Sitting on the Land

Out of War ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 147-170
Author(s):  
Mariane C. Ferme
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
National Politics ◽  
The Face ◽  
Decentralized Governance ◽  
African Context ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Large Scale Land

Even in the broader African context, in which the chieftaincy has enjoyed a renaissance, the institution enjoys unusual power in Sierra Leone, where chiefs have strong representation and votes in national politics. Following more sedentary, land-based models of sovereignty in colonial times, the decade-long civil war saw the reemergence of alternative, more mobile models of the chieftaincy harkening back to precolonial times, in the face of massive population displacements. In the aftermath of war, when many chieftaincies were vacant, the possibility of replacing this hybrid hereditary-elected office with more democratic district councils was debated, but chiefs continue to be key members of these institutions, which rely on them for the collection of revenue and the administration of justice, particularly in rural areas. The chapter argues that the resurgence of this institution in sub-Saharan Africa is due to the ways in which chieftaincy stands for a more culturally legitimate form of decentralized governance, in contrast with the corrupt institutions of state governance. In Sierra Leone, the office’s continued identification with the local administration and allocation of land gives it renewed importance in the face of large-scale land deals with (and land grabs by) foreign investors. The expanding practice of conferring honorary chieftaincies to foreign agents of development contributes to the deterritorialization of the institution.

What Can Be Expected from International Frameworks to Regulate Large-Scale Land and Water Acquisitions in Sub-Saharan Africa?

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Brüntrup ◽  
Waltina Scheumann ◽  
Axel Berger ◽  
Lidija Christmann ◽  
Clara Brandi
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
International Governance ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Large Scale Land ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis paper explores the use of international governance frameworks as being one of the ways to regulate large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs). LSLAs are currently flourishing in both developed and developing countries, in particular in the sub-Saharan Africa region. Although they can potentially have many positive impacts in rural areas, many LSLAs have been shown to mainly produce negative impacts in poor countries with weak national policy and institutional frameworks and poorly defined rights for rural people. To successfully regulate the occurrence of LSLAs and their impacts, it needs to be understood that LSLAs are more complex than they are usually portrayed as being. Some of the complexities pertain to water issues; provenience of investors; legality and legitimacy of acquisitions; as well as the diversity of actors and the people affected. Against this background, five international frameworks are looked at: human rights, voluntary international guidelines, international global water governance regimes and bi-/multilateral river treaties, and voluntary private standards and codes. The paper concludes that the frameworks reviewed provide valuable guidance regarding LSLAs, but no single approach can help in dealing with the multitude of actors, situations, and impacts of LSLAs. Even if they are considered collectively, they can tackle many but not all challenges. Yet, their implementation could substantially improve the process and the impact of LSLAs, including their refusal. A key question is how these frameworks are deployed at the local level. Some rely on translation into national laws and on their implementation, others try to establish a direct linkage between the international and the local level. It is of great interest to study how international frameworks trickle down to local policy arenas, how they are used by stakeholders, and how they are finally shaping conflicts at the local level and affecting their results. In particular, their potential for empowering poor stakeholders should be of interest for research and development.

scholarly journals The Determinants of Large-Scale Land Acquisitions (LSLAs) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): A Case Study

Agriculture ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Mazzocchi ◽  
Michele Salvan ◽  
Luigi Orsi ◽  
Guido Sali
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Land Policy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Land Acquisitions ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Large Scale Land ◽  
Investment Process ◽  
Agricultural Investments ◽  
Formal Recognition

The determinants of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) are, in most cases, outside the traditional sales–buying land market, as they are often rented lands for long periods of time or exploitation licenses. Sub-Saharan Africa is among the most affected regions by this phenomenon for reasons related to its land policy, and includes 37% of the total LSLAs cases. The paper develops an econometric model based on a logarithmic OLS regression to identify the determinants of LSLAs in sub-Saharan Africa. As suggested by the literature, this analysis poses the total agricultural area acquired by country as dependent variable. Results show that investors prefer a country offering a sufficiently free trade economic context with a good level of agricultural productivity, thus allowing an easy investment process. Moreover, a country with a formal recognition of land rights is preferred, to have guarantees on their investment. The availability of water is also one of the main LSLAs drivers, as a natural limit of agricultural investments.

scholarly journals Measuring Regional Ethnolinguistic Diversity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Surveys vs. GIS

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S40-S45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Gershman ◽  
Diego Rivera
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Information Systems ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Population Surveys ◽  
Development Indicators ◽  
Scale Population ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract This paper compares two approaches to measuring subnational ethnolinguistic diversity in Sub-Saharan Africa, one based on censuses and large-scale population surveys and the other relying on the use of geographic information systems (GIS). The two approaches yield sets of regional fractionalization indices that show a moderately positive correlation, with a stronger association across rural areas. These differences matter for empirical analysis: in a common sample of regions, survey-based indices of deep-rooted diversity show a more strongly negative association with a range of development indicators relative to their highest-quality GIS-based counterparts.

scholarly journals ‘New agriculture’ for sustainable development? Biofuels and agrarian change in post-war Sierra Leone

2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Maconachie ◽  
Elizabeth Fortin
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Food Prices ◽  
Agrarian Change ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Green Capitalism ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Post War ◽  
Sustainability Standards

ABSTRACTIn sub-Saharan Africa, commercial bioenergy production has been hailed as a new form of ‘green capitalism’ that will deliver ‘win-win’ outcomes and ‘pro poor’ development. Yet in an era of global economic recession and soaring food prices, biofuel ‘sustainability’ has been at the centre of controversy. This paper focuses on the case of post-war Sierra Leone, a country that has over the last decade been consistently ranked as one of the poorest in the world, facing food insecurity, high unemployment and entrenched poverty. Following a recent government strategy to secure foreign direct investment in biofuels production in agriculturally rich regions of the country, the largest foreign investment in Sierra Leone since the end of its civil war has been secured: a Swiss company is to invest US$368 million into a large-scale biofuels project over the course of 3 years, and promises to simultaneously stimulate an enabling environment for investment, provide job opportunities for youth and increase food production. For multiple actors involved in the project, the concept of ‘sustainability’ is crucial but accordingly there are varying interpretations of its meaning. Such differences in interpretation and the complex contradictions within discourses of sustainability are in turn framed by the various scales within which these actors are situated. While attempts have been made to manage these contradictions through global sustainability standards, the unequal power relations between different actors will ultimately determine the ways in which they are likely to be resolved. The paper concludes by reflecting on how these processes may be contributing to a changing governance landscape and wider global political economy within which bioenergy is being produced, processed and consumed.

The Law and Land Grabbing: Friend or Foe?

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liz Alden Wily
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Land Acquisitions ◽  
Customary Rights ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Large Scale Land ◽  
Customary Land

AbstractThis paper reflects upon the role of law in the contemporary surge in global large-scale land acquisitions. Its point of reference is the land security of several billion rural poor who traditionally own and use untitled lands that are classified as state lands or unowned public lands in national laws. Most of the affected lands are off-farm areas including forests, marshlands, and rangelands. Investors target these lands in belief they are unowned. Governments concur, selling or leasing these lands on grounds of being technically the lawful owner and despite awareness that these lands are occupied and used. Despite the longstanding nature of such conflicts as well known and long debated, the present land rush brings unresolved contradictions between statutory and customary law and associated meanings of property firmly to the fore. Using Sub-Saharan Africa as the example, this paper examines the legal effects. It is shown that while millions of local land rights are threatened, the land rush also vitalises demands for improved national law status for unregistered customary rights, including those such as forest and rangelands purposely held by communities in common. To this extent, the contemporary rush could prove as much legal friend as foe to majority land rights in agrarian economies. This is partly because the current rush, unlike those that have gone before it, occurs in an environment of advanced popular communication, emergent mass empowerment, and has the advantage of a pre-rush era of legal improvement in the handling of indigenous and customary land rights that has established alternative precedents. Opportunities to coerce modification of classical dispossessory paths of economic growth strongly exist. Global advocacy for secure community land rights is rapidly advancing.

scholarly journals mHealth in Sub-Saharan Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Betjeman ◽  
Samara E. Soghoian ◽  
Mark P. Foran
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Direct Care ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Wireless Data Transmission ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Sub Saharan

Mobile phone penetration rates have reached 63% in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and are projected to pass 70% by 2013. In SSA, millions of people who never used traditional landlines now use mobile phones on a regular basis. Mobile health, or mHealth, is the utilization of short messaging service (SMS), wireless data transmission, voice calling, and smartphone applications to transmit health-related information or direct care. This systematic review analyzes and summarizes key articles from the current body of peer-reviewed literature on PubMed on the topic of mHealth in SSA. Studies included in the review demonstrate that mHealth can improve and reduce the cost of patient monitoring, medication adherence, and healthcare worker communication, especially in rural areas. mHealth has also shown initial promise in emergency and disaster response, helping standardize, store, analyze, and share patient information. Challenges for mHealth implementation in SSA include operating costs, knowledge, infrastructure, and policy among many others. Further studies of the effectiveness of mHealth interventions are being hindered by similar factors as well as a lack of standardization in study design. Overall, the current evidence is not strong enough to warrant large-scale implementation of existing mHealth interventions in SSA, but rapid progress of both infrastructure and mHealth-related research in the region could justify scale-up of the most promising programs in the near future.

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