Can community-based land adjudication and registration improve household land tenure security? Evidence from Afghanistan. (September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Murtazashvili, Ilia; Murtazashvili, Jennifer
• Is Part Of: Land use policy. Volume 55(2016:Sept.)
• Page Start: 230
• Page End: 239
• Publication Date: 2016-09
• Subjects: Legal titling -- Land reform -- Afghanistan -- State building -- Customary governance -- Community-driven development; Land use -- Periodicals; Land use -- Government policy -- Periodicals; Sol, Utilisation du -- Périodiques; Sol, Utilisation du -- Politique gouvernementale -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 333.7305
• DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.04.010
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-8377

Abstract

Highlights: Clarifies features of Community-Based Land Adjudication and Registration (CBLAR). CBLAR is often more appropriate than legal titling in post-conflict settings. The consequences of CBLAR depend on the quality of customary governance. Investment in public goods such as roads and schools complements CBLAR. CBLAR improves household land tenure security in Afghanistan. Abstract: Unlike in many developing contexts, land title regularization and registration projects in Afghanistan have for the most part eschewed judicial adjudication and recording of title for those landholders with customary tenures or otherwise without legally recognized rights to land. Rather, the pilot land titling and registration projects in the country have been community-based, the defining feature of which is recording of community consensus regarding who in the community holds what rights to what land, buildings, water, trees, and commons, with some recognition by a governmental entity such as a municipal or government agency, but not as a result of judicial adjudication and registration processes. We call these initiatives Community-Based Land Adjudication and Registration, or CBLAR. We show that CBLAR is more appropriate than legal titling in the Afghan context but that the success of these initiatives in improving household land tenure security depends on the quality of customary governance and on investment in public goods such as roads, schools, lending institutions, administrative capacity of local governments, and forums to resolve disputes that overwhelm communities. More generally, CBLAR promises to improve household land tenure security in post-conflict settings when it is implemented in the appropriate context and with the appropriate support from the state and international donors.