutions and development of agroforestry: evidence from customary land areas of Sumatra

It is widely believed that land tenure insecurity under a customary tenure system leads to a socially inefficient resource allocation. This article demonstrates that the practice of granting secure individual ownership to tree planters spurs earlier tree planting, which is inefficient from the private point of view but could be efficient from the viewpoint of the global environment. Regression analysis, based on primary data collected in Sumatra, indicates that an expected increase in tenure security in fact led to early tree planting. It is also found that customary land tenure institutions have been evolving towards greater tenure security responding to increasing scarcity of land.     

Gender inequalities in ownership and control of land in Africa: myth and reality

Lack of clarity behind measurement and interpretation of statistics on gender and land leads to an inability to clearly articulate a policy response to the potential inequalities faced by women and men. This article sets out to explore, conceptually and empirically, the levels and relative inequalities in land rights between women and men in African countries. The first section of the article engages in a conceptual discussion of how to measure gendered‐land outcomes, what ownership and control mean in different contexts, and why attention to these factors is important for the development of gender and land statistics. The second section of the article systematically reviews existing evidence from microlevel large sample studies to summarize recent trends in land access, ownership, and control by sex. The third section presents new statistics from a variety of nationally representative and large‐scale unpublished data on gender and land in Africa. Results provide not only a nuanced understanding of the importance of measuring land indicators for gendered development in Africa and globally but also new statistics on a variety of land outcomes to aid stakeholders in the discussion of gender‐land inequalities.     

Analyzing the welfare‐improving potential of land in the former homelands of South Africa

This article contributes to the debate on the role of land in reducing poverty in rural South Africa. It uses the year of arrival in the former homelands as an instrument for land access and size. This identification strategy is based on the fact that African households were forcibly relocated to the homelands during the apartheid. Due to increasing population pressure, later arrivals were less likely to be assigned land. The results show that land has a large positive effect on household welfare. Because the homelands are relatively disadvantaged areas, these results provide a lower bound for the positive effects of land on household welfare.     

Agriculture in land reform farms: Impact on livelihoods of beneficiaries in the Waterberg district,South Africa

Countries have pursued land reform (LR) to contribute towards equity, poverty alleviation and job creation. Land confiscation and market-assisted approaches are used the most in expediting LR. The approach adopted in each of the countries will depend on the prevailing circumstances and priorities of those advocating for LR. South Africa implemented LR for the past two decades aimed to provide meaningful contribution to the livelihood of beneficiaries, among others. However, economic quantification of livelihood gains attained by households (hhs) from LR farms is unknown. The present paper aimed to quantify the economic contributions to livelihoods of various activities at LR farms, and to analyse factors underlying these contributions. We surveyed 87 hhs who were active in 43 LR farms in the Waterberg District, Limpopo Province. Five LR farm types were distinguished: Restitution (Rest), settlement/land acquisition grant (SLAG), land redistribution for agricultural development phases 1 and 2 (LRAD1 and LRAD2) and proactive land acquisition strategy (PLAS) farms. We used a stepwise approach for data collection, which included focus group discussions, household (hh) surveys and livelihood pie charts. On-farm contributions were higher (±49.5%) in LRAD1, LRAD2 and PLAS, compared to on-farm contributions of hhs in Rest and SLAG (±15.5%), because most of the hh heads (±68.3%) were younger (≤59 years), and hhs were physical capital endowed and farmed in physical capital endowed farms. Livestock farming was a key land use activity because of the prevailing agroecological conditions. The LR policy should prioritise provision of farm physical capital and livestock production to improve on-farm livelihood contributions in physical capital poor farms.     

Questioning Market-Led Agrarian Reform: Experiences from Brazil, Colombia and South Africa

Market-led agrarian reform (MLAR) has been conceptualized out of the pro-market critique of classic state-led agrarian reform. The pro-market model has been implemented in Brazil, Colombia and South Africa, where its proponents have claimed impressive success. But close examination of the empirical evidence puts into question the basic theoretical and policy assumptions and current claims of MLAR proponents. The same model is no more likely to work elsewhere.     

南非矿山环境立法与管理研究

南非在矿山环境管理和立法方面,主要是以国家能源矿业部为主的多部门协议式管理,通过对矿业法、资源法等法律法规的不断完善,进一步明确和强化矿山环境管理的内容。文章结合南非矿山环境治理的成功案例,介绍了南非矿山环境治理的管理机构与相关的立法,联系我国矿山治理的实际提出了启示与建议。