Customary Marine Tenure in Australia

Socioeconomic factors influencing customary marine tenure in the Indo-Pacific

For generations communities in the Western Pacific have employed a range of resource management techniques (including periodic reef closures, gear restrictions, entry limitations, and the protection of spawning aggregations) to limit marine resource use. Localized control over marine resources, commonly known as customary marine tenure (CMT), is the legal and cultural foundation for many of the...

The Future of Customary Tenure Options for Policymakers

For years, policy makers have debated how to deal with customary tenure —sometimes known as ―informal,‖ ―indigenous,‖ or ―traditional law.‖ This concern arises because dual (or multiple) legal systems co-exist in many countries: statutory law alongside informal, customary practices, religious law, etc. Educated urban elites tend to use the statutory system while rural citizens, the less educate...

The Land Has Its Owners! Gender Issues in Land Tenure under Customary Law in Kenya

In-migration, customary land tenure, and complexity: exploring the relationship between changing land tenure norms and differentiated migrant livelihoods in Brong Ahafo, Ghana

This article focuses on the relationship between in-migration from Northern Ghana and changing land tenure norms in Ghana's central "transition zone" in Brong Ahafo Region. Using the complex adaptive systems (CAS) theoretical framework, it theorizes this relationship as part of a wider set of "co-evolving" social and environmental conditions across Brong Ahafo. It presents new qualitative resea...

The Gradual Erosion of the Social Security Function of Customary Land Tenure Arrangements in Lineage-Based Societies

Customary rules governing access to land and other natural resources in village societies have characteristics that allow them to fulfil social security functions and achieve equity objectives. This is true of both common-property resources and land parcels held under individualized tenure. However, when land pressure increases under the combined influences of population growth and market integ...