Land Rights and the Forest Peoples of Africa

Land rights and the forest peoples of Africa – Introduction
The country studies show that legislative evolution has had, and continues to have,
tremendous discriminatory consequences for indigenous peoples. They explain how tenure
regimes implemented since the pre-colonial era have ignored customary ownership, and how
new conditions for land acquisition were imposed after the land was unilaterally declared
state property. The findings common to all five countries include the following:
• Colonial and then independence laws have slowly dispossessed indigenous peoples of
their customary rights. There is a long-standing denial of customary tenure rights,
coupled with the enactment of official (written) law transferring property to states,
notably through imported legal concepts such as ‘terra nullius’ (‘nobody’s land’).
• Indigenous peoples have experienced displacement for the purpose of creating protected
areas and environmental norms. They were evicted without compensation and without
being given alternative land.
- In Rwanda, the Batwa were dispossessed of their land in the Nyungwe Forest and
out of the Parc des Volcans, which became a national park and a sanctuary for
gorillas;
- In Uganda, the Batwa had to leave their ancestral lands in the forests of Bwindi,
Mgahinga and Echuya, which were established as conservation areas;
- In DRC, Batwa families were evicted from the Kahuzi–Biega Forest in order to create
a gorilla reserve;
- In Cameroon, the Baka’s community rights have been abolished as a result of the
establishment of the Dja Reserve;
- In Burundi, the creation of the forest reserve on the Congo–Nile watershed, which
today corresponds to the Kibira, the Bururi forest reserve and the Kigwena forest
reserve, have also involved the displacement of indigenous peoples.
• Landlessness of indigenous communities is reported as a common denominator
throughout the region. This situation has not been redressed. Many families squat on
land to which they have no legal right, and suffer permanent risk of eviction. In some
cases, indigenous people are allowed to remain on land owned by non-indigenous
communities in exchange for agricultural work; others are allowed to stay on land owned
by charitable organisations.
• Indigenous peoples have no, or very restricted, access to their ancestral lands, which
have become protected areas and/or national parks.
• Marginalisation and exclusion of indigenous peoples from ownership and administration
of forest resources is widely reported.
• Processes for acquisition of land titles are barely available to indigenous peoples because
the procedures and costs are not accessible to them.
• Governments of the five countries are committed to international and regional treaties
guaranteeing the rights of indigenous peoples, and some have also been extensively
Couillard & Gilbert 2
April 2009