140 research outputs found
Securing Land Rights in Community Forests: Assessment of Article 63(2)(d) of the Constitution
No full textMasters thesisForests provide environmental, socio-cultural and economic benefits to mankind. They are particularly important to forest dwellers and hunter-gatherers as they derive their livelihoods from there and consider them as their ancestral lands. Section 3 of the Forests Act 2005 defines forest communities as groups of persons who have a traditional association with a forest for purposes of livelihood, culture or religion or who have been registered as an association or other organisation in forest conservation. Access to forests by these communities has, however, been restricted by government policies inherited from the colonial powers, which were largely preservationist. Moreover, competing land uses over forest lands for human settlement, farming, industrial development, livelihood support for the forest dwellers, as carbon sinks and water catchment areas, is a major source of conflicts. This has impacted negatively on forest communities who traditionally had rights of access and control of forests which existed even if land belonged to a different legal entity. There have been efforts by government towards recognizing the rights of forest communities in Kenya.
These efforts culminated in the adoption of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 which in Article 61(2), recognizes community land. Community land is defined in Article 63(2)(d) to include land lawfully held, managed or used by specific communities as community forests, grazing areas or shrines; ancestral lands and lands traditionally occupied by hunter-gatherer communities or lawfully held as trust land by the county governments. This is an important development in securing the land rights of forest communities and access to forest and forest products. By reviewing relevant literature, laws and policies, this study sought to examine the treatment that such lands have received under formal laws in Kenya and the implications of protecting community land for forest communities in the Constitution 2010. It also sought to come up with proposals and recommendations on how to improve the laws to ensure adequate protection of the land rights of forest communities in Kenya. This is important because the multiple uses to which forests can be put into present a challenge in coming up with an appropriate tenure arrangement that secures competing interests, including those of forest communities. The methodological approach adopted in this study was a review of relevant literature on land and forests in Kenya. The qualitative data gathered was critically analyzed and evaluated in the context of the research objectives
Kenya Land Governance Assessment Report
No full textThe Land Governance Assessment Framework
(LGAF) is a diagnostic tool to assess the status of land
governance at country level using a participatory process
that draws systematically on existing evidence and local
expertise rather than on outsiders. The analysis covers nine
themes: land tenure recognition; rights to forest and common
lands and rural land use regulations; urban land use,
planning, and development; public land management; process
for transfer of public land to private use; public provision
of land information (land administration and information
systems); land valuation and taxation; dispute resolution
and review of institutional arrangements and policies. The
assessment follows a scorecard approach and produces a
matrix of policy priorities matrix. The LGAF process helps
to establish a consensus on (i) gaps in existing evidence;
(ii) areas for regulatory or institutional change, piloting
of new approaches, and interventions to improve land
governance on a broader scale (e.g. by strengthening land
rights and improving their enforcement); and (iii) criteria
to assess the effectiveness of these measures. This report
presents the result for Kenya
Women, Land Rights and the Environment: The Kenyan experience
No full textGender neutral statutory law on land and environment and its interplay with customary, religious and other social norms has impacted significantly on women's rights to access land and environmental resources. To change the prevailing conditions, innovative and radical approaches to land and environmental resources' stewardship are required. Rather than focusing on ownership of land for its own sake, we suggest here that roles that individuals play with regard to the land and environmental resources should determine rights to land and environmental resources. Such a focus would shift the locus of land and environmental resources' control from titular male household heads to the labourers and tenders of land who are mainly women. Development (2006) 49, 43–48. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100274
Biological Diversity Management in Africa: Legal and Policy Perspectives in the Run‐up to WSSD
No full textConstitutions As Pathways to Gender Equality in Plural Legal Contexts
No full textKenya has made significant strides in overhauling its legislation to better deal with gender
discrimination. However, the legislative steps taken seemingly understate the environment of legal
pluralism that characterises the Kenyan state where, for instance, customary law is still pervasive
and operates side by side with formal laws. The traditional approach generally gives premium to
formal laws while treating customary law with scepticism or altogether disdain in the hope that all
individuals will ultimately transition to formal laws. Yet, this has not necessarily been the case.
Customary law continues to survive and thrive. Accordingly, this paper argues for a departure from
the jaundiced view that customary law only serves to further gender inequalities. The paper argues
for a more balanced approach that recognises that customary law has aspects that could be harnessed
to foster gender equality and thus complement formal laws on gender equality. In rooting for an
appreciation of the role and place of legal pluralism in promoting gender equality, the paper
contends that formal laws in and of themselves are not enough to effectively deal with gender
discrimination; the two must operate side by side, not necessarily one below the other, as has been
the case
Introduction - Chief Editor
No full textNot many people in Kenya will openly identify themselves as being feminists. Indeed, the terms ‘feminism’ or ‘feminist’ in many African audiences evoke negative emotions in the minds of many with the pro-feminist running the risk of being shunned and isolated. Feminists are seen as people who behave differently and are in most instances caricatured in the constructed images depicting feminists. Not surprisingly therefore, feminism remains an emotive term even in academic institutions and generates much debate concerning its usefulness. When the word is used even in curricula, it almost always attracts a negative comment on the usefulness of the term and whether the more appropriate terminology to use is gender. There are those who hold that feminism is un-African and tailored to western societie
Law, gender and environmental resources: women's access to environmental justice in East Africa
No full textRecommended from our members
Contending norms in a plural legal system ::the limits of formal law /
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