RaTA: A Rapid Land Tenure Assessment manual for identifying the nature of land tenure conflicts

This Manual is based on Indonesian experience and its associated knowledge. The main objectives are:

1. To provide a practical introduction to the relationship between land tenure and land claims, whether we are talking about how land claim issues function as causal or aggravating factors in conflict, or whether we are thinking about land claims that arise in post-conflict settings.

2. To contribute towards the improvement of land tenure policies through a better understanding of land tenure systemdynamics and pluralism.

3. To familiarize practitioners with a range of interventions and to sensitize officers to the fact that confusing policies can inadvertently cause competing land claims to erupt.

The Manual is not a comparative analysis of different systems andmethods, nor is it a theoretical investigation on land tenure approaches. Many rapid appraisal methods share similar global objectives and principles, and different methodological frameworks can be used. The Manual does not intend to provide an overall view of these methods. Instead, the Manual is primarily an educational instrument for readers looking for new, efficient and adapted methods and tools. It aims to obtain immediate results by offering a tried and tested methodology for immediate field use. The Manual offers practical tools developed all over Indonesia in World Agroforestry Centre-South East Asia projects and used by other development agencies in the past few years. It should also contribute, however, to improved investigation and development skills amongst those carrying out field studies. This is even more important because it is also a self-training process for those carrying out the project.

The target audience includes development technicians working in national institutions in charge of land conflict and competing claims, NGO field experts, and government officers. The Manual also aims to help technicians and consultantswho have been working on land conflict issues and are carrying out land tenure studies, and are proposing policies to improve land tenure.