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

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109 effective negotiation. Moreover, high standards of transparency and robust accountability systems would be necessary to mitigate incentives for collusion and corruption by investors, government authorities, and even community authorities at the expense of communities. 10.6 GOVERNANCE AUTHORITIES To ensure responsiveness to community needs, equitable implementation of laws, and transparency in local dispute resolution, it is critical that Community Land governance authorities be socially legitimate actors with deep knowledge of customary rules and norms. Thus, we recommend that authorities governing land and natural resources be based at the level of the core tenure unit, as determined by the communities. These authorities should be representative, and can be pre-existing entities – such as elders, Family Heads, Quarter Chiefs, and Town Chiefs – or can be a new set of authorities charged with land and resource governance, either working in tandem with other authorities or independently charged with land and resource governance. One such possibility is locally-elected, representative councils that would be responsible for: administering and enforcing rules; working with their communities to develop new rules; and resolving disputes over land and natural resources. Preexisting local authorities would not be precluded from serving on these bodies if selected to do so by their communities. Depending on the preferences of the community, the authority of these chiefs and/or councils may go beyond land and natural resources. In any case, to ensure social legitimacy, communities should determine the format of their land and resource governance institutions, as well as be involved in a consultative, community-driven process to develop the rules (by-laws) that it will use to govern. However, national law would need to frame the process by which communities would determine their land tenure governance institutions. Whether communities opt for individual authorities, representative councils or a combination of both, local governance authorities should be recognized by the government and vested with the rights and responsibilities for governing land and resources. These would include developing new rights and rules for land and natural resources; adapting existing rights and rules; enforcing those rules; resolving land and resource disputes; and allocating unclaimed land, including farming plots, house plots, and areas for planting life trees. To ensure more equitable representation, we recommend that the government promote stronger integration of women and youth as governance authorities over land. In the studied clans, a few women and youth served as governance authorities. However, where women were in positions of authority, their power was often truncated by traditional gender roles. Similarly, youth sometimes struggled to have their voices heard, fueling a sense of exclusion and resentment. While increasing the number of women and youth as governance authorities will not immediately change the stereotypes associated with their ability to govern, doing so will create an environment whereby behaviors can gradually change over time. The government could promote women and youth as governance authorities by implementing representative body quotas on land governance councils; these representatives should be elected or otherwise chosen in a manner viewed as socially legitimate in eyes of community. Further, the government could develop programs to train and mentor female and youth leaders and implement campaigns that shift mindsets around women and youth as strong and responsible leaders. Finally, we recommend that Paramount and Clan Chiefs be removed from land and natural resource governance where they are not deemed to be the appropriate leaders of the community-recognized tenure unit. In the studied clans, we found that Paramount and Clan Chiefs rarely served as legitimate representatives of the core tenure unit. Their lack of legitimacy over land matters stems from their association with the government: these authorities are not indigenous to most parts of rural Liberia and were introduced by the government to support their indirect rule. Further, there have not been chieftaincy elections since 1987, meaning that some chiefs who do not represent the interests of their constituents have been serving in positions of power for decades. Thus, we recommend that Paramount and Clan Chiefs not have a role in land and natural resource governance, except where they are identified by communities as the leaders of the core CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERIA
110 tenure unit. Instead, this role could be more effectively fulfilled by locally legitimate authorities – Town Chiefs, elders, and/or a representative council. 10.7 DISPUTE RESOLUTION The authority to resolve land and natural resource disputes should also be vested in the locally-chosen authorities at the level of the core tenure unit, whether these authorities are the same as the bodies that would administer and enforce rules, or separate. Akin to other governance responsibilities, this authority would be vested in a representative council or other local authorities. We recommend that the government provide legal recognition for these dispute resolution bodies, clarify the chain of appeal, and support mediation, rather than adversarial justice. In regards to the chain of appeals, the process should be clarified up to the level of the courts. However, we recommend that the ability to use customary law (with some stipulations, e.g., restrictions on “Trial by Ordeal”) to resolve disputes be supported. If disputes are taken to the courts, the courts should recognize and make determinations with respect for customary law, 68 a capacity that is already backed by Article 65 of the Constitution. In disputes with outsiders or between tenure units, the first step should be mediation by representative councils, after which disputes should follow the normal chain of appeals. However, when a company or the government is a party to the dispute, local courts might be an appropriate first line of resolution. If the courts are to protect community claims on an equal footing with the claims of companies or the government, there is a need for investment in the justice system to ensure that it is impartial, accessible, and efficient. 10.8 CONCESSIONS AND PROTECTED AREAS Like fee simple deeds, communities should be empowered to challenge the validity of existing concessions (e.g., through provision of legal education and assistance). If concessions are found to have been acquired irregularly, they should be renegotiated. For all other concessions, once the period for the existing concession expires, we suggest that the land return to Community Land and that customary claimants be given the opportunity to acquire a certified communal holding (or expand an existing one) based on the evidence of their customary claim to the land. Protected Areas might follow a different process with preexisting protected areas excluded from the Tribal Reserve. However, the government could consider promoting FDA-community co-management arrangements that include representatives from neighboring communities on the protected area‟s governing body. Likewise, consideration should be given to prioritizing community members for employment opportunities and structuring revenue-sharing agreements with adjacent communities. Further, we recommend that the process for creating new protected areas be based on consultation and negotiation with communities, co-management governance models, preservation of local subsistence rights (and potentially certain commercial use rights) within the broader protected area, and compensation for lost rights to land and natural resources. 10.9 WOMEN’S LAND RIGHTS Though customary rules protect and support women‟s rights to a certain degree – particularly in their natal communities – investing in social interventions is critical to changing belief systems and behaviors that limit women‟s land rights. One potential social intervention would be to educate women about their rights under statute, while organizing women to advocate for their rights to land at the community level. Another option would be to strengthen laws to protect women‟s rights in their natal and marital communities. The government could also work with local governance authorities to reinstate traditions of communal labor to support widows or introduce these where they have not previously existed. This would enable widows to 68 Except where these contravene the laws of Liberia. 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
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52 Bush and Forest Resources In all
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54 Water and Fishing Access to wate
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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 and 130: 102 The current land tenure sys
Page 131 and 132: 104 10.0 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS In
Page 133 and 134: 106 communities. Instead, we sugges
Page 135: 108 apply for fee simple tenure. Th
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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