ABSTRACT
In Africa, the majority of people live on their customarily held land, to which the Western theory and law that permeate today’s idea of property rights for environmental planning and management cannot easily be applied. Meanwhile, climate change events of erratic rainfall, storms, floods, and droughts have been leading to the popularisation of community-based climate change adaptation planning, especially for smallholders in semi-arid Africa. Drawing on four patterns of community-based adaptation planning observed through an international research project conducted in the semi-arid northern part of Ghana, this chapter discusses the implications of persistent customary land tenure for the planning and implementation of adaptation projects. It highlights that under the changing climate as well as the political-economic and ecological situations in Africa, property rights need to be understood as a type of institution that is sensitive to customary arrangements as well as to the individual and societal needs for adaptation. This understanding will offer the possibility for us to imagine alternative property systems that establish a much-needed alignment between land use and the management interests of vulnerable groups, including migrants and women, customary and statutory authorities and the international development community that funds the adaptation projects.
