Strength in Numbers: How Communal Property Rights Can Strengthen Sustainable Investment

Property rights underpin all aspects of economic and social development. 没有他们, individuals are less likely to make long-term investments in land, 基础设施, 或其他生产资料. 然而近几十年来, the development community has realized that individualized property rights are not the only way to promote sustainable resource management. 而, in many places communal and customary rights are an important mechanism for increasing sustainable investment.

几周前, 我参加了世界银行土地与贫困会议, the world’s preeminent platform for discussing the advances in governing land and natural resources rights, 每年在华盛顿举行的, DC. 在那里, teams from Tetra Tech presented on diverse activities that we are implementing for USAID globally, demonstrating our project teams’ expertise in areas from livestock tenure to diamond mining, 沿海风景, 政策干预.

A major focus of this year’s conference was low-cost land documentation approaches. 利乐全球最大体育平台在 TGCC项目, an effort in Zambia and 缅甸 focused on land tenure and sustainable communities, 为如何实现这一目标提供了有效的案例研究. 通过TGCC项目, we are demonstrating how to integrate new mobile technologies for data collection within traditional community engagement techniques. 使用移动技术, we have trained local partners how to generate community boundaries, 在某些情况下，还有家庭包裹地图, something that had never previously been available at the local level.

作为开发实践者, 我们考虑的不仅仅是土地权利, 还有放牧权, 树木的权利, 以及地下采矿权. 在许多发展中国家, the rights of pastoralists to graze and migrate may be constrained by efforts to document agricultural rights. Reconciling these types of potential conflicts is at the heart of Tetra Tech’s development work and can be seen in practice through the USAID-funded Land Administration to Nurture Development (LAND) project in Ethiopia. 此外，利乐全球最大体育平台公司 产权与手工钻石开发(PRADD II) program in West Africa is exploring how to bring small-scale diamond mining under the umbrella of legally traded diamonds, while also exploring how diamond profits have been reinvested in cashew tree plantations, 导致历史放牧地区的新用途.

The role of private sector investors was also an important theme at the conference, 也是TGCC正在研究的领域. 例如, cocoa in 加纳 is sourced from thousands of smallholder producers, 他们中的许多全球最大体育平台对自己耕种的土地没有权利. TGCC is assisting companies to examine how strengthening smallholder rights to land, 甚至树木, 能支持加纳的土地复垦吗. 巴拉圭也是如此, we help companies understand how knowledge of claims of traditional community rights can support improved land use by the cattle industry. The maps we developed in 缅甸 and Zambia may also act as a tool for communities to negotiate with private sector investors.

The last, and probably most important aspect, to highlight is the visit of Chieftainess Mkanda. Tetra Tech had the great privilege to host Chieftainess Mkanda of the Chewa people of Zambia throughout the conference week, where the Chieftainess spoke eloquently on the role of local leaders in sustainable land management. She noted that “We live in the village, we know our subjects and the challenges they face. 作为传统的领导者, we are well placed to manage land allocation based on peoples’ needs and to protect our peoples’ rights. We need support from the state in extension and a framework to share information, 但我们为土地管理带来了地方合法性.“因此, Chieftainess Mkanda echoed the need for interventions that encourage multi-stakeholder dialogue to address long-standing challenges. Her presence at the conference also demonstrated Tetra Tech’s commitment to ensuring that the voice of local beneficiaries and partners reaches the ears of decision makers.

I am confident that Tetra Tech will continue to play an important role in future World Bank Land and Poverty Conferences, as we continue to focus on bringing integrated development approaches 和创新s into field implementation activities.