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Tenure and Natural Resources in the Gambia: Summary of Research Findings and Policy Options

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Tenure and Natural Resources in the Gambia: Summary of Research Findings and Policy Options No. 40 August 2000 Tenure and Natural Resources in The Gambia: Summary of Research Findings and Policy Options Mark Schoonmaker Freudenberger TENURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE GAMBIA: SUMMARY OF RESEARCH FINDINGS AND POLICY OPTIONS by Mark Schoonmaker Freudenberger Working Group on Resource Tenure and Land Use Planning, Law Reform Commission of The Gambia, and Nancy Ann Sheehan WORKING PAPER, NO. 40 Land Tenure Center University of Wisconsin–Madison August 2000 ii All views, interpretations, recom- mendations, and conclusions ex- pressed in this paper are those of the author and not necessarily those of the supporting or cooperating insti- tutions. Copyright © 1996 by Mark Schoonmaker Freudenberger. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for noncommercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. TENURE ISSUES IN THE GAMBIA 4 2.1 TENURE DEFINITIONS 4 2.2 RESOURCE TENURE AND LEGISLATION IN THE GAMBIA 8 2.3 CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN THE GAMBIA 19 2.4 TENURE “PRESSURE POINTS” IN THE GAMBIA 39 2.5 TENURE POLICY OPTIONS IN THE GAMBIA 45 3. TENURE AND DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE 55 3.1 INCORPORATION OF A TENURE FOCUS INTO PROJECT DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION 55 3.2 TENURE AND PARTICIPATORY PLANNING FOR NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 56 4. TENURE AND PUBLIC POLICY 62 4.1 PUBLIC POLICIES TO PROMOTE TENURE SECURITY IN THE SHORT, MEDIUM, AND LONG TERM 63 5. REFERENCES 72 6. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PARTICIPATORY PLANNING MATERIALS 76 ANNEX 1 CASE STUDY OF UPPER BADDIBU DISTRICT 79 Prepared by Tamsir Bobb, Foday Bojang, Christine Elias, Susan Gannon, Tijan Jallow, and Abdoulaye Manneh ANNEX 2 CASE STUDY OF KIANG WEST DISTRICT 113 Prepared by Mark Schoonmaker Freudenberger, and Nancy Ann Sheehan, with Fasainy Dumbuya, Saul Secka, Gumbo A. Touray, and Yamoundow Diallo ANNEX 3 CASE STUDY OF SANDU DISTRICT 175 Prepared by Nancy Ann Sheehan, Tamsir Bobb, Amie Bojang, Tidianne Jallow, Alhaji Marong, Haddy M’Boge, Lance Robinson, Fatou Sonko, and Gumbo Tourey iv List of maps Map 1 Gambia: tenure case studies, 1994 3 List of charts Chart 1 Institutions involved in designing, implementing, and enforcing village resource management agreements 61 Chart 2 Resource tenure policy framework 62 TENURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE GAMBIA: SUMMARY OF RESEARCH FINDINGS AND POLICY OPTIONS by Mark Schoonmaker Freudenberger 1. INTRODUCTION This summary report synthesizes the central research findings of the Working Group on Resource Tenure and Land Use Planning and the Law Reform Commission of The Gambia, recommending a series of tenure policy options for both government and donor agencies. Specific programs and projects are also discussed. The interministerial Working Group on Resource Tenure and Land Use Planning (Working Group) was established in March 1993 to coordinate a process of applied research and dialogue on resource tenure in The Gambia. It falls under the tutelage of the Planning Unit of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; field research and public policy discussions have been financed through the Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Project (ANR) of USAID/The Gambia. The Working Group sent a team of six individuals from different ministries to participate in a three-week tenure workshop at the Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison, in April 1993. During this session the team reviewed the issues involved in the tenure debate in Africa, summarized the tenure problematic in The Gambia, and designed a field research process to advise policy discussions. The informed team conducted a series of case studies on the tenure situations found in different agroecological zones in The Gambia. Case studies were carried out in Upper Baddibu and Kiang West districts (in June 1993) and in Sami and Sandu districts (in November 1993) (see map, p. 3). The research team held workshops on their initial research findings, which form the basis of this report. The ANR also funded (through the Land Tenure Center) a grant to the Law Reform Commission of The Gambia to review the land and resource disputes that have been brought before the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and five district tribunals over the past five years. Alhaji B.M. Marong, Research Officer of the Law Reform Commission, coordinated this research. The review sought to: 2 ♦ describe different categories of land and resource disputes; ♦ ascertain the process by which resource disputes are resolved at the various levels of Gambia’s legal system; and ♦ uncover the legal principles (either customary rules or legislated laws) employed in resolving different categories of land and resource disputes. Partial conclusions of the Law Reform Commission are incorporated into this summary of research findings. The complete commission report will be presented to the government in the near future. This summary report comprises key tenure issues about tenure and natural resource management in The Gambia. It looks at definitions of tenure and resource-management vocabulary, formal legislation and customary tenure arrangements, and areas where tenure issues are the most contentious. Having identified the key problems in the current tenure systems, the report then addresses various approaches that government and donors may wish to take in confronting these problems. These proposals range from replacing customary tenure regimes with new legal frameworks to looking for ways to strengthen established customary arrangements. The report goes on to consider how individuals working in the natural resource domain can better respond to tenure concerns through designing and implementing projects. Finally, the report focuses on specific policy actions that the government may wish to take in the short, medium, and long term to address the concerns raised. Certain themes run throughout all sections of the report; highlighting these points may help the reader organize the information in an “absorbable” fashion. Among the key issues to keep in mind are the following: ♦ Even though The Gambia is a small country, tenure practices vary immensely from area to area and even from village to village. The complexity and diversity of tenure arrangements do not lend themselves to easy generalization. This diversity may, at first glance, appear to reflect haphazard and idiosyncratic patterns of development. More careful analysis, however, suggests that in most cases there are identifiable reasons for these differences, which indicate the adaptation of rules and practices to specific conditions and situations. One of the great strengths observed in customary tenure systems is flexibility and adaptability to changing circumstances. ♦ Tenure in The Gambia is not a neat, dualistic system of formal legislation, on the one hand, and customary practices, on the other; rather, the fingers of the two hands are intertwined. Over time, customary tenure traditions have entered into the formal legal framework and the laws of the land have caused customary tenure rules to adopt certain practices and precepts. In addition to these two major forces in the Gambian tenure system, numerous other factors have influenced the rules governing resource management at the local level. These include, among others, Islamic tenets and the influence of projects, which often bring their own sets of rules to bear. ♦ While both customary and formal legal structures exist and constantly interact, there has been an increasing tendency over the past decade for the government to expand its jurisdiction and to attempt to take a more active and directive role in resource management and planning. At the same time, nongovernmental organizations are playing a more important role in rural development. 3 Map 1. Gambia tenure case studies, 1994 4 ♦ The expansion of the central government into the resource management domain renders tenure arrangements at the local level more complex. Institutional jurisdictions need to be clarified between the central state and district authorities, nongovernmental organizations, and resource-user groups. This report suggests ways to do this from both the “top” and the “bottom” of civil society. In contrast to other African countries, the citizens of rural Gambia enjoy considerable tenure security. In general, rural populations have reasonable certainty that they will obtain access to land for seasonal field-crop cultivation. Customary tenure traditions are strong in The Gambia, and for this reason rural populations know and respect traditional tenure arrangements. This does not suggest that the picture is rosy, however. Tenure pressure points do exist, especially around the commons. The commons may be degraded because property rights are not clearly articulated. Land borrowers and certain socioeconomic groupings of women may have rather insecure rights to land. 2. TENURE ISSUES IN THE GAMBIA This section of the summary report addresses key issues that frequently arise when trying to understand The Gambia’s tenure and natural resource systems. The first section defines the terms that are widely used in describing tenure systems and shows how these terms apply to specific situations found in The Gambia. The second section looks at key pieces of legislation that affect resource management in the country. The third section looks at customary tenure arrangements, including the rights of women and approaches to conflicts and conflict resolution, since many resource-management practices are governed by local tenure
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