Land tenure is an important factor, which will ultimately affect the conservation of forest genetic resources. Where land is communally owned, usually community members would have open access to resources of the land, in this case forest genetic resources. However in most cases, community rules do exist which often enforce the management and utilisation of these forest resources. The main land tenure systems in the SADC are freehold, leasehold and community system. In Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe a fourth tenure system exists, which is respectively known as farm tenancy, granted rights and permit tenure (Alden Wily and Mbaya, 2001). All the 11 countries have leasehold tenure. With the exception of Mauritius, all the other 10 countries also have customary tenure. In Lesotho, Zambia and Mozambique land is owned by the state but there is provision for leasehold and not freehold. Table 6 shows the land class ownership by public, private and community.
Table 6: Land classes and tenure systems in some of the SADC countries*
Country |
Ownership (% of land) |
||
Public |
Private |
Community/customary |
|
Botswana |
State Land (24.9%) |
Freehold Land (4.2%) and Tribal land (through granted and leased rights) |
Tribal land (70.9%) including private and communal tenure |
Lesotho |
State land |
|
|
Malawi |
Public land (21%) |
Freehold and Leasehold |
Customary Lands (65%) |
Mauritius |
State land |
Freehold |
|
Mozambique |
State land |
Leasehold |
|
Namibia |
State Land (13%) |
Freehold (44%) |
Communal Land (43%) |
South Africa |
State Land |
Freehold |
Ex-homelands 13% |
Swaziland |
Swazi National Land owned by the King (74%) Crown land 0.4% |
Freehold and Leasehold (25.5%) |
Customary land (in Swazi National Land) 42% |
Tanzania |
General Land Reserved land |
Granted rights in general and reserved land. Customary rights in reserved and village lands |
Village lands |
Zambia |
State land |
Leasehold |
Customary land |
Zimbabwe |
State land (21.8%) |
Freehold and Leasehold (36.2%) |
Customary land (41.8%) |
* Sources: country reports; Alden Wily and Mbaya, (2001)