Customary Land Tenure in Liberia - Land Tenure and Property ...

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8.0 TENURE SECURITY AND
INSECURITY
Land tenure security may be defined as an individual‟s perception of his/her rights to a piece of land on a
continual basis, free from interference from outside sources, as well as having the ability to reap the benefits
invested in land, either in use or upon alienation (Place et al., 1994). Land tenure security is important to rural
investment in productive activities, the sustainable use of resources, and food security. It is also a core
component of social security for communities that depend on land as their primary source of livelihood. In
this research, we examined people‟s perceptions around ownership 65 and control over land and other natural
resources, and uncovered important revelations concerning communities‟ security of tenure. While in some
clans sources of tenure insecurity were widespread and severe, in others they were few and manageable. This
chapter highlights the main sources of land tenure security and insecurity in the studied clans.
8.1 SOURCES OF LAND TENURE SECURITY
8.1.1 Kinship and Communal “Ownership”
In each of the clans that we visited, the main sources of customary tenure security are ancestral claims and
kinship ties. These claims to land extend back to the areas‟ original settlers who cleared the forests, thereby
laying claim to the land and establishing governance rights over access to and use of the areas‟ resources. In
Tengia, Upper Workor, Mana, Motor Road, Little Kola, Tengia, and Saykleken, people that live and farm on
family land have perpetual, heritable rights to this land and claim ownership over it. Clan members in
Saykleken, Nitrian, Upper Workor, and Tengia reported that they are not worried about losing their rights to
land because the land belongs to them; since their forefathers lived and died on the same land, no one can
take it away from them.
Patrilineal affiliation plays an important role in tenure security. In particular, primary rights to land are secured
through “core tenure units.” Primary rights within a “core tenure unit” are chiefly earned through one‟s
patrilineal affiliation, i.e., children gain primary rights to land in the natal community of their father rather
than that of their mother. Every citizen of these core tenure units has a right to access land and resources
within his/her group‟s territory. In Nitrian Community and Saykleken, membership is at the community and
extended family level, respectively, and we heard several times that people cannot refuse their brothers and
sisters access to land because they have the same ancestors. Similarly, in Tengia, community members insisted
that one cannot refuse to lend land to another member if their land is not ready to farm. In Upper Workor,
land is held communally by the clan and, as one chief asserted, “The land is for all of us.” In Ding, land is
accessed at the town-level; citizens of a town have the right to access land and can make their farm anywhere
in their town‟s bush, regardless of where their parents farmed or even where they farmed in the previous
season. In Mana, land is claimed by extended families such that family members have the inherent right,
based on their kinship ties, to farm a piece of the family‟s land. Even if absent from the land for 10 to 20
years, the land is still “for them.”
65 Use of the term “ownership” in this report refers to a family or individual who has a permanent claim to land or to a
particular resource and has the right to transfer that claim to other members of his/her family (e.g., children). Ownership
may come with restrictions on how the land/resource can be used or on transferring the land/resource to persons
outside of the family (including prohibiting permanent alienation of land), with such restrictions often emanating from
customary tenure systems. The term “own” likewise refers to the act of ownership.
CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERIA