Africa's Land Ownership: Who Owns Most of the Land?

Africa is home to some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, with forests covering more than a third of the continent. However, the vast majority of Africa’s forests remain largely untapped. In many cases, the people who live in these forests lack the resources or know-how to properly manage these ecosystems. This lack of forest management is one of the leading drivers of deforestation in Africa. The other is rising demand for land for agriculture. In some cases, local communities are given formal title to land under a land reform program. In other cases, traditional land claims are honored. But what are these “land reforms” and “traditional land claims”? And who owns most of the land in Africa?

What is a Land Reform?

A land reform is the process of changing the legal status of land to improve the rights of the original owners. There are many different types of land reform, including changes in land ownership patterns, tenure, alienation and land use. While land reform has a long and rich history in Africa, it has captured recent public attention as a result of the property rights and agricultural land disputes in Zimbabwe.

Who Owns Most of the Land?

According to the land survey conducted by the African Development Bank, 64 percent of the total land area of Africa is owned by the state and other institutions, while 36 percent is privately owned. As with other developing countries, government-owned land makes up the bulk of the agricultural land in Africa. This state-owned land is leased to land-hungry farmers, often via long-term concessions.

Who Else Owns Land in Africa?

The other major source of land ownership in Africa is rural households, which hold about 11 percent of the continent’s total land area. Households hold land in several different forms, including inheritance, employment of customary tenure, purchase and other forms of non-agricultural tenure. These different land ownership patterns are key to understanding the drivers of deforestation in Africa. For example, the tenure patterns of different groups affect the level of maintenance done on the land and the uses to which it is put. In some cases, communal lands with low levels of usage may be degraded more quickly than other forms of land with higher levels of investment. This, in turn, could feed into the cycle of degradation and deforestation described above.

What are the drivers of deforestation in Africa?

The rapid expansion of agricultural land in Africa, along with population growth and a growing demand for food, has led to an increase in the rate of deforestation in the region. Deforestation in Africa is typically thought to be twofold. First, natural forests are cleared to make way for agriculture. Second, degraded lands are cleared to make way for agriculture or livestock. The African Union’s Forest Sector Assessment reports that government policies that subsidize agricultural production, poor land tenure and management practices, and poor implementation of regulations are the key drivers of deforestation in the African forests. Other factors include unplanned urban expansion, which creates pressure on remaining forests; conversion of forests to other land uses; and the clearing of forests for subsistence agriculture, logging and fuelwood gathering.

Deforestation and climate change: A vicious cycle

Deforestation and climate change are intertwined elements of the same larger problem. The process of deforestation releases large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. About a quarter of the carbon emitted from deforestation goes into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. The rest is either consumed by plants as they grow or is stored in the soil or plants as biomass. Deforestation also typically results in the plowing of soils, which releases their carbon into the atmosphere. The cycle of deforestation and climate change is a vicious one.

What can be done to stop deforestation in Africa?

Researchers and activists have long sounded the alarm about the drivers of deforestation in Africa and the potential for stopping the cycle. As noted above, traditional land claims are one potential way to halt deforestation in Africa. Another approach would be to enact land reforms that formalize the rights of forest-dwelling communities. But in many cases, these groups don’t have the resources to access the formal legal system. They may also be reluctant to leave their forests, as they may be needed for their traditional purposes, such as food, shelter and fuel. Community-based interventions that seek to address the multiple causes of deforestation in Africa could help slow or stop the cycle. For example, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) has developed a model program to help smallholder farmers establish sustainable forest management practices. The program, which has been implemented in Malawi and Zambia, promotes integrated forest management that addresses the multiple causes of deforestation in communities.

Summing up

In this article, we have provided an overview of the state of deforestation in Africa and discussed the drivers of deforestation in the region. We have also discussed potential solutions to halt the cycle of deforestation in Africa. Finally, we have provided a concluding statement about what can be done to stop deforestation in Africa.

Above all, it is important to remember that forests are key to the environment and our climate. And, as with many other natural resources, forests in Africa need to be carefully managed to ensure their long-term sustainable use.