This year the Land and Poverty Conference is glad to welcome poster session
presenters.
Poster session presenters are asked to provide their own posters for the Conference
due to limited ability of the conference organizers to provide printing services.
The size requirements for posters are as follows:
Size A1 vertical: 841 x 594 mm (height x width) or 33.1 x 23.4 inches (height x width)
Please consult the following formatting template when preparing your poster.
Information on the poster session date and time, as well as instructions for mounting
posters in display area provided are forthcoming.
RETHINKING LAND GOVERNANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT: LESSONS FROM KENYA
Willis Oluoch-Kosura, University of Nairobi
[email protected]
Introduction
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted
by the United Nations, in 2015 present opportunity to
exploit the good will of governments to change the
world for the better by 2030 and indeed forever.
Out of the 17 SDGs, land tenure governance plays a
critical role either directly or indirectly in the
achievement of the goals. Land provides the foundation
for sustainable development
The five direct roles include Ending hunger,
achievement of food and nutrition security, sustainable
agriculture, gender equality and empowerment of all
women; promotion of sustained, inclusive and
sustainable economic growth; Sustainable consumption
and Production Pattern; and Protection, restoration
and promotion of terrestrial ecosystem.
The overarching desire to “leave no one behind” in
the march towards achieving the SDGs, immediately
promises achievement of the hitherto elusive goals of
ending poverty, hunger and gender equality, especially
in the Developing Countries where the manner of
access to and management
nt of arable land hold
the key to achieving wellbeing.
This paper explores how land tenure arrangements in
developing countries can be perfected, strengthened or
scaled up to achieve responsible land Governance and
SDGs more rapidly, drawing lessons from Kenya, which
has a long history of tenure conversion with pitfalls
along the way.
Materials and methods
Review of relevant literature on Land
Governance, Land Tenure, Sustainable
Development, Poverty and Well-Being.
Results
The centrality of land in the livelihoods of the majority of Kenyans makes land an emotive
issue while the land policy reforms undertaken to cure the ills since 1963 have continued to
be elusive, with unintended consequences, such as conflict among communities, gender bias,
ignoring the youth, boundary disputes, delayed issuance of title deeds and backlog of court
cases!
The land is categorized into public/Government (14%) individual /private (6%), and
communal (80%). Public land has remained under the jurisdiction of the state, occasionally
with controversial allocations to individuals or “investors”.
The management of public and communal land appears to suffer from institutional failure,
evidenced by lack of complete clear record of the categories of land. Occasionally, individual
or public entities claim knowledge of what they think they own yet no official records exist to
verify the claims, calling for urgency to digitize the registration of the lands.
 With the communal land forming 80% of the land in Kenya and a large majority, especially
women and the youth having no tenure security, their wellbeing is sacrificed, since tenure
security determines the efficiency and effectiveness of achieving desirable and sustainable
development goals. The nature of their rights to land defines their access to opportunity,
income, housing, food and nutrition security, political power and social status within the
community .
 The National Land Policy (2009), formulated by a consultative process among public,
private and civil society organizations forms the foundation upon which the administrative
and legislative framework is built to achieve the vision of good tenure governance. The Land
Act (2012), the Land Registration Act (2012) and The National Land Commission (NLC) Act
(2012) are jointly expected to reinforce the foundation for formulating responsible land
governance structures. Given Kenya’s devolved government, (Kenya’s Constitution 2010),
developing clear understanding and harmony among National and County Governments and
the NLC on their respective roles and capacities for land administration is critical for
responsible land governance. The critical success factor in responsible land Governance and
SDGs is Engagement (communication) of ALL stakeholders. “If you want to go fast, go alone!
If you want to go far, go together”
Assessment of on-going legal and
institutional Frameworks for Land Tenure in
Kenya
Determination of failure or risk factors for
embracing responsible Land Governance.
Determination of success factors for scaling
up responsible land governance to achieve
SDG as envisaged.
Conclusions
empowered and be fully employed.
Devolution of Land Management, Land
Registration, Natural Resource Management,
National Land Information Management
System and Resolution of Land related
Disputes is urgent
An objective criterion to come up with the
minimum and maximum acreage in the
various zones of the country is needed to
address the equity concerns currently
experienced with respect to land holdings
and by extension the achievement of SDGs
for the country.
Providing secure land rights to the women
and youth will give them incentives to
increase productivity, leading to their
empowerment and improved wellbeing of
the households. Similarly, the youth, who
are poised to exploit the opportunities
available from the commodity chains
extended to the export markets will be
Acknowledgements
Literature cited
Jeffers Miruka: UoN
Kenya’s Constitution (2010)
.