Securing Tenure Rights for Forest-Dependent Communities: a global comparative study of design and implementation of tenure reform

Recent tenure reforms in Africa, Asia and Latin America provide greater legal recognition of customary and local authorities, indigenous territorial rights, and women’s rights. However, implementation of these reforms has been uneven and has led to mixed results, including increased tenure insecurity.

This project is exploring the relationships between statutory and customary land tenure and how these relationships affect the tenure security of forest dependent communities, including women and other marginalized groups.

Through the use of a global comparative approach and standardized methodologies, this research program is analyzing differential success or failure of the policy and institutional innovations that are intended to enhance secure tenure rights for forests and trees, and identifying strategies that are likely to lead to desired outcomes.