LTPR for Vulnerable Populations Report

This paper identifies five categories of population groups whose vulnerability is potentially increased by land tenure and property rights interventions: women; households that have been directly affected by HIV/AIDS; pastoralist communities; indigenous populations; and people who have been displaced during violent conflicts (refugees, IDPs, and demobilized combatants) or who are threatened to be displaced by natural disasters or climate change (climate refugees). These are populations who, either because of their ascribed characteristics (e.g., gender or ethnicity), livelihood systems (e.g., mobile populations or commonly held resource bases), and/or external shocks (e.g., natural disasters or violent conflict), have weak claims on land rights that might be formalized as part of land tenure reform. For each of these groups, the relevant theoretical, empirical, and policy literature on their interface with land tenure issues is reviewed, with the goal of calling attention to the principal challenges faced by these vulnerable populations.