UP Development Studies Coordinator, Marc Wegerif, presented at the annual Landac International Conference held at Utrecht University in the Netherlands at the end of June 2023.

In a plenary session Marc presented on “The contested transition we are already in: A review of land governance efforts, progress, and challenges across 18 countries”. This presentation was based on two recent studies he had been part of, and authored reports on. The presentation gave an overview of progress in improving land tenure governance across the 18 countries. Marc argued that there has been a lot of progress, especially in policy and legislation, to improve women’s rights and to recognise communal and customary land rights and tenure governance systems. There are also far too many people that still live with insecure land rights and face evictions and other abuses.

There is a lot of contestation in countries due to competing interests in land, which require countries to find solutions that work in their socio-economic and political contexts. For example, there is contestation between strengthening the role of traditional leaders versus strengthening democratic processes and accountability. There is also an important contestation between the advancement of people’s and communal rights versus the push to privatize land and natural resources. There are no perfect solutions to such challenges and Marc argued that countries are trying to find solutions that work in their contexts, and these are important efforts that we need to learn from.

Marc also pointed out areas where further improvements are needed to build on and defend the successes. More need to be done to defend the gains and ensure that effective land governance measures are implemented and give people security in their homes and to the land they depend on for livelihoods. A specific suggestion was for united action to get governments to commit the budgets needed for effective land governance and administration. Many of the current land governance implementation failings, even when there are good laws, come down to a lack of resources.

Marc also presented in a parallel session that sought to learn from current country experiences. Marc’s presentation focused on the new land laws adopted in Sierra Leone in 2022. He argued that these set a new benchmark in terms of good land governance legislation. In particular, the Customary Land Rights Act of 2022 is the most comprehensive piece of legislation to affirm the right of affected communities to give or withhold Free Prior and Informed Consent before any changes can be made to land rights and use. This right could be one of the most important tools for communities to use in defending the land and natural resources they depend on in the face of pressures from investors and in the context of climate change and widespread environmental destruction.

One of these reports was launched at the Landac event and is now available online: https://d3o3cb4w253x5q.cloudfront.net/media/documents/2023_5_vggt_10_years_synthesis_report.pdf. The other report is also available online: http://www.cicodev.org/cloud/Foncier/STUDY%20ON%20LAND%20POLICY%20IN%20AFRICA.pdf?_t=1653386292