Land in Africa Conference November 8 - 9, 2004, Church House Report Back from Working Group 5

Document begins: Land in Africa Conference November 8 ­ 9, 2004, Church House Report Back from Working Group 5 The group spent its time exploring some of the challenges to securing collective rights to land and natural resources in Africa. 1. What are the commons? Difficult to come to arrive at a consensus on what exactly constitute the "commons" and "common property resources". · Are we talking about the land, or the resources that the land sustains or both? · And if we're talking about resources, which ones do we consider to be common property over which communities can claim collective rights? For example, can communities claim collective rights over minerals or fugitive resources such as wildlife or fish? · And if we're talking about land, what land types are we referring to? In the Sahel, for example, all land is ostensibly held by the State (until it is registered and individuals establish title deed), but over which local people enjoy benefits through a variety of customary tenure systems allowing for both private and communal benefits. For example, agro-pastoralists cultivate land during the rainy season (fields at this moment are considered to be "private" property) but then open up their fields ...