Reconciling custom, state and local livelihoods: Decentralised land management in South Kivu (DRC)

Utshudi Ona, Innocent;Ansoms, An
(2011) Natural Resources and Local Livelihoods in the Great Lakes Region: A Political Economy Perspective — ISBN: [978-0-230-29025-9], p. 26-48, published

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Authors
  • Utshudi Ona, InnocentUniversité Catholique de Bukavu
    Author
  • Ansoms, AnUCLouvain
    Author
Abstract
In this chapter, we provide an analysis of land practices and resulting micro-level conflicts in South Kivu. We analyse how legal pluralism dominates land relations and transactions, allowing different social actors to navigate opportunistically between several normative repertoires, dependent upon their interests. We show that despite some inventive solutions that may emerge from this, shifting normative frameworks and institutional confusion may also give rise to fierce land conflicts in which vulnerable population groups are often victimised and local elites capture the benefits. From this emerges a profound need for developing (additional) mechanisms that can contribute to conflict resolution while also securing land rights for peasants with small-scale landholdings.
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Utshudi Ona, I., & Ansoms, A. (2011). Reconciling custom, state and local livelihoods: Decentralised land management in South Kivu (DRC). In Ansoms, A. et Marysse, S. (ed.), Natural Resources and Local Livelihoods in the Great Lakes Region: A Political Economy Perspective (p. p. 26-48). Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230304994_2