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Land in Africa: Market Asset or Livelihood Security? was a two-day Conference held November 8-9, 2004 in London, UK. It offered a platform to explore current thinking and experience with land tenure issues across the continent and debate how best to promote secure rights, investment and economic growth. Aimed at feeding ideas into the Commission for Africa, the conference was coordinated by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) of the University of Greenwich and the Royal African Society (RAS) in association with key African and European partners.

Objectives:
The conference brought together more than 100 people from Africa, Europe and North America including government officials, representatives from civil society organisations, research organisations, international agencies and the private sector. Together participants addressed two key dimensions of land and property rights in Africa and their implications for future stability, prosperity and poverty reduction. These were:

• The links between property rights, investment and the generation of economic opportunities in the context of global integration.
• How best to secure access to land for farmers and the urban poor as the basis for improved livelihoods and food security.

The conference included keynote presentations, plenary discussion and working group sessions. Participants discussed the conditions under which different approaches to securing rights over land can be successful, taking into account dynamic change at local, regional and international levels. The working group sessions focused on:

• Formalising and securing land rights: diverse approaches from Africa
• Gender, land rights and inheritance
• Urban and peri-urban land development and land use conflict
• Global and local markets, changing land relations
• Securing collective rights to land and natural resources

The aim of the conference was to feed ideas and policy advice to the work of the Commission for Africa, established by Prime Minister Tony Blair, which is due to report to the G8 summit in July 2005.

Conference documents:
Agenda: (View PDF 43K)
Conference Summary: (View PDF 253K)
Conference Proceedings: (View PDF 495K)

Key Note Presentations:

Minister Dominic Fobih, Ghana (statement to conference but not presented): View PDF 58K)

Minister Patricia Hajabakiga, Rwanda: (View PDF 36K)

Ben Cousins, PLAAS, South Africa: (View PDF 11K)

Klaus Deininger, World Bank:	(View Powerpoint 69K)
	(View PDF 40K)

Rosebud Kurwijila, African Union: (View Powerpoint 297K)

Thiendou Niang, REPA, Senegal: (View PDF 59K)

Adebayo Olukoshi, CODESRIA, Senegal: (View PDF 40K)

Working Group 1: Formalising and securing land rights: diverse approaches from Africa

Julian Quan and Camilla Toulmin, UK:	(View Powerpoint 65K)
	(View PDF 46K)

Mekelle University, Ethiopia: (View PDF 23K)

Arlindo Chilundo, Mozambique: (View PDF 64K)

Honorat Edja, Mozambique: (View PDF 157K)

Report back to plenary: (View PDF 19K)

Working Group 2: Gender, land rights and inheritance

Dzodzi Tsikata, Ghana: (View PDF 55K)

Cheryl Walker, South Africa: (View PDF 33K)

Gladys Mutangadura, UNECA: (View PDF 98K)

Report back to plenary: (View Powerpoint 37K)

Working Group 3: Urban and peri-urban land development and land use conflict

Anna Tibaijuka, UN Habitat: (View PDF 22K)

Report back to plenary: (View PDF 21K)

Working Group 4: Global and local markets, changing land relations

Kojo Amanor, Ghana: (View PDF 473K)

Jose Negrao, Mozambique: (View PDF 36K)

Jean-Philippe Colin, France: (View PDF 25K)

Paul Mathieu, FAO: (View PDF 22K)

Report back to plenary: (View PDF 9K)

Working Group 5: Securing collective rights to land and natural resources

Lorenzo Cotula, UK:	(View Powerpoint 54K)
	(View PDF 35K)

Report back to plenary: (View PDF 20K)

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