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Land Acquisitions in Tanzania: Strong Sustainability, Weak Sustainability and the Importance of Comparative Methods

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Abstract

This paper distinguished different analytical approaches to the evaluation of the sustainability of large-scale land acquisitions—at both the conceptual and methodological levels. First, at the conceptual level, evaluation of the sustainability of land acquisitions depends on what definition of sustainability is adopted—strong or weak sustainability. Second, a lack of comparative empirical methods in many studies has limited the identification of causal factors affecting sustainability. An empirical investigation into the sustainability of land acquisitions in Tanzania that employs these existing concepts in a methodologically rigorous manner offers an opportunity to more clearly addresses ethical questions surrounding international land acquisitions. My findings indicate that it should not be assumed that sustainability necessarily hinges on issues of strong sustainability, particularly that all village lands represent critical natural capital. As a result of its unique history of Ujamaa villagization, Tanzania villages often have ownership of significant tracts of unused land that mitigates the risk of violating conditions of strong sustainability. Issues of weak sustainability appear to be more important to villagers—particularly the degree of man-made capital benefits derived from projects. While compensation rates for lands acquired were low and the process lacked transparency, low compensation rates are not sufficient grounds for rejecting land acquisitions as unsustainable. When projects deliver significant man-made capital benefits, low compensation rates were not a politically salient issue amongst villagers. Finally, results suggest that some prioritization of man-made capital over biodiversity can be ethically defensible when the decision-making process goes through legitimate village government bodies and benefits reach poor villagers.

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Notes

  1. Section 7 (7) (c) of the Village Land Act affirms the occupation and use of Village Land in accordance with the customary law of the area.

  2. This was confirmed through interviews: “Seventy percent of the land in Tanzania, the authority to transfer that land is the village authority. Now the national lands, we have the reserve, that is the state land, the national parks and forests and all of this, and the land granted government. All this is thirty percent, formed under the authority of the nation,” Interview with Director General of Tanzania’s National Land Use Planning Commission, Dar es Salaam, 30 March 2009.

  3. Mufindi District Government Officer, Mufindi Town, Interview TD1, 9 March 2009; Villager, Idete Village, Interview T32, 10 March 2009.

  4. Mufindi District Government Officer, Mufindi Town, Interview TD1, 9 March 2009.

  5. For example, one resident indicated that the Village Council set the terms of the agreement which was then presented to the Village Assembly as if the deal were already concluded, with the result being that ‘‘The right to saying ‘No’ [was] not there’’ (Villager, Interview T2).

  6. Village Focus Group (T1), Mapanda Village, 6 March 2009.

  7. Villager, Idete Village, Interview T30, 10 March 2009.

  8. A copy of the 23 August 2006 village meeting minutes were obtained by the author and translated.

  9. Village Government Focus Group (T8), Mtamba Village, 30 April 2009.

  10. Villager, Mtamba Village, Interview T10, 1 May 2009.

  11. Villager, Mtamba Village, Interview T39, 1 May 2009.

  12. Hyparrhenia grasses are successful under conditions of low soil nutrient availability and are often associated with abandoned fields and are maintained by fire (Fynn et al. 2005; Garnier and Dajoz 2001).

  13. Villager, Mapanda Village, Interview T20, 5 March 2009.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Villager, Mtamba Village, Interview T38, 1 May 2009; Villager, Mtamba Village, Interview T39, 1 May 2009; Villager, Mtamba Village, Interview T40, 1 May 2009; Villager, Mtamba Village, Interview T41, 1 May 2009.

  16. Village Government Focus Group (T8), Mtamba Village, 30 April 2009; Villager, Mtamba Village, Interview T39, 1 May 2009.

  17. Village Government Focus Group (T8), Mtamba Village, 30 April 2009.

  18. Coordinates are 7° 5'0.00"S, 38°50'0.00"E.

  19. Village Government Focus Group (T8), Mtamba Village, 30 April 2009.

  20. Ibid.

  21. The Village Assembly minutes from 23 August 2006 do not refer to water or burial grounds but only areas of significant “community activities”.

  22. Village Focus Group (T1), Mapanda Village, 6 March 2009 and Village Focus Group (T4), Idete Village, 12 March 2009. In addition, one businessman claimed that in 2003 there was only one retail shop in Mapanda and that by 2009 there were several. Other improvements associated with the projects were daily bus service connecting Mapanda to the district capital and better roads (Ibid.). In Idete, respondents indicated that they were expanding their agricultural lands in order to sell surplus crops to employees working on the CDM projects (Villager, Idete Village, Interview T31, 10 March 2009 and Villager, Idete Village, Interview T34, 12 March 2009).

  23. Village Focus Group (T1), Mapanda Village, 6 March 2009; Villager, Mapanda Village, Interview T23, 6 March 2009.

  24. Village Focus Group (T4), Idete Village, 12 March 2009; Villager Government Focus Group (T14), Luhunga Village, Interview, 2 March 2009; Village Focus Group (T1), Mapanda Village, 6 March 2009; Villager, Mapanda Village, Interview T22, 5 March 2009; Villager, Mapanda Village, Interview T23, 6 March 2009.

  25. One local government representative in Mapanda explained: “[B]efore the coming of Highland, Green Resources was slow. But after the coming of Highland, Green Resources is trying, competing in providing services for the village. For example, [the Village Council] wrote a letter asking [GRL & Highland] to provide some desks in the schools. [We] said okay, both of them, and then both of them provided assistance in taking timbers for building the secondary schools… so it seems that they have competition” (Local Government Officer, Mapanda Village, Interview T3, 7 March 2009).

  26. Villager, Mapanda Village, Interview T20, 5 March 2009.

  27. Villager, Mapanda Village, Interview T23, 6 March 2009.

  28. Ward Government Focus Group (T6), Makungu Village, 13 March 2009.

  29. Village Government Focus Group (T8), Mtamba Village, 30 April 2009.

  30. Ibid.

  31. Villager, Interview T5.

  32. Ibid.

  33. Village Focus Group (T1), Mapanda Village, 6 March 2009.

  34. Villager, Luhunga Village, Interview T12, 1 March 2009.

  35. No fertilizer—organic nor inorganic—was used in Idete. Indeed, at the village council meeting it was stated that “even if the fertilizer was brought here, we will not participate because we don’t need it” (Village Government Focus Group (T4), Idete Village, 12 March 2009).

  36. Village Focus Group (T1), Mapanda Village, 6 March 200; Village Government Focus Group (T4), Idete Village, 12 March 2009; Village Government Focus Group (T8), Mtamba Village, 30 April 2009.

  37. Village Focus Group (T1), Mapanda Village, 6 March 2009.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported with the support of an International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Doctoral Research Award; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) CGS Doctoral Scholarship; University of Toronto, Department of Political Science Student Award as well as Environment for Development (EfD) Initiative in Tanzania. The author would like to thank S. M. Ntapanta and H. Mgala for their helpful assistance in the field as well as the Department of Economics of University of Dar es Salaam, particularly R. Lokina, and the Government of Tanzania for permission to carry-out fieldwork. The manuscript has been significantly improved through comments from the editors and one anonymous reviewer.

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Purdon, M. Land Acquisitions in Tanzania: Strong Sustainability, Weak Sustainability and the Importance of Comparative Methods. J Agric Environ Ethics 26, 1127–1156 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-013-9442-2

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