Presentation by Baruani Mshale on CIFOR's research projects related to property rights, laying out approaches and progress over the past year. It was held at CIFOR’s partners’ meeting in Nairobi in February 2015.

1. Tenure Rights and Property Rights Studies at CIFOR
5 Feb, 2015
Nairobi, Kenya

2. Systematic Review on environmental
outcomes of different property rights
regimes across resource types in
developing countries
Global comparative study on securing
tenure rights for forest dependent
communities in developing countries
Two of several projects at CIFOR

3. What is a systematic review?
A comprehensive and careful analysis of existing
literature using agreed protocols to analyze
relations between interventions and outcomes
Motivation
Despite the existence of different property rights
arrangements (state, private, community,
mixed/joint) over the last 3 decades, it remains
elusive to conclude which regime is ideal for
attaining desirable environmental outcomes
Systematic Review, July 2013- July 2015

4. There is extensive and varied literature on this topic: obtained over
30,000 publications and included 200+ using agreed inclusion
criteria
• Difficult to conclude which regime type is ideal for attaining
intended environmental outcomes
• There is evidence of positive as well as negative environmental
outcomes under different property rights arrangements
• Calls for analysis on how contextual factors mediate the
relationship between property rights and environmental outcomes
• National political context using corruption and democracy indices
• Local socio-economic contexts using poverty and population
data
Systematic Review:
Preliminary Findings

5. • Motivation
• Objectives
• Approach
• Progress
• Funded by IFAD and GEF
GCS: securing tenure rights for
forest dependent communities,
Jan 2014 – Dec 2016

6. Motivation: On the ground?!
Close to 2 decades of reforms
ostensibly aimed at securing local
tenure (rights recognition)
 Improve livelihoods
 Incentives for sustainable land
management
Uneven, with mixed results:
 Not ambitious enough/full rights?
 Customary systems unaccounted
for
 On-going external threats via
competing uses
 Internal differentiation, including
gender
 Implementation gaps/bottlenecks

7. Introduction (2)
How reform implementation can be made more effective at
increasing tenure security?
How reform implementation can be better aligned with on-the-
ground practices?
The puzzle

8. Objectives
 Establish how forest tenure reforms emerge, and
document experiences and options for formal
approaches to securing customary rights.
 Identify factors that constrain reform
implementation.
 Identify impacts of tenure reform on rights and
access of women, poor men and ethnic minorities to
forests and trees.
 Disseminate lessons learned and knowledge
generated at sub-national, national, regional and
international levels.

9. Consultative & partnering—diverse actors with multiple
roles and interests, using three interactive pillars:
Research: comparative; diagnostic; good practice principles;
indicators for monitoring tenure security; tools/strategies
for integrating multiple interests
Multi-stakeholder engagement: joint problem solving;
scenarios development; experience sharing;
Knowledge sharing and capacity enhancement: workshops;
needs assessments; tools (eg conflict resolution; gender
integration); tenure literacy;
Approach

10. Main countries
Uganda
IndonesiaPeru

11. Comparison countries
DRC
Nepal
Ecuador

12. • Established research teams in each country
• Developed methods and instruments
• Selected study sites
• Formed multi-stakeholder project advisory committees
(PAC)
Progress since Jan 2014