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

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xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report would not have been possible without the contributions and support of many individuals. We first wish to extend our utmost appreciation to the Liberian Land Commission for the support provided to this study. Particular thanks are due to Dr. Othello Brandy, Chairman; MacArthur Pay-Bayee, Executive Director; Dr. Jeanette Carter, Research Advisor; and Estelle Liberty, Commissioner, who dedicated significant time to guiding the research and to reviewing the individual case studies and this report. It is our foremost hope that this research can contribute to the Land Commission‟s efforts to reform policy and law so as to ensure tenure security and lasting peace for rural communities in Liberia. We are likewise grateful to the support and insights provided by the LPIS Chief of Party, Mark Marquardt and LPIS Technical Advisor, Megan Huth, who kept us on track and provided substantial guidance to our efforts. Special gratitude goes to the PRRGP Chief of Party, Mark Freudenberger, who created space amidst an overwhelming plethora of demands to train the research teams in methods of Rapid Rural Appraisal and to give us regular shots of encouragement and advice when we needed it most. We owe tremendous thanks to Robert Merritt, LPIS Deputy for Administration and Finance, and his team for the logistical and staffing support that they dedicated toward this effort. Likewise, we are indebted to our drivers, Jeff (aka Jetty), Bayo, Randall, Frank, and Sinoe, who deftly navigated us through some of the roughest terrain most of us have ever traveled and took the utmost precautions with our safety. We are immensely grateful to the 11 communities who hosted our research teams – many in their own homes – and gave substantial amounts of their time and energies to the research efforts and also to care for us. We learned more than we ever could have imagined at the outset of this endeavor. As a token of our respect and appreciation, we have taken special care to ensure that the experience and perspectives of the community members we spoke with are accurately conveyed in all our reports. We would also like to thank My-Lan Dodd, Amber Greenleaf, and Reem Gafar who spent a substantial amount of time editing and formatting this report. Their superior technical editing and formatting skills are very much appreciated. We also thank Reem for contributing her legal skills to the review of Liberian statutory law on land tenure. Huge appreciation goes to Gina Zanoli for volunteering several weeks of her time to edit the individual case study reports that formed the foundation for this synthesis report. Above all, we wish to thank the Liberian researchers with whom we carried out the research for this report: Abdullai Kamara, Ezekiel Freeman, Agnes Freeman-Kormon, Emmanuel Urey, Julu E. Swen, Johannson Dahn, and Mariama Kamara. Their competence, dedication, and intellect enriched our research while their warmth, caring, and undefeatable sense of humor have forever enriched our lives. CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERIA
xii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report synthesizes the findings from field research on land and natural resource tenure in 11 administrative clan units (henceforth referred to as „clans‟) in Liberia, including Ding, Dobli, Gbanshay, Little Kola, Mana, Motor Road, Saykleken, Tengia, Upper Workor, Ylan, and the community of Nitrian. The report presents an analysis of critical implications of the findings of the study and provides recommendations for addressing sources of tenure insecurity faced by rural communities in Liberia. The research was carried out under the auspices of the Liberian Land Commission and was undertaken with the primary purpose of improving the Commission‟s understanding of customary tenure in rural Liberia. The information and analyses are intended to enable the Land Commission to develop sound law and policy that will strengthen the land tenure security of rural communities in Liberia. This report was written as part of the Land Policy and Institutional Support (LPIS) Project, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The customary tenure studies were coordinated by Landesa and Tetra Tech ARD. The research informing this report was gathered using Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) methods. The research team consisted of two technical leads and a researcher from Landesa, and seven Liberian researchers. The team was composed of men and women representing different professional backgrounds, regional origins, ethnicities, and ages in order to capitalize on a diversity of skills, experiences, and insights to improve the quality of the research. In each study area, the research team spent five days engaging in a series of research exercises with clan members. LAND USES AND LIVELIHOODS The landscape and natural resources in the studied clans are characterized by hilly terrain supporting upland and lowland cultivation areas. Although the extent of primary forest has diminished over time, secondary forest or “bush,” which is converted to agricultural land after a period of fallow, is extensive. A few clans such as Motor Road, Ding, Saykleken, and Nitrian manage community forests, which have been set aside for specific purposes ranging from conservation to commercial timber extraction. All clans depend on land and natural resources for their livelihoods, primarily through agriculture, but also through harvesting forest products, water collection, fishing, hunting, and mining. In all 11 clans, land is primarily used for farming and settlement. Rice, cassava, and vegetables are the primary crops people rely on to meet their food needs. Collection of timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and hunting are undertaken in bush and forested areas where people also utilize creeks and streams for fishing and collecting water for domestic uses. In some clans, we encountered palm, rubber, cocoa, and coffee plantations; swampy lowlands cultivated in rice; and mineral rich areas utilized by artisanal gold and diamond miners. Although land set aside for permanent tree cropping was increasing in some clans, in others, the cultivation of tree crops was constrained by a lack of inputs, low prices, and poor access to markets. Rivers and creeks are plentiful in most clans, and two clans also border the Atlantic Ocean. Settlement areas differed by clan. For example, while settlements in some clans were highly populated and densely packed, in others, settlement areas had low populations with houses set far apart from one another. In some clans, we saw a few homes constructed with mud bricks and having zinc roofs – a sign of relative wealth. In most cases, however, the homes had earthen walls and thatch roofs. Farming was universally described as the most important livelihood activity in the studied clans with the exception of Mana Clan. In all the clans, farming is utilized predominantly for subsistence purposes. CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERIA
Page 1 and 2: LAND POLICY AND INSTITUTIONAL SUPPO
Page 3 and 4: LIBERIA LAND POLICY & INSTITUTIONAL
Page 5 and 6: ii 1.0 Introduction ...............
Page 7 and 8: iv 4.2.1 Statutory Tenure Claims by
Page 9 and 10: vi 7.3.2 Courts ...................
Page 11 and 12: viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Ma
Page 13: x ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS CDC CF
Page 17 and 18: xiv game for both sale and consumpt
Page 19 and 20: xvi manage tree crops where these a
Page 21 and 22: xviii In the clans we visited, stat
Page 23 and 24: xx DISPUTE RESOLUTION MECHANISMS Di
Page 25 and 26: xxii Recommended measures include t
Page 27 and 28: xxiv Remove land and governance au
Page 29 and 30: 2 This chapter begins with a presen
Page 31 and 32: 4 1.2 LAND TENURE AND RURAL LIVELIH
Page 33 and 34: 6 (Renner, 1931). Initially lacking
Page 35 and 36: 8 1.3 HISTORY OF LAND TENURE IN LIB
Page 37 and 38: 10 Certificate is merely a permit t
Page 39 and 40: 12 however, rights granted to commu
Page 41 and 42: 14 2.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This ch
Page 43 and 44: 16 Figure 2.2: FEWS-NET map of Libe
Page 45 and 46: 18 In each case, after completion o
Page 47 and 48: 20 3.0 LAND USE AND LIVELIHOODS Thi
Page 49 and 50: 22 Upland Rice Cultivated in each o
Page 51 and 52: 24 money quickly. However, they als
Page 53 and 54: 26 3.2.2 Trees In addition to food
Page 55 and 56: 28 large rubber farms ranging from
Page 57 and 58: 30 tasks assigned to women and vice
Page 59 and 60: 32 3.2.7 Hunting and Fishing In mos
Page 61 and 62: 34 bush and fell trees on a farmer
Page 63 and 64: 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
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58 Figure 4.6: Presence of differen
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60 bush resources largely follows c
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62 In Ylan, some land is held under
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64 the majority of studied clans, t
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66 We also found that, in the clans
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68 In some clans such as Upper Work
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70 Town Chiefs Town Chiefs represen
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72 dispute resolution. 55 While in
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74 such as Clan and Paramount Chief
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76 some women who held positions as
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78 could rely. This in turn produce
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80 community sometimes encounter re
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82 rubber on adjacent land, as well
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84 In other clans, including Ding a
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86 Disputes over Mining Mana Clan c
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88 7.0 DISPUTE RESOLUTION Dispute r
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90 7.2.2 Chairladies In Dobli, Gban
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92 7.3.4 Disputes between Clans/Dis
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94 In some clans, the abundance of
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96 8.2.2 Scale of Ownership Claims
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98 If communities anticipate that t
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100 The importance of documenting c
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102 The current land tenure sys
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104 10.0 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS In
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106 communities. Instead, we sugges
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108 apply for fee simple tenure. Th
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110 tenure unit. Instead, this role
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112 Tribal Certificates and Deeds R
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114 REFERENCES SECONDARY SOURCES Ak
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116 Wallace, Carolyn Gamiao and Rol
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118 DATE TIME ACTIVITY March 23, 20
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120 ANNEX 3: NORTHEAST TRANSECT, DO
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122 ANNEX 5: TOWN MAP, SAYKLEKAN CL
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124 ANNEX 7: HISTORICAL MATRIX, YLA
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126 ANNEX 9: DOBLI DISPUTE LETTER C
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128 ANNEX 11: TRIBAL CERTIFICATE FO
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130 ANNEX 13: SEASONAL CALENDARS, M
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132 ANNEX 14: COMMUNITY FOREST BY-L
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134 CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERI
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136 b. A family or individual shall
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138 a. Standing Rules Tree
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140 The amount of rattan collecte
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142 o o o o o o o Antelope Hippo
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144 Any community member or gro
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146 U.S. Agency for International D
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