Rapid Land Tenure Assessment (RaTA): A Tool for Identifying the Nature of Land Tenure Conflicts

Deforestation, forest fire, illegal logging and land conflicts with indigenous people are often major problems in forest resource management. Many scholars related these problems to land tenure issues, but few studies provided detailed analysis of competing claims of access and use rights on forest land. The main source of these competing claims can be traced to lack of clarity, legitimacy and legality of land tenure policies. Legality refers to alignment with constitutional rights and principles, while legitimacy refers to full stakeholders' involvement in discussions and legal reform. Land tenure conflicts arise from perceptions and the different interpretation that people give to their rights over forest land and resource. Unlike other guidelines that only identify existing land tenure systems and general conflicts, the Rapid Land Tenure Assessment explores competing claims among different stakeholders as these competing claims are often related to competing land tenure policies, developed in different historical periods and for various purposes.