Publication Date

4-9-2025

Document Type

Article

Organizational Units

College of Natural Science and Mathematics, Geography and the Environment

Keywords

Liberia, Community land, Land concessions, Land tenure, Land policy

Abstract

Throughout rural Africa, the intersection of customary traditions and statutory governance has often led to overlapping jurisdictions and conflicts over community land rights. In Liberia, this dynamic is particularly evident in the rise of commercial land concessions. This article examines the Liberian government’s approach to community land rights and its impacts on land tenure security, especially in the context of these concessions. This study employs a discourse analysis of Liberian land use policies alongside qualitative data from in-depth interviews with community members living near large-scale plantations. Despite historical erosion of community land rights, Liberian communities have adapted statutory frameworks to strengthen tenure security. Ambiguous policies facilitated land concessions, but communities leveraged legal mechanisms to reclaim land. The 2018 Land Rights Act formalized community ownership, yet challenges remain, particularly regarding implementation and retroactive recognition of lost lands. Post-war concession expansion fueled tenure insecurity, though growing legal awareness and advocacy have empowered communities in land negotiations. This paper contributes to existing research by examining the dynamics of Liberian community land policy in relation to commercial land concessions and assessing community land tenure security in the post-Land Rights Act era.

Copyright Date

4-9-2025

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rights Holder

Julia R. Entwistle and Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong

Provenance

Received from Elsevier

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

7 pgs

File Size

886 KB

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the Authors. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. This article was originally published as

Entwistle, J. R., & Nyantakyi-Frimpong, H. (2025). Community Land Governance in Liberia: Implications for Tenure Security and Land Concessions. Land Use Policy, 153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2025.107555

Publication Title

Land Use Policy

Volume

153

First Page

107555

ISSN

0264-8377

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