To Formalize or Not: Investigating Drivers of Landholders' Decisions for Land Formalization in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa, The case of Senegal.
Loading...
Links to Files
Permanent Link
Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2020-01-20
Type of Work
Department
Geography and Environmental Systems
Program
Geography and Environmental Systems
Citation of Original Publication
Rights
Access limited to the UMBC community. Item may possibly be obtained via Interlibrary Loan thorugh a local library, pending author/copyright holder's permission.
This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by UMBC for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please see http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/repro.php or contact Special Collections at speccoll(at)umbc.edu
This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by UMBC for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please see http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/repro.php or contact Special Collections at speccoll(at)umbc.edu
Abstract
Across Sub-Saharan Africa, the lack of legalized or formally-recognized land tenure has been one of the most pressing and challenging development issues of the new millennium. Yet, up to 78 percent of the arable land remains without title. Some studies pointed out flaws in project design and limitations in the conception of legal frameworks. Other studies highlighted that existing customary tenure systems remain legitimate and viable in rural areas. On the ground, the reality is more nuanced than it appears. This dissertations assesses the drivers and reasons influencing landholders' decisions to formalize or not their lands. I conducted in-depth fieldwork in rural communes of Diama and Fass Ngom in the Delta of the Senegal River valley in northern Senegal. These communes are considered "hotspots" or frontiers of development, where social and economic contexts are rapidly changing, and systems of customary tenure are vulnerable to land pressures due to global and local challenges. This research begins with an extensive literature review of research on land reform in Africa with emphasis on the case of Senegal, drawing from both peer-reviewed and gray literature, in English, French and Wolof languages. I then conduct a comparative analysis of factors driving landholders to seek legal land titles in rural Senegal, to assess the degree to which perceived land tenure security plays a role in decision-making around land formalization. Using a mixed-methods approach, including household surveys, field observation, key informant interviews, and focus groups, I situate this comparative case study analysis in the Delta. The findings from this research suggest that the majority of landholders perceive customary tenure systems as having become less effective at administering land rights and ensuring their legitimacy in the face of conflicting claims. Instead, informants perceive legal tenure systems as better able to protect land rights overall, while enabling a greater range of use and control rights than those allowed for in customary tenure systems, including rights to sell and purchase land, due process and fair compensation in case of eviction or displacement. Perceived lack of trust, lack of fairness in land access, and weak participation of landholders significantly weakened the legitimacy of customary systems. The results also reveal that the way village leaders rise to power, influences how they exercise their authority and manage the lands in the village, and in turn, influences the degree of accountability they have to their constituents. Finally, the results of this research suggest that the most significant motivation for getting title is to increase tenure security. And yet, even landholders who have land title feel insecure. This study region offers a fertile laboratory for testing land reform strategies as these areas are considered of high value economically and socially involving a diversity of stakeholders. Therefore, the findings from this research offers more nuance understanding to policymakers in developing a tailored set of land reform interventions that ensure transparency, fair and due process of compensation to avoid future land conflicts in the region.