1. Community Forestry - Module 7.3 Forestry Training Institute, Liberia
Land and Tree Tenure
Community Forestry - Module 7.3
Forestry Training Institute, Liberia

2. Tenure: Definitions
Land tenure is the legal, contractual and customary arrangement, whereby individuals or organizations gain access to economic and social opportunities through land. There are rules and procedures, which govern the rights and responsibilities of both individuals and groups in the use and control over basic land resources.
Tenure systems provide the rules for governing who gets to harvest a resource, where they can harvest, how much they harvest, and for whose benefit. Thus the concept of tenure includes both the notion of ownership and a corresponding parcel of rights.

3. Types of Tenure
The widely accepted classification of tenure systems defines four types of ownership – state, private, communal and open access – and four basic kinds of rights – use, transfer, exclusion, and enforcement.
The many combinations of rights and forms of ownership means there is limitless complexity in tropical forest tenure systems.
Forest tenures vary along a whole series of continua ranging from individual titles to collective ownership, from ownership rights to limited rights of use, from saleable properties to inalienable territories, from rights only to lands to rights only to the resources thereon, and from rights over surface resources to rights over subsurface resources.

4. Tenure: Drivers of Change
Even where communities are given charge of forests, they may be prohibited from marketing the products of their management or may receive only a small share of the proceeds.
Population migrations, the activities of multinational corporations, military conflict and conservation policies, for example, can radically alter ownership claims and the regulation of forest access

5. Tenure and Decentralization
Forest policy reformers have rightly placed an emphasis on the need for governments and forestry departments to decentralize the administration, and devolve the management, of forests to regional, local, and community institutions.
The gains to forest communities from decentralization depend largely on the extent to which local government is held accountable and the rule of law prevails
Devolved management is likely to be effective only where communities’ institutions are recognized and where they have both a genuine measure of autonomy in managing resources and the right to reject the imposition of inappropriate plans.

6. Land Tenure in Liberia
In Liberia, the land ownership is based on land held under three systems or rights. They are:
Customary land tenure system: Here land ownership is based on the oral history of family members and a council of elders. This system began with the ancestors who formulated an unwritten policy of giving joint ownership to families or tribes for farming and development of towns and villages. This system prohibited the direct sale of land as an economic resource. This system is still widely accepted in the hinterlands.
Anglo-American land tenure system: This is a deed system where land is formally surveyed. There is both public and private ownership. The birth of this system marked the beginning of the record system for land ownership. All land is considered to be the property of the state, with the President as the chief custodian or trustee.
The confusion over land tenure dates back to the arrival of the settlers who introduced the Anglo American land tenure system, which was contrary to the customary system practiced by the indigenous people.

7. Land Tenure in Liberia
Land registration system: This is a UNDP supported system introduced to prevent fraud, through a titling process. Prior to 1973, lands were deeded, but were not registered. Under this system, all lands deeded as private or public are registered in the national archives.

8. Customary Land Tenure
Customary land tenure is based upon USE RIGHTS and not OWNERSHIP.
Individuals have the right to use land based upon their membership in a particular family or lineage.
No user can given away land or otherwise alienate it. If land is not being used, the “owner of the land” may allocate it to someone else.
The “owner of the land” may allocate land to “strangers” who generally were not allowed to plant tree crops or engage in other activities that would permanently remove the land from the swidden system.
The system of use rights maintains the integrity of valuable resources by preventing the loss of resources through subdivision and conversion to other uses.

9. Customary tenure in the Liberian system
The statutory land tenure system involving deeds has been superimposed on the customary system throughout rural Liberia.
The statutory system does not recognize the concept of use rights, creating the potential for conflict.
The “selling” of land by chiefs undermines the integrity of the customary system in which they were custodians of the land rather than owners.
This practice has become one of the major sources of tension in rural communities.
In the past, access to farming land was not an issue in much of rural Liberia.
As population has grown and as competing demands for land have increased, young people in particular now have difficulty obtaining land through their membership in families or kin groups.

10. What is customary land tenure system and how does it work in Liberia?
The exercise of ownership rights over land in Liberia began with our ancestors before independence. These early inhabitants were able to formulate a policy that gave joint ownership to whole families within a tribe for farming purpose and the development of towns and villages.
The direct sale of land, as an economic resource or commodity to an individual was prohibited. The main emphasis was on the use of the land without payment of any fees. Once the lands were shared among family members, property lines were established to separate families. Live trees, such as soap trees, cotton trees or hedges were planted along boundary lines to show boundary demarcations.
Evidence of ownership depended largely on oral history provided by family members and the council of elders. This system, which served as the first land tenure system in Liberia was practiced largely because there were no surveyors as we have today. The system is still widely used in the interior parts of the country.

11. What is the deed system of land tenure and how does it work in Liberia?
A deed system is a system, whereby formal surveys are conducted, lands are apportioned by parcels, layouts of streets and alleys are made and title deeds serving as evidence of ownership are prepared, signed by the grantor of the land, and are probated and registered.

12. What are public and private lands in Liberia?
Public Lands
Public lands are lands that have not been acquired under private land ownership. Lands in this category are mostly located in the interior parts of the country. They are under the jurisdiction/ trusteeship of the government. Public lands are acquired under the signature of the President.
The legal title of ownership is a Public Land Sale Deed. Acquisition of such deeds starts with a tribal certificate from the elders or chiefs of the area where the land is located, payment of money to government revenue, the hiring of a surveyor who conducts the measurements, the Land Commissioner and the Superintendent who process the certificate, the Minister of Lands who orders a spot check and attests that the land is truly public land, and finally the deed is sent to the President for signature.
Once such deed is signed by the President and is probated and registered, it becomes a private land.

13. What are public and private lands in Liberia?
Under the Liberian land tenure system, private lands are lands that have been acquired through fee simple (bought) from the Government of Liberia or from another individual who has already acquired a title as evidence of ownership.
Such lands are no longer under the trusteeship of the Government. The legal title of ownership is a Warranty (Transfer) Deed. Acquisition of such land lies purely with the buyer and the owner who possesses a title deed.
After the conduct of a survey, a deed is made and signed by the owner who is known as the Grantor and subsequently offered for probation and registration.