Strengthening capacity - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

5
STRENGTHENING
CAPACITY TO
MANAGE LAND DISPUTES
Challenges
Given the economic, social, and cultural importance
of land, disputes over it are common in all
societies. As discussed in the Guidance Note on
land issues, developing a system that provides
secure land rights in conflict contexts requires
resolving broad tensions between and within
systems of formal and customary land rights, and
resolving specific tenure disputes within a more
unified framework. Establishing tenure can be
highly competitive and even aggressive in the
absence of trusted and accessible allocation and
dispute resolution systems. Competing statutory,
communal and religious legal systems can add
another layer of complexity to the situation.
In addition to these basic challenges of legal
coherence and dispute resolution, post-conflict
situations also present a number of unique
challenges, the most pressing of which are
resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
and demobilized combatants, and land reform.
Additionally, documentation regarding land titles
and land rights may be destroyed during war and
“land grabs” may occur in post-war situations as
people attempt to stake claims in the absence of
a functioning governance system. Post-conflict
countries may also experience serious localized
scarcities of land suitable for settlement, agriculture,
or herding due to population movements in the
aftermath of conflict; furthermore, some areas
may be rendered unusable because of unexploded
ordnance, landmines and other toxic legacies of the
war. During a conflict people may also move into
protected or ecologically sensitive areas, resulting in
considerable damage as an unintended consequence
of coping behaviour. Unsustainable practices among
displaced people, coupled with rapid resource
extraction by war profiteers during the conflict,
may modify critical land cover such as forests in
unsustainable ways. In the absence of clear and
viable alternatives, these practices can persist and
become routine.
EU and UN can help government and civil
society to:
5.1 Understand the land and
conflict context
Support environment-conflict analysis: Involve
local institutions, civil society groups and
regional groupings with local name recognition
and legitimacy in the analytical process:
o
o
o
Actors: Which groups make conflicting land
claims Do major stakeholders bear attitudes
of confidence or mistrust towards particular
institutions such as the judiciary, land
commission, or titling agency
Conflict drivers: Why does each group
value land Are land conflicts tied to other
resource issues such as access to water or
control of high-value extractives How does
land factor into ethnic, religious, or other
group identities
Context and institutions: Map the existing
systems of authority and control over
land rights. What roles have various land
institutions played in creating or sustaining
conflict Which institutions in the sector are
trusted, and by whom Are there competing
power structures and, if so, where do these
systems overlap and create competing land
claims
18
TOOLKIT AND GUIDANCE FOR PREVENTING AND
MANAGING LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES CONFLICT