Using a Sustainable Livelihoods Approach
LSP Working Paper 18 Post-conflict land tenure Jon D. Unruh |
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FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS 2004 |
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Cover photograph by Jon Unruh
This paper was prepared under contract with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The positions and opinions presented are those of the author alone, and are not intended to represent the views of FAO.
The Livelihood Support Programme
The Livelihood Support Programme (LSP) evolved from the belief that FAO could have a greater impact on reducing poverty and food insecurity, if its wealth of talent and experience were integrated into a more flexible and demand-responsive team approach.
The LSP works through teams of FAO staff members, who are attracted to specific themes being worked on in a sustainable livelihoods context. These cross-departmental and cross-disciplinary teams act to integrate sustainable livelihoods principles in FAOs work, at headquarters and in the field. These approaches build on experiences within FAO and other development agencies.
The programme is functioning as a testing ground for both team approaches and sustainable livelihoods principles.
Email: [email protected]
Access to natural resources sub-programme
Access by the poor to natural resources (land, forests, water, fisheries, pastures, etc.), is essential for sustainable poverty reduction. The livelihoods of rural people without access, or with very limited access to natural resources are vulnerable because they have difficulty in obtaining food, accumulating other assets, and recuperating after natural or market shocks or misfortunes.
The main goal of this sub-programme is to build stakeholder capacity to improve poor peoples access to natural resources through the application of sustainable livelihood approaches. The sub-programme is working in the following thematic areas:
1. Sustainable livelihood approaches in the context of access to different natural resources
2. Access to natural resources and making rights real
3. Livelihoods and access to natural resources in a rapidly changing world
This paper contributes to the third thematic area by analysing how the use of sustainable livelihood approaches may enrich FAOs current work on land access and land administration in post-conflict settings.
2. THE SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS PRINCIPLES AND POST-CONFLICT LAND TENURE
2.1 People centered - changes in tenure constructs
2.2 Sustainability - Transitioning between sustainability during conflict, post-conflict, and development environments
2.3 Holistic and multi-level aspects of post-conflict land tenure
2.4 The dynamic nature of post-conflict land tenure and livelihood strategies
3. THE FUNCTIONAL REALITY OF INFORMAL AND FORMAL LAND TENURE IN POST-CONFLICT SCENARIOS
3.1 Land tenure issues in the cause and conduct of conflict
Identity and grievances
Evidence - legal validity
Status of the state land tenure apparatus - effectiveness, equity, and pluralism3.2 Land tenure issues emerging during conflict
Dislocation
Reduction in power and penetration of state law
Land mines
Identity3.3 Land and property issues that emerge after a conflict
The donor community
Land mines
Evidence
The time dilemma
Binding rights and obligations
Land issues and the peace accord
Restitution
4. POST-CONFLICT LAND TENURE WITHIN THE SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS FRAMEWORK
4.1 The vulnerability context - conflict
Shocks
Trend-related vulnerability
Seasonality in a post-conflict contextNatural capital - land
Human and financial capital
Social capital
Physical capital
The strong connection between human, social, and natural capital in the post-conflict tenure context, and connections to vulnerability4.3 Policies, institutions, processes (PIPs)
4.4 Livelihood strategies in a post-conflict context
4.5 Livelihood outcomes - priorities for rural inhabitants in post-conflict scenarios
5. LESSONS LEARNED, WITH APPLICATION TO A CASE STUDY
The relationship between structures and processes
Objectivity as human capital
Forum shopping
Opportunity for policy reform
Livelihood strategy switching
Post-conflict vulnerability increase5.2 Application of the SL approach in a post-conflict case study
6. CRITICAL ISSUES THAT REQUIRE FURTHER ATTENTION