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Dans la configuration des démembrements de l’État central en République Démocratique du Congo, la Province occupe une position cardinale. Ce qui suit est une note synthétique des analyses menées entre 2012 et 2014 dans le cadre de l’Étude de Référence sur la Tenure dans huit des provinces de la RD Cong. L’analyse a été faite avant le découpage provincial de 2015, et donc les informations présentées dans le présent document se rapportent aux anciennes provinces et pas aux nouvelles. Les analyses au niveau des provinces offrent une perspective sur les vastes différences culturelles, environnementales, économiques et administratives du pays qui influencent la gestion des terres et autres ressources naturelles. L’objectif de l’analyse provinciale était de tester et vérifier des hypothèses faites dans les analyses thématiques qui ont une perspective nationale. Les huit provinces couvertes pas l’étude sont : Bas-Congo (renommé Kongo Central), Bandundu, Équateur, Kasaï Occidental, Orientale, Nord Kivu, Sud Kivu, et Katanga. Puisque l’Étude de Référence portait sur des espaces ruraux, la Province de Kinshasa a été exclue de l’analyse. Pour des raisons de logistique et de finance, aucune information n’a pu être recueillie par rapport à la province du Maniema et à l’ancienne province du Kasaï Oriental.

Most of the world’s remaining tropical forests lie in areas that are customarily managed and/or legally owned by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. In the context of climate change and global efforts to protect and enhance the capacity of forests to capture and store greenhouse gas emissions, the question of who owns the trees and the carbon stored therein is paramount. Clarifying this question is crucial, both for the future of the planet, and for up to 1.7 billion people worldwide who rely on forests for their livelihoods. This brief presents a review of the nominal progress made in the national-level laws and regulations that govern the carbon trade and define the rights of parties —across a sample of 24 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. These countries collectively hold more than 50 percent of global tropical and subtropical forests. This brief also examines the design and establishment of safeguard mechanisms concerning benefit sharing, providing redress and resolution to disputes related to carbon-based schemes, and the operationalization of carbon registries for each of these countries.

With the ‘global land grab’ now a primary ongoing process in the developing world, greater attention to region-specific analyses provides critical insights for effective policy responses. The Indian Ocean world has the greatest regional concentration of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) globally, and it is also where most of the investor countries reside. Yet examination of Indian Ocean-specific patterns and processes of LSLAs is lacking. One of the most sought after categories of lands are those in forested or recently forested areas, owing to their high potential natural resource and agricultural value. This review article examines the primary issues, actors and impacts of LSLAs of forest-related lands in the broader Indian Ocean world, while assessing the opportunities for national populations of target countries as well as investors and the key social and environmental concerns requiring policy attention.

Land conflict is currently Liberia's largest obstacle to long-term stability. Using Lofa County as a case study, this article explores the conditions that produce land conflict and the mechanisms used to resolve them. Following Liberia's civil war, a range of tenure systems are struggling to (re)establish themselves. The competing discourses employed by the various systems of authority in Lofa County to legitimize/justify claims are creating opportunities for land encroachment. Disputes are generally being channelled into informal dispute resolution systems rather than formal mechanisms. The weaknesses of formal, customary, and informal institutions limit what punitive measures can be brought against those who violate the norms that would guarantee secure tenure, thus helping to perpetuate the cycle of encroachment.