Insecure property rights over land have multiple ramifications for agriculture and the organization of rural economic activity (Besley and Ghatak 2009). The risk that land will be expropriated deters investment. Insecure property rights reduce the ability of borrowers to pledge land as collateral and thus tighten credit constraints. Ill-defined property right over land can inhibit land transact...

1 Perennial and violent family, ethnic, tribal, national and regional conflicts are land-related, particularly the struggle for access to and control over land and its natural resources. Preventing and managing landrelated conflicts requires securing land rights for all beyond property rights. The paper takes the view that access to and control over land-based resources for the majority will ne...

The Nganampa Health Council (literally "Our Health Council") is an Aboriginal community-controlled Primary Health Care service established in 1983. It was born out of the political struggle for Aboriginal Land Rights in South Australia which culminated in The Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Land Rights Act, 1981, a milestone in Indigenous Land Rights both in Australia and internatio...

This paper assesses the impact of Siam’s 1901 Land Title Deed Act on land markets and land use in Bangkok. Using a sample of orchard title deeds issued in the 1880s, this study investigates the incidence of land transfers and subsequent land use patterns both before and after the transition from usufruct to full private ownership rights as a result of the 1901 Act. Survival analysis shows that ...

In 2001 a new Land Law was adopted in Cambodia. It was significant because – for the first time – it recognised a new legal category of people, ‘Indigenous Peoples’ or chuncheat daoem pheak tech in Khmer, and it also introduced the legal concept of communal land rights to Cambodia. Indigenous Peoples are not mentioned in the 1993 constitution of Cambodia or any legislation pre-dating the 2001 L...

This paper was prepared under contract with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The positions and opinions presented are those of the authors alone and are not intended to represent the views of FAO. This study highlights lessons from recent policy, law and practice to improve and secure access to rural land for poorer groups. It focuses on Africa, Latin America a...