Bottom-Up Accountability Initiatives and Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Africa
Programs and partnerships
Lead institution(s)
Summary
The objective of this project is to test whether the Food and Agriculture Organization's Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security can help increase accountability for large-scale land acquisitions in Mali,Read more
The objective of this project is to test whether the Food and Agriculture Organization's Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security can help increase accountability for large-scale land acquisitions in Mali, Nigeria, Uganda, and South Africa. It will provide insight into the conditions under which international land governance instruments can be used to hold public authorities more accountable. This, in turn, may help locals secure the right to food in sub-Saharan Africa. From rural to urban In 2007, the absolute number of people living in urban centres worldwide overtook the number of people living in rural areas for the first time ever. As a result, the international development community's attention is increasingly turning urban. Yet data from the United Nations indicates that three-quarters of sub-Saharan Africa's poor still live and work in the countryside. Effective access to, and ownership over, land and natural resources remains critically important for the rural poor in Africa to be able to build decent economic livelihoods and participate meaningfully in decisions that affect their lives. Movement to acquire land on a large scale Against this backdrop, food, fuel/energy, climate, and financial crises have converged. One of the most immediate and important implications is the revaluation of land as a scare resource. This reality has driven industries, governments, communities, and individuals to acquire land at a scale never witnessed before. Africa has played centre stage to this wave of large-scale land acquisitions. Since 2006, international and domestic investors have acquired an estimated 50-80 million hectares of land in low- and middle-income countries. Research to investigate land acquisitions FIAN, the Foodfirst Information and Action Network, will implement the project. National citizen-based groups, regional and international civil society organizations, researchers, and policymakers interested in land issues will participate in the project. The research team will apply a case study and participatory action-research approach. The project is expected to generate evidence about how local residents can enhance their ability to promote more equitable, transparent, and accountable land acquisition mechanisms. Evidence for improved monitoring Project results will contribute to the UN Committee on World Food Security's monitoring mechanism. The evidence will also be shared with other relevant monitoring bodies at the national (parliamentary commissions, national human rights organizations), regional, and international levels (African and UN human rights systems).
Research outputs
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Ces dernières années, les communautés sont confrontées de plus en plus aux accaparements de terres tant au niveau urbain et périurbain qu’au niveau rural facilités par la complicité des élites et les dysfonctionnements administratifs, en particulier en « omettant » d’appliquer les droits fonciers coutumiers pourtant reconnu dans le Code Domanial et Foncier (CDF) du Mali. Cette injustice a créé de nombreux conflits fonciers. Ce sont des territoires, des écosystèmes, des identités communautaires, la souveraineté alimentaire voire nationale qui sont menacés. La Convergence Malienne contre les Accaparements de Terres (CMAT), composée de 5 structures d’envergures nationales (AOPP, CAD-MALI, CNOP, LJDH et l’UACDDDD), travaille avec les communautés des villages Fonsira et Dalla pour trouver des solutions concrètes tant sur le terrain qu’au niveau des textes législatifs, en s’appuyant notamment sur les directives des régimes fonciers du CSA de la FAO.
Understanding and interpretation of the CFS/FAO Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (Tenure Guidelines or TGs) is a key factor in communities’ capabilities for collective action, especially through the organization of land pressure groups. TGs help people to engage critically with existing legal frameworks. In this study, community knowledge was enhanced regarding customary as well as statutory laws which protect rights, while enabling people to identify shortcomings/gaps/bias in the existing laws working against them. It also emerged that issues of land grabs similarly engender the grabbing of other resources like water, forests and pasture.
Depuis la Charte du Mandé, les droits fondamentaux qui sont la Terre, l’Eau pour vivre dans la Dignité et du fruit de son travail n’ont pas trouvé d’écho significatif dans nos textes de lois et encore moins dans leur application. Les droits des communautés ont été sans cesse bafoués, vus comme négatifs par opposition aux lois dites modernes ou positives issues de la colonisation avec son concept de domanialité fondée sur l’immatriculation. Cette vision juridique est issue du colonialisme ; le législatif foncier a peu évolué et se retrouve éparpillé dans divers textes qui ne font qu’aggraver le flou foncier juridique et permettent de spolier aisément les détendeurs de droits coutumiers. « Il n’existe pas encore au Mali un document juridique spécifique traitant du foncier Agricole dans sa globalité. Les dispositions y afférentes sont disséminées dans un ensemble de textes législatifs et réglementaires relatifs à la gestion domaniale et foncière, à la gestion des ressources naturelles, notamment forestières, fauniques, hydrauliques et halieutiques, minières et pastorales, ainsi que dans les textes relatifs à la décentralisation » (Moussa Djiré, expert foncier malien). Cet imbroglio de textes législatifs inefficace et pénalisant est résumé par Rochegude « Personne n’était capable de faire un exposé correct de la législation foncière au Mali».
In fishing communities the contentious acquisition of land close to water bodies is especially relevant. Water grabbing has serious implications for basic human rights including the right to water, food, health, livelihood, and self-determination. Land grabbing is driven by the desire to control and use water and fisheries resources. Globally, Uganda is among the 25 countries most affected by water grabbing. The Katosi Women Development Trust documents effects of land grabbing in four communities in Mpunge sub-county in Mukono district, conducting action research studies in selected fishing communities in Uganda, investigating the drivers of land and water grabbing.
The research project uses the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of land, fisheries and forests (VGGT or Tenure Guidelines) as a tool to assess the impact of various governance frameworks on small scale fishing communities. It uses the Tenure Guidelines to empower communities to protect their rights in the context of promoting food sovereignty. This case illustrates how Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) impact small scale fishers’ tenure rights, and how communities can resist and negotiate the challenges of exclusion. In terms of human rights, small-scale fishers continue to be marginalized.