Customary Land Certification, Governance and Natural Resource Use in Zambia: A Social Learning Approach
We are happy to invite you to the seminar led by Bridget Bwalya, Senior Lecturer at the University of Zambia. We will meet physically, but you can follow the presentation via Zoom, too.
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Speaker: Bridget Bwalya, University of Zambia
Topic: Customary Land Certification, Governance and Natural Resource Use in Zambia: A Social Learning Approach
Time: 8 December 12:15-13:00
Place: Room 744 or ZOOM (link, contact Tsimafei Kazlou or Fridah Siyanga-Tembo)
Debates on the relevance of customary land tenure systems in the developing world have heightened among scholars, development practitioners and policy makers in recent decades. Proponents argue that customary land tenure systems provide low cost access to land for rural dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa; contribute to group identity and offer communal management of natural resources. Conversely, opponents point out that customary land tenure systems perpetuate inequality against particular groups of people such as women, youths, and the economically disadvantaged; can be manipulated by individuals seeking power and control over land; discourage investments in sustainable land management; and are characterized by tenure insecurity. The lack of investments and assumed tenure insecurity have been attributed to the informal nature with which land rights are held under customary tenure systems.
The article reports on the outcomes of customary land certification, which comprised formalisation of customary land rights in three chiefdoms in Zambia. Results indicate that customary land certification reduced customary land markets and land conflicts, enhanced land tenure security and transparency in customary land administration but reduced communal natural resources management in the study sites. Access to financial credit was indirectly increased, as certification provided customary landowners with proof of residence, a requirement for bank loans. Villagers became emboldened to assert their land rights post certification. The article concludes that customary land tenure systems should not be assumed to encapsulate insecure land tenure a priori but customary land certification processes may induce tenure insecurity when they include conditions that present financial costs to land rights claimants and threaten loss of land rights.