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

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103 Uphold the local traditional dispute resolution process, such that disputes are referred to statutory authorities only when they cannot be resolved at the town level. (Little Kola) Government should set up dispute resolution centers in the towns. (Ylan) Set up a group to resolve land disputes locally. This group would travel to different towns and villages and help local leaders establish agreements on boundaries. (Tengia; Ylan) Empower the Norwegian Refugee Council to demarcate land boundaries and also resolve land disputes (Gbanshay) Make the justice system equitable and fair so that the poor and rich can both have a chance to win. (Nitrian) Government should help resolve ongoing boundary disputes between clans. (Dobli; Gbanshay) 9.1.8 Aid Local Agricultural Development Government should provide training programs to help clan members improve their agricultural activities. (Nitrian; Ylan) Women should be taught modernized ways of swamp farming. (Ylan) Government should provide seeds and farming materials to communities for farms and gardens. (Motor Road; Nitrian; Ylan) Government should provide loans so that local people can plant more life trees. (Saykleken) Government should promote food crop production so that there is a balance between rubber planting and food production. Some felt that landowners should be subjected to limits on production of cash crops. (Gbanshay) Government should provide job opportunities for the youth as a measure to alleviate rising pressures on land and to prevent further disputes. (Tengia) Government should help clan members better understand the weather changes so they can better plan their farming activities. (Nitrian) Government should help improve livelihoods by helping clan members start small businesses. (Nitrian) Government should rehabilitate deforested areas. (Ding) CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERIA
104 10.0 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS In this chapter, we draw from the research carried out in 11 clans to provide suggestions for actions that the Government of Liberia (GOL) can take to strengthen the tenure security of rural communities who rely primarily on custom to secure their rights to land and natural resources. Our recommendations are structured around three principal objectives: 1. To provide legal recognition of customary land tenure and immediately protect rural communities from further challenges to their customary claims; 2. To develop an inclusive process for adjudicating and recording community based tenure claims in a manner that reflects local norms and values and provides equitable access to land for rural populations; and, 3. To reform local land and natural governance institutions so that they command social legitimacy and can be held accountable by their constituencies. We begin with a discussion of legal reforms for consideration, and then present measures which could substantially protect the land rights of rural communities in a manner that is compatible with their tenure systems under custom. We also offer ideas for treating fee simple deeds to land located in areas traditionally claimed under customary tenure; reforming local authority structures for governance of land and natural resources to enable them to be more accountable to rural communities and better equipped to resolve land disputes; improving the effectiveness and durability of resolutions to land disputes; and enabling rural investment and biodiversity conservation. We conclude with proposals for additional measures to enhance women‟s land rights beyond recommendations embodied in the other sections. 10.1 LEGAL REFORMS Existing statutory law governing real property rights in Liberia presents many barriers to securing the land rights of rural communities, including laws and provisions that are vague or ambiguous, outdated, contradictory, and often outright discriminatory and offensive. A comprehensive review of civil law governing land tenure by Bruce and Kanneh (2011) recommends adoption of a Community Land Law to substantially replace existing laws affecting the land rights of rural communities in Liberia, a recommendation that we endorse as critical to helping to remedy the many sources of tenure insecurity uncovered by our research. In this section, we provide a framework for elements that this law might seek to embody based on our findings. Our research confirmed that communities in rural Liberia continue to face major threats to their land tenure security, which in turn threaten the fragile peace that Liberia has sustained for almost a decade. These tenure insecurities emanate in large part from the relentless subtraction of land from the customary realm, either through concession or via public land sales (primarily to outsiders, but also to local elites); conflicts between customary and statutory tenure; and discordant plural institutions for resolving competing claims that often lack adequate enforcement capacity. It is critical that rapid actions be taken to stem the tide of threats to the customary land rights of rural communities and, as such, the moratorium on public land sales should continue. The moratorium has been useful in reducing the erosion of customary land rights by impeding the removal of land from those who claim it under custom and historic right and its transfer to elite hands in fee simple tenure. Nevertheless, more stringent enforcement of the moratorium and closing loopholes that have allowed some individuals to by-pass it are needed to make it more effective. Moreover, a similar moratorium should be instated on the granting of concessions – the primary means by which communities are disenfranchised of their land rights – until such time as the necessary measures safeguarding communities‟ rights are in place. These measures CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERIA
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LAND POLICY AND INSTITUTIONAL SUPPO
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LIBERIA LAND POLICY & INSTITUTIONAL
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ii 1.0 Introduction ...............
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iv 4.2.1 Statutory Tenure Claims by
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vi 7.3.2 Courts ...................
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viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Ma
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x ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS CDC CF
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xii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report s
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xiv game for both sale and consumpt
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xvi manage tree crops where these a
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xviii In the clans we visited, stat
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xx DISPUTE RESOLUTION MECHANISMS Di
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xxii Recommended measures include t
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xxiv Remove land and governance au
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2 This chapter begins with a presen
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4 1.2 LAND TENURE AND RURAL LIVELIH
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6 (Renner, 1931). Initially lacking
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8 1.3 HISTORY OF LAND TENURE IN LIB
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10 Certificate is merely a permit t
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12 however, rights granted to commu
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14 2.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This ch
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16 Figure 2.2: FEWS-NET map of Libe
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18 In each case, after completion o
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20 3.0 LAND USE AND LIVELIHOODS Thi
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22 Upland Rice Cultivated in each o
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24 money quickly. However, they als
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26 3.2.2 Trees In addition to food
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28 large rubber farms ranging from
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30 tasks assigned to women and vice
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32 3.2.7 Hunting and Fishing In mos
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34 bush and fell trees on a farmer
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36 men‟s focus on life tree culti
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38 from one or more patrilineages,
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40 Figure 4.1: Access to land for f
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42 Figure 4.2: Children’s acquisi
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44 Figure 4.3: Profile of borrowing
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46 he/she is fully integrated as a
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48 widows will sometimes marry a ma
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50 Several communities have rules g
Page 79 and 80: 52 Bush and Forest Resources In all
Page 81 and 82: 54 Water and Fishing Access to wate
Page 83 and 84: 56 Other factors cited for contribu
Page 85 and 86: 58 Figure 4.6: Presence of differen
Page 87 and 88: 60 bush resources largely follows c
Page 89 and 90: 62 In Ylan, some land is held under
Page 91 and 92: 64 the majority of studied clans, t
Page 93 and 94: 66 We also found that, in the clans
Page 95 and 96: 68 In some clans such as Upper Work
Page 97 and 98: 70 Town Chiefs Town Chiefs represen
Page 99 and 100: 72 dispute resolution. 55 While in
Page 101 and 102: 74 such as Clan and Paramount Chief
Page 103 and 104: 76 some women who held positions as
Page 105 and 106: 78 could rely. This in turn produce
Page 107 and 108: 80 community sometimes encounter re
Page 109 and 110: 82 rubber on adjacent land, as well
Page 111 and 112: 84 In other clans, including Ding a
Page 113 and 114: 86 Disputes over Mining Mana Clan c
Page 115 and 116: 88 7.0 DISPUTE RESOLUTION Dispute r
Page 117 and 118: 90 7.2.2 Chairladies In Dobli, Gban
Page 119 and 120: 92 7.3.4 Disputes between Clans/Dis
Page 121 and 122: 94 In some clans, the abundance of
Page 123 and 124: 96 8.2.2 Scale of Ownership Claims
Page 125 and 126: 98 If communities anticipate that t
Page 127 and 128: 100 The importance of documenting c
Page 129: 102 The current land tenure sys
Page 133 and 134: 106 communities. Instead, we sugges
Page 135 and 136: 108 apply for fee simple tenure. Th
Page 137 and 138: 110 tenure unit. Instead, this role
Page 139 and 140: 112 Tribal Certificates and Deeds R
Page 141 and 142: 114 REFERENCES SECONDARY SOURCES Ak
Page 143 and 144: 116 Wallace, Carolyn Gamiao and Rol
Page 145 and 146: 118 DATE TIME ACTIVITY March 23, 20
Page 147 and 148: 120 ANNEX 3: NORTHEAST TRANSECT, DO
Page 149 and 150: 122 ANNEX 5: TOWN MAP, SAYKLEKAN CL
Page 151 and 152: 124 ANNEX 7: HISTORICAL MATRIX, YLA
Page 153 and 154: 126 ANNEX 9: DOBLI DISPUTE LETTER C
Page 155 and 156: 128 ANNEX 11: TRIBAL CERTIFICATE FO
Page 157 and 158: 130 ANNEX 13: SEASONAL CALENDARS, M
Page 159 and 160: 132 ANNEX 14: COMMUNITY FOREST BY-L
Page 161 and 162: 134 CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERI
Page 163 and 164: 136 b. A family or individual shall
Page 165 and 166: 138 a. Standing Rules Tree
Page 167 and 168: 140 The amount of rattan collecte
Page 169 and 170: 142 o o o o o o o Antelope Hippo
Page 171 and 172: 144 Any community member or gro
Page 173: 146 U.S. Agency for International D
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