The World Bank Jastis Blong Evriwan research report Wan Sip, Plante Kapten: Leasing on Tanna Island, Vanuatu was released this month. Co-authored by Social Science Dimensions Director Rod Nixon with Rae Porter and Leisande Otto, the report profiles all documented leases over customary land on the island of Tanna and includes some interesting new findings. These include the finding that the single largest category of leased customary land on the island of Tanna is leased by kastom landholders to other members of their own families (also kastom landholders). Intended as a means of preventing the loss of kastom land to members of other groups in a context characterised by population expansion and an absence of land titling, leases of this kind are referred to in the report as 'securing custom land leases'. The report notes that 'use of leases for this purpose challenges perspectives that associate lease registration with the alienation of land from customary tenure, since in these instances, leases have been initiated for the purpose of enabling the continuation of customary associations with land'.
The report can be downloaded here, and an earlier report on the leasing of customary land on the Vanuatu island of Epi can be downloaded here.
The report can be downloaded here, and an earlier report on the leasing of customary land on the Vanuatu island of Epi can be downloaded here.
