Opinion: Launch of publication on land reform

The African Natural Resources Center, ANRC, of the African Development Bank Group, will launch  a publication containing a series of articles by leading international scholars whose ground-breaking research and analysis have shaped policy on land reform in Africa for more than two decades.

Titled Rethinking land reform in Africa: new ideas, opportunities and challenges, the publication follows the November 2019 Conference on Land Policy in Africa organized by the ANRC in Abidjan, during the 10th anniversary of the African Union Declaration on Land.

The initiative is expected to inspire innovative and critical insights, and provide a thought-leading platform of inquiry, analysis, and research for breakthrough progress in land reform policy.

The publication includes contributions from: Liz Alden Wily, Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society at University of Leiden; Thomas Bassett, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Sara Berry, Johns Hopkins University; Uchendu Eugene Chigbu, Technical University of Munich; Horman Chitonge, University of Cape Town, among other authors.

The authors will also be available for virtual interviews.

Cosmas Milton Obote Ochieng, ANRC’s Director and co-author of the publication believes a re-examination of fundamental assumptions and perspectives underlying policies on land reform is a key part of the platform for progress.

“We want this to be the beginning of an inspirational debate, and for others to add their voices. We welcome new research, papers and dialogue on this important subject.”

The publication will be available online here from Tuesday 26 May 2020 at 10.00 am

List of contributions

Liz Alden Wily, Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society, University

of Leiden. Adjusting to new era agrarianism: tackling the troubled interface of public and community property.

Thomas Bassett, University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne. Maps and mapping practices in Côte d’Ivoire’s rural land reform.

Sara Berry, Johns Hopkins University. On whose authority? Land reform, power and economic uncertainty in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa.

Uchendu Eugene Chigbu, Technical University of Munich. Negotiating land rights to redress land wrongs: women in Africa’s land reforms.

Horman Chitonge, University of Cape Town. Land governance in Africa: the key to unlock improved productivity and promote equitable and sustainable land use.

Lorenzo Cotula, International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED). The future of land: commercial pressures and the case for systemic law reform to secure rural land rights.

Riel Franzsen, University of Pretoria. A review of property transfer taxes in Africa.

Robert Home, Anglia Ruskin University. Law in African land reform: contested areas.

Sheila Khama, formerly of the World Bank and the African Development Bank. Land tenure policy evolution and impacts on urban land housing markets: a case study of Botswana.

Michael Lipton, University of Sussex. Land reform contexts: demography/employment, farms, soil-water resources/authority.

Matthew Mitchell, University of Saskatchewan. Land reform, peacebuilding and the ‘indigenous’ question in Africa: the promise and perils of Free, Prior and Informed Consent.

Pauline E. Peters, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. The significance of descent-based ‘customary’ land management for land reform and agricultural futures in Africa.

Howard Stein, University of Michigan. Institutional transformation and shifting policy paradigms: reflections on land reform in Africa.

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