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Land and natural resource management system assessment in Bie Province, Angola

A Report for CARE International Angola

Simon Norfolk - Terra Firma Lda,
Felisberto Ngola, Fernanda Elaho, Edith Chivi, Joaquim Rubem, Antonio Fernando, Tiago Kaunda - CARE
Jorge Manuel, MINADER


March, 2004

Posted with permission of Doug Steinberg, CARE Angola. Comments on this report can be sent to: Steinberg@care.ebonet.net
[Download complete version - 2.4Mb ~ 13 min (98 pages)]     [ Share with a friend  ]



It is widely felt that the ending of war in Angola should bring rapid improvements for agriculture, reopening the crucial trade links between the rural and urban areas. Who gets to participate and benefit from this anticipated growth, however, will depend upon the adoption, or not, of a set of policies and support programmes that are based on an understanding of the vulnerability context of livelihoods in the Angolan countryside. The rural areas of Angola were the most heavily affected by the long periods of conflict. In those areas where populations were not forced to flee for safety and humanitarian assistance to the urban areas, a large number of households lost most of their assets and were cut off from markets, retreating to a rudimentary subsistence economy.

In a context where rural livelihoods are heavily dependent upon natural resource use, and particularly on access to suitable land for agriculture, an understanding of how tenure issues are being dealt with at both community level and in formal policy development processes, are important elements in the design of appropriate support programmes.

Essentially, Angola now stands at a crossroads in respect to the future scenario for the livelihoods of the vast majority of rural dwellers. There are important elements in the newly proposed land law that go some way towards removing the duality inherent in the land policies to date, whilst at the same time recognising and building upon the strengths and flexibility of the existing customary norms and values. However, there are many limitations to the law as proposed that would still prevent local communities from being able to break out of the paradigm in which they are considered to be second class occupiers and users of land, whose usufruct rights merit protection, but whose capabilities do not merit entrance into the modern formal system of property rights that would enable them to realise the value of the large stock of natural capital available to them: their land. There are, too, many circumstances under which even the protected occupation and use rights of local communities can be withdrawn or cancelled by the state and many instances where the law introduces ambiguities rather than clarity.



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