scholarly journals The Environmental Effect of Land Use in the Tenure Systems in Ghana

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (6) ◽  
pp. 1889-1897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Libor Grega ◽  
Emmanuel Kofi Ankomah
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Land Acquisitions ◽  
Tenure System ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Land Tenure System ◽  
Soil Depletion ◽  
Negative Impacts

This paper examines the land tenure system in Ghana and its impact on the environment. The main forms of land tenure systems are explained and the positive and negative impacts of each of these forms on the environment analysed. Specific attention is devoted to deforestation and soil depletion. The complex problems of land acquisition in Ghana, and the inherent insecurity effects on farming, which is considered to be the most important economic activity in the rural areas are examined. The analyses and the result proved that the insecurity of land tenure system has a direct relationship with the environment. Cross-sectional data analyses establishes that traditional forms of land acquisitions, ownership and land use form part of the main causes of environmental degradation in Ghana.

scholarly journals Individual Land Tenure and the Challenges of Sustainable Land Use and Management in a Semi-arid Region of China

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Yongjun Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Sustainable Land Use ◽  
Tenure System ◽  
Land Tenure System ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Semi Arid Region ◽  
Land Use And Management ◽  
Responsibility System

China’s farmland tenure, characterised by a household responsibility system (HRS) and collective landownership, has contributed to the continuation of poverty and natural resource deterioration in semiarid regions. Incongruent with local ecological, social and political conditions, the HRS has been linked to rising social and political tensions. Drawing on ethnographic research in Guyuan County, North China, this paper provides peasants’ experiences of and views on the land issue and examines the linkages between land tenure, poverty and the governance of natural resources—grassland, forest land, farmland and water. It shows that an appropriate land tenure system can only be achieved if the fragmentation and individualization of the HRS are reformed through an innovative institutional design. The paper also contributes to a critical understanding of China’s agrarian reform by articulating the need for land tenure diversity serving the overall goal of sustainable land use and management and shaping sound statepeasant relations.

Discourse on women and land tenure in Ghana: does a matrilineal land tenure system make a difference for women?

2021 ◽  
pp. 129-142
Author(s):  
Nancy Kankam Kusi ◽  
Frank Mintah ◽  
Valentina Nyame ◽  
Uchendu Eugene Chigbu ◽  
Menare Royal Mabakeng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Tenure ◽  
Social System ◽  
Land Ownership ◽  
Male Dominance ◽  
Her Family ◽  
Tenure System ◽  
System P ◽  
Land Tenure System ◽  
Cultural Negotiations ◽  
Female Power

Abstract This chapter highlights that matriarchy and matrilineal social orientations are not inherent guarantees of women's access to land but can reinforce male dominance over land ownership, control, and access to land. It notes that social structures and norms are subject to change and, in this instance, colonialization and modernization have acted as the two key influencers in reshaping Asante matriarchy. The researchers argue that the continuous interplay of cultural negotiations within the traditional matriarchal regime have caused a drastic transformation in Asante land tenure system which have fuelled unequal access to land. In effect, a postcolonial Asante woman is no longer guaranteed land tenure security from her family or community and more likely to face the harsh realities of landlessness. The chapter does not assume equal access to land hitherto but notes that the inequality gap has been further widened by the weakening of 'female power' in the matriarchal social system.

scholarly journals When Tradition Meets Modernity in Land Registration: Evidence from Dagbon, Ghana

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 416
Author(s):  
David Asante Edwin ◽  
Evam Kofi Glover ◽  
Edinam K. Glover
Keyword(s):  
Land Tenure ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Land Ownership ◽  
Registration System ◽  
Land Registration ◽  
Tenure System ◽  
Title Registration ◽  
Land Tenure System ◽  
Customary Land ◽  
And Control

Development practice over recent years in much of Africa prioritized formalization of land policies deemed to enhance better handling and use of land as an asset for social development. Following this trend, land reform policy in Ghana was based on a pluralistic legal system in which both the customary land tenure system and the statutory system of land ownership and control co-exist by law. The primary research question for this study was the following: What implications emerge when customary land tenure system and the statutory system of land ownership and control co-exist in law? The study discussed the prospects and challenges of land title registration and the meaning of the new organizing concept in land ownership and administration among the people of Dagbon in the northern region of Ghana. The principal aim of the study was to assess the challenges of the implementation of a modern land registration system over a deeply traditional one. A qualitative research methodology was used and included qualitative descriptive analysis. This descriptive-analytical study was carried out to investigate opinions on the implications of the merger and preferred options for redress of any systemic challenges. It employed Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) to supplement in-depth interviews. Interviews were conducted among 40 key participants within formal and informal institutions including officials from both the Land Commission and Town and Country Planning Departments. Purposeful sampling was employed, and an interview guide was developed and used for collecting the data. Data were analyzed using a thematic approach. The results showed that in this structural reform, the ‘allodial title’ holder was much more trusted for tenure security because of the traditional legitimacy of the King as the sole owner and controller of land. The title registration system therefore principally served the secondary purpose as additional security. The findings indicate that in the circumstance where the law was seen as pliable, the policy engendered blurred and confusing effects that deepened the sense of ambiguity and outcomes were sometimes contradictory. We argued that the crossroads presented challenges that were novel and engendered innovative thinking for more appropriate solutions. The study revealed that policy reforms must be tailor-made to the physical, social, cultural and economic settings.

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