Legal empowerment for local resource control

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local levels. Overall, the law tends to accord greater protection to some
interests (foreign investment) than to others (local resource users). These
asymmetries in the law broadly reflect power asymmetries between foreign
investors, local resource users, the host state and other actors involved in or
affected by the investment project.
Secondly, the study analyses the legal tools that have been used in several
African countries to secure the resource rights of local groups affected by
foreign investment projects, and to address power asymmetries between
local resource users and foreign investors (Part III). This includes vesting
greater resource rights with local groups (e.g. through community land
registration or decentralisation); tightening requirements for minimising
and compensating negative impacts on local resource rights (e.g. through
more demanding rules on compensation for taking or damage to property);
and strengthening local consultation and benefit-sharing requirements.
The conclusion (Part IV) analyses the way and extent to which these legal
tools can tackle the asymmetries both in power and in the law identified
above; and outlines ways for taking forward the key findings of this study.
The study was prepared for the “Legal tools for community empowerment”
project – a collaborative project to empower local resource users affected by
investment projects in Africa (see Box 1). During the scoping phase of that
project, research was undertaken to identify innovative approaches for
securing local resource rights, and to assess the extent to which procedural
rights (e.g. access to information, public participation in decision-making)
can enable local resource users to have greater say in decision-making. The
research aimed to develop a coherent conceptual framework for project
activities, and to take stock of experience with using legal processes as a
means for empowerment. It was to pave the way to the in-country work of
the “Legal tools” project, and to generate knowledge for wider
dissemination. This publication summarises key findings of the research on
securing local resource rights (the findings of the research on procedural
rights are summarised in a separate report).
The study is likely to be of interest to development lawyers, development
practitioners working at a macro-planning level, and researchers. As for
development practitioners, the study sets out the case for taking law
seriously as a tool for empowerment and positive change. As for