Splendid Hotel ,Ouag~dougou,Burkina F~so
April t5 - 18, 2008
I. Introduction
Landis.sunautoda~·counted amongtiltmajorprioritinofgovernments, civilsocKtyand dn..dopmmtpal'1.Mnin Wni Africa.!lolostof1M States au cunmtlyeogagedininitWI\U 10dc-\-dop.fn'itwor impkml:nltheirland poIKin and/orb ...· 1MSUtes' commitment to resolving land issues can be esplaioedb)'the-inansing numberofknWons and conflicts linked10
land access oruse,among other(acton.,butalsobytheir concern to guar-ameefoodsecurity for an('\'('1Increasing population. to promote economic growthinaglobalcontext.and10reduce poverty.
Determined towor k alongside African Stales intheir de-velopmentefforts.
the Consort ium comprtstngthe- Africa nUnion(AU),the Economic Com -mission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (ADB),in dose collaboration with the regional economic comm unities, launched a jointland policyinitiativefor Africa in1006.Within the framework ofthis
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pan-African land policyinitiative.itis expected thata frame work for action and guidelines on land policy development and implementationin Africa willbedeveloped.The African framewo rkandguidelines on landpolicy are not intended to impose a uniform land policyfor all African States,but to assist them to developandimplem entnationalland policies that are appro-priate.efficientandeffective.The framework andguidelinesshallbe comple-mented bythe developme nt of benchmarksand indica tors thatwill enab le States to effectivelymonito r theimplemen tation oftheirnation alland poli-ciesand laws.
The development ofthe frameworkandguidelines onland policy in Africa dependsonapart icipato ry.multi-actorprocess bringingtogetherrepresen -tativesof States.civilsociety organizations. custo mary autho rities. locall y elected officials and private sectorrepresentativesduring region al consulta-tive workshops.Theaim ofregional consultativeworkshops istodiscuss and reach consensuson:
kty land issues thatthe land policies inWestAfrica need to ad -dress,
lessons learned from experiencesinland policyformulation and implementation in the region;
west African regionalspecificities to betaken intoconsideration whiledevelopingtheframeworkandguidelinesat the continental level;
mechani sms for knowledge management. exchange of experi-ences and capacitybuilding tosupport land reforms.as well as the roles of various actors.
The regional consultative workshop on landpolicyinWest Africa which was held inOuagadougou. Burkina Peso, from 15to 18 April 2008, is thethird of its kind to be organizedbythe Consortium. It follows theworkshop held in Windh oek (Namibia.August2007) forSouthern Africa,and theoneheldin Kigali (Rwanda.Janu ary2008) forEastAfrica.The cons ultative workshop s for North and Central Africa....illbeheld soon.
These conclusionsand recomm end ation s from the Regional Consultative Workshopon landpolicy in WestAfricawillcontributetothedevelopment of the frameworkandguidelinesforland policy in Africa.
II. Key messages and recommendations of the W o rks ho p
LI. Theinitiative
Participantsat tMrtgiolWcomult.lth'!' worbhoponLandPolicyin \"'·est Africa became xqwJ.n1ro with the ob;«ti-..n.,tbe approach and ~ ofthe
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AU-ECA-ADBland policy Iruuanve for Afnca..The worbhopparticipantsunanimousty wekornedtilt"Consortium' commitmmt todeal
""ithland Issues, a proctu dUI is • prerequisuefortht"succt»t'ul edueve-mmtoffood security, poverty reduction,~Uinabk urban dt"Vdopmmt and economic growth in Africa.Ibeparticipants,however.askedtht" Con-sortiumto:
• make sure thatthe Ininanve was developed in aman ner consis-tentwithongoingnat ionalproceSSt's and regionalinitiatives;
• ensureth atallacto rs.in particular farmers' organiza tio ns. were actually involve din theprocess.
2.1. The key landissues
Thebackground documentoft~ronsulWi\'!''-'OrLhoponland policyin Wn( Africa highlighted tht" specific context of land esues in the region, whichart" ch.a.nctmud by t"CoIopc.aI dn.-rnity (partkubrly the contrast between tht"Sahehan ZOIX' Mk1 tht" coastal uns)•• colonl.lJ lrg:acy. high
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growth ree,mtnnalmigrationand ~highrateofurbani.z.ation.pr.uticubrty in tbe $.ahdim countrin. 1M ~ Iw espeneoced man)-condicu andSOIDC'countrIeSare eegaged in post-conflict reconstrccnco, Hawnn'.Wt"StAfria isaboch.a.nctmud by Itsstrong noglOllal unegra-uon procn.s and
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nwtyuponaJ institutions"SOf1K'of\l,nich ~a1Jndy dcvdoringland-relatedinllt.atn·t"'l.Eightmajor land problems wereidentifiedbythe backgrounddocument.
• Statesovemgnryover lan d ; customarylandrights;
land andminingactivities;
protecting the com mo ns;
drought,deseruf icanonand floods;
evolutionoflandnurkt'1.s;
SC'CUrit}" oftmul"C';
bio-fuels,
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The,,'Ofbhopegreedthatthe foUO";ogi.\.sues"tttequallyimportant con -emu forthe WestAfrican~: