ILC Participation at the International Conference on Agrarian Reform (ICARRD)

Porto Alegre, Brazil
7-10 March 2006

ILC Side Events

ILC organized two side events, the first on the role of networks, particularly at national and regional levels, and the second on alternatives to individual private property tenure systems. These two topics built on the message ILC has been receiving from its partners, most notably at the 2005 assembly, to use global forums to emphasize the importance of collective action and of the range of tenure systems that exist.

1. Networking side event

The first event featured four panelists: Chebaine Coulibaly, Land Net West Africa (Mali); Erpan Faryadi, KPA (Indonesia); Jorge Alberto Mayorga, Grupo Tierra (Nicaragua); and Fernando Eguren, CEPES / Andean Forum (Peru). Key issues that they raised included:

• Land Net West Africa

  • LNWA emerged about ten years ago as part of a meeting organized by CILLS, a regional institution, to address land and decentralization. This was the first regional event that included representatives of farmers' organization. LNWA researchers supported these organizations to prepare for the conference.

  • Following the event, though, agreements made were never implemented. This pointed to the need for a more permanent network, which could facilitate interaction between the state and civil society on a more regular basis.

  • LNWA plays a role in mediating or facilitating cooperation between civil society and governments. In Burkina Faso , LNWA has succeeded to involve traditional leaders - previously in open conflict with the state - in national celebrations that serve as reflections on land tenure.

  • The network also undertakes advocacy toward national and regional institutions to reform land policies, and provides support to researchers who are threatened because of their work.

• KPA

  • In Indonesia , land reform has been a politically charged issue, particularly because of its relation to the conflict between the communist party and the military in the 1960s. KPA was formed in 1994 as part of an effort to engage the government in a way that presented land reform as a politically neutral concept in policy debate.

  • Through its involvement in international networks, such as the ILC, KPA has been able to demonstrate to the Indonesian government that land reform is a topic that can and should be addressed.

  • Networks act as bridges to link different kinds of organizations, but should not necessarily mediate among their members. Within the ILC, for example, there is value in having a chance to express concerns and protests to international agencies about market-based approaches, without the network trying to mediate different points of view directly.

• Grupo Tierra

  • This national network developed out of a meeting in Nicaragua in 2003, and works to increase member's human resource capacity and access to information, and to reflect and analyze public policies related to land.

  • The network also supports local initiatives, e.g., community mapping, in ways that fill gaps in public policies, e.g., demarcation and measurement of community lands. These local efforts are then fed back into national-level advocacy.

• CEPES / Andean Forum

  • The goal of the Andean Forum was to form a platform that could act at the regional level, to articulate and advocate steps needed to ensure rural development. Part of this strategy is to increase the strength of network members in addressing issues of globalization

  • The need here is for the network to take on a more active role in policy debate and processes. It is not enough for there to be exchange of information, there also needs to be action taken at the level of political institutions, to influence their decisions.

There were a number of good questions and comments during the discussion that followed. While there is a need for networks to engage policy processes, a colleague from TRANSAL in South Africa noted that there can also be a risk in being seen as siding with a particularly political party or movement. The challenge for networks is to act politically, without entering politics.

The high costs of networking were also raised, given that regular communication and face-to-face interaction is important for maintaining strong links. This can be a challenge for regional networks, and also for national ones that have partners spread out across distances or in isolated rural areas. International agencies were called upon to support the infrastructure of networking - there is no point in discussing the importance of "participation" or "becoming knowledge organizations" if there is not an investment in bringing people and organizations together to work toward these goals.

2. Tenure systems side event

The second side event featured three ILC partners as speakers: José Lima Kaxinawá of Comisao Pro-Indio / ACRE ( Brasil ); Abby Sabena of Uganda Land Alliance; and Lisa del Grande of AFRA ( South Africa ). There presentations focused on local and national experiences with common property, communal land and customary tenure. I also presented an overview of findings from the common property case studies that we received last year (see attached). Main points from the presentations included:

• Comisao Pro-Indio / ACRE

  • Most of the land in the region has now been mapped, and focus is now on training rangers to manage and safeguard forest resources. These resources, including wildlife, form the basis of people's livelihood, so it is imperative that resource use and conditions be monitored.

  • Group action is the key to sound forest resource management. Without this, the population level and exploitation of resources would increase, and available land would decrease. There is strength and belief in the power of collective action - one person on his own cannot ensure sustainable resource management, but this can be accomplished by working together.

  • Similar activities are now being carried out in other parts of Brazil 's Amazon basin.

• ULA

  • Customary lands make up abut 70 percent of all landholdings in Uganda . The land law passed in 1995 allows for families to register their rights to individual or household plots within communal land areas. Customary law can remain in effect in these areas, so long as it does not permit discriminatory practices against women or other social groups. Transfer of land without the permission of both spouses is prohibited.

  • The land law is being implemented slowly, however, because not all the administrative institutions are in place (especially at the local level) or receiving adequate support. The process is generating high costs.

  • But, on the positive side, people's perceptions are that tenure security is improving. Certificates of customary right to land seem to satisfy people's need for protection against encroachment.

• AFRA

  • The challenge in South Africa is not to "upgrade" secondary rights, but to find alternatives to the existing property rights model, which itself is contributing to entrenched poverty. The state needs to play a more active role in developing these alternatives.

  • In the case of Ekutheleni, local land tenure systems have endured, despite shifts in state-recognized ownership of the community's land since the 1970s. Local residents want greater access to credit and services from the municipality (which may be denied if the state does not recognize land rights), and protection against encroachment by the state or other actors.

  • Residents did not want to convert a township with to individual titles, however - land rights are considered to be held by families, including past and future generations, not by individuals.

  • AFRA worked with residents to find some solution, but thus far has not succeeded, given existing land policy framework. It is not possible to convert social values into title deeds; the state system needs to move closer to those local values, if a compromise solution is to be found.

• ILC secretariat

  • A sharp distinction between group and individual rights cannot always be made - there were examples where land changed from individual to common property depending on the season, or where individually cultivated land reverts back to group ownership if it is left unused for a certain period, e.g., four years.

  • In most of the cases, some kind of common property system exists, but challenges to these systems performing effectively: (a) l ack of recognition in state laws and regulations; (b) changes to the local social and economic context, including migration both into and out of rural areas; and (c) commercialization of land resources, particularly through outside investment, and power asymmetry with external actors.

  • In response to these challenges, there has been a renewed focus on strengthening local groups to undertake collective actions needed for effective management of the commons. In some cases, changing relationships between governments and local institutions has increased support to local institutions that are managing common property.

There were about 25-30 participants in each of the two side events, mostly from among the civil society and researchers taking part in the conference. In general, very few government representatives were taking part in the ICARRD side events.