Support for community land and forest tenure security by village land commissions in Mali – Phase II

Project Overview

Rural communities in Mali make up more than three-fourths of the overall population yet their customary land rights are insufficiently recognised. Their tenure rights are continuously threatened by droughts and extreme desertification as well as by weak institutional land and forest management systems.   

Tenure right issues are not new to the country but date back to colonisation, more than 100 years ago. It was only in 2006 with the enactment of the Agricultural Orientation Law (LOA) that a land chapter, which aimed to formally address land rights issues, was opened in Mali. This led to the enactment of an agricultural land policy in 2014 and the enactment of the Agricultural Land Law (LFA) in 2017 – a historic legal tool that promotes an innovative land tenure system which recognises agricultural land in rural communities and guarantees land management mechanisms within communities following inclusiveness and decentralisation principles. Despite the enactment of these significant legal advancements, a lack of resources and bureaucratic resistance prevent these laws from being operational or properly enforced in Mali. 

From 2019 to 2023 CNOP, in collaboration with UACDDDD as a main project partner, and through Tenure Facility funding, launched the project “Support for community land and forest tenure security by village land commissions in Mali”, as a way help secure tenure rights in the country by making these laws operative. Important advances were made but more remains to be done. 

Building on the legacy of the previous project, CNOP and UACDDDD – now in direct partnership with Tenure Facility-, have launched a new project to address the insecurity of land and forest rights for local communities in Mali. This new project focuses on tackling underlying issues such as land conflicts, gender inequality in land ownership, and climate change. It is important to highlight that the project is split into two separate project grants, one to CNOP and another to UACDDDD.  

The project’s main objectives are to contribute to the sustainable and equitable securing of land and forest rights for local communities and to strengthen their resilience to climate change. This will be achieved by supporting the implementation of the Agricultural Land Act (LFA) and enhancing consultation and capacity-building processes among stakeholders. 

To accomplish this, the project will support and strengthen village land commissions by promoting the proper implementation of key land tenure legislation and fostering a sense of responsibility within the communities. The project will be implemented in Mali’s Koulikoro, Ségou, San, and Sikasso regions.  

Upon its completion, CNOP will have helped strengthen 78 CoFoVs and establish 192 new ones and UACDDDD will have helped strengthen 49 village land commissions CoFoVs and establish 105 new ones.