[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-109248-en":3,"doc-seo-109248-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},109248,16904993612988,"Olivia Brown","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd",8,"Research & Report","Africa Land Policy Note Series - Note 1 - Securing Customary Tenure in Sub-Saharan Africa","The Africa Land Policy Note Series addresses how tenure security and land administration can help Sub-Saharan governments respond to land conflicts, unplanned urbanization, and climate change. Note 1 explains that customary tenure dominates regional land ownership while only a small share of rural land is formally registered. It reviews risks to secondary rights holders—including women, migrants, and pastoralists—and outlines how transparent legal recognition of customary tenure can strengthen investment, gender equity, climate resilience, social stability, and poverty reduction.","Public Disc losure Authorized  \nAfrica Land Policy Note Series  \nNote 1. Securing Customary Tenure in Sub-Saharan Africa  \nPub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disc losure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized  \nAs Sub-Saharan Africa deals with multiple challenges, including land use conflicts, rapid and often unplanned urbanization, and climate change, there is a need to understand how improved tenure security and land administration can support governments to respond. This series of four Land Policy Notes covers key topics for the region—customary tenure, women’s land rights, and urban land governance. The fourth note provides an overview of lessons learned from the World Bank’s recent land administration operations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Together, these notes provide an overview of existing constraints and challenges, as well as options and solutions based on operational evidence and good practice. These notes are meant to be distributed widely to World Bank staff, clients, and other partners and to inform country dialogue.  \nSummary  \n• Customary tenure is the primary system of land ownership in Sub-Saharan Africa; only 10 percent of rural land is formally registered. Customary land tenure systems vary across the region, with some systems providing adequate tenure security and others being eroded overtime due to increased land values and competing demands for land, including for urbanization and investment projects.  \n• Overall, 26 percent of landholders in SubSaharan Africa fear they will lose their land rights in the next five years, making the region one of the least tenure secure in the world. Women, migrants, and pastoralists in the region often have only secondary (land use) rights to  \ncustomary land granted by customary landowners (typically men) and are particularly vulnerable to land loss.1  \n• An increasing number of countries in the region have adjusted their policy and legal frameworks to legally recognize customary land tenure (both individual and communal rights) andinstitutions. When land registration is implemented transparently and includes secondary rights holders, it can increase productive and climate-resilient land investments, gender equity, tenure security, and, ultimately, social stability and poverty reduction in the region.  \n1. Introduction  \nCustomary tenure is the dominant system of landownership in Sub-Saharan Africa; only 10 percent to 14 percent of rural land in the region is formally registered (Byamugisha 2013; Byamugisha and Dubosse 2023) . As much as 90 percent of Africa’s rural population  \naccesses land through customary institutions (Wily 2021). Since independence, most countries in the region have embarked on some type of land tenure reform. These included attempts to distribute land more equally, promote land access through settlement  \n1 Secondary rights refer to rights to use, inherit, borrow land and others that depend on a primary land rights holder/the owner of the land.  \nschemes, and introduce individual land ownership. The individualization of customary land tenure was seen as a key step for the modernization of agriculture, and a central element of rural development strategies. It was assumed that increased individualization of land rights would result in increased tenure security, enhance farmers’ chances of receiving formal credit, and encourage investments. It has since been recognized that some customary land tenure systems provide adequate tenure security without individualizing land rights. In addition, it has been recognized that customary tenure systems can help reduce deforestation and protect biodiversity.2 Other customary land tenure systems have been eroded over time and no longer provide adequate tenure security. These changes are driven by multiple elements including demographic growth, urbanization, and climate change, as well as economic and political factors.  \nThere is a great variety of customary land tenure systems across Sub-Saharan Africa in both ","cbCaieVWvtfwqzfK","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieVWvtfwqzfK","pdf",227141,4,1,6,"English","en",105,"# Summary\n## Customary tenure and tenure security\n## Rights and vulnerabilities of secondary holders\n# Introduction\n## Land reform and individualization assumptions\n## Diversity of customary tenure systems\n# Challenges\n## Secondary rights and displacement risk","[{\"question\":\"Why is tenure security important in Sub-Saharan Africa?\",\"answer\":\"Tenure security supports government responses to land use conflicts, rapid and often unplanned urbanization, and climate change. Improved tenure security and land administration can strengthen stability and investment outcomes.\"},{\"question\":\"What share of rural land is formally registered in Sub-Saharan Africa?\",\"answer\":\"Only about 10% to 14% of rural land is formally registered, even though most people access land through customary institutions.\"},{\"question\":\"Who is most vulnerable to losing land rights under customary tenure systems?\",\"answer\":\"Women, migrants, and pastoralists often hold secondary (land use) rights and are particularly vulnerable to land loss when land becomes valuable or subject to competing demands.\"}]",1784478152,15,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"africa-land-policy-note-series-note-1-securing-customary-tenure-in-sub-saharan-africa","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,53,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/africa-land-policy-note-series-note-1-securing-customary-tenure-in-sub-saharan-africa/109248/",{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":41,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-30","2026-07-19",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"Why is tenure security important in Sub-Saharan Africa?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"Tenure security supports government responses to land use conflicts, rapid and often unplanned urbanization, and climate change. Improved tenure security and land administration can strengthen stability and investment outcomes.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"What share of rural land is formally registered in Sub-Saharan Africa?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"Only about 10% to 14% of rural land is formally registered, even though most people access land through customary institutions.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"Who is most vulnerable to losing land rights under customary tenure systems?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"Women, migrants, and pastoralists often hold secondary (land use) rights and are particularly vulnerable to land loss when land becomes valuable or subject to competing demands.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,114,119,122,127,130,134],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},30,"research-report",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":126},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":129},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":131,"slug":133},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":135,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":137},19,"General","general"]