Michael Kirk (1996):
The Role of Land Tenure and Property Rights in Sustainable Resource Use: The Case of Benin

2. Procedure and methods

The work presented here is one of four case studies of 'Market-based Instruments of Environmental Management in Developing Countries - Practical Experience and Scope for Development Cooperation', which was commissioned by the pilot project, 'Institutional Development in Environment' (PVI), of the 'German Agency for Technical Cooperation' (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit/GTZ).

The development of land tenure and resource utilization in Benin, which presently promote predominant problems and thus also initiatives for the introduction of land tenure reforms, which are oriented towards environmental goals and also promote sustainable resource management have to be fitted into a greater African context. Along with this the available material for land tenure questions was evaluated in an initial step, in particular from the Club du Sahel, CILSS and the Land Tenure Centre (Wisconsin), which are oriented towards Sahelian West Africa. In-depth interviews with resource persons in German universities and institutions for development cooperation as well as further collection of material have supplemented this work.

During the initial appraisal work in Benin, the first results were the analysis and sorting of current and planned State land tenure activities, the evaluation of the relevance of environmental objectives as well as the identification of State and non-governmental institutions and involved actors. Furthermore, information and problems in projects in the area of resource protection and from activities in the framework of the National Environmental Action Plan which has been available since the middle of 1993 were judged.

Three detailed case studies at locations in North, Central and South Benin (see figure 1, page 5) formed the nucleus of the work at the local level. Central objects of investigation were the tying together of local land tenure and predominant land use practice as well as the question of the congruence of these practices to the legal and political framework of Benin; further to this the connections between resource degradation and land tenure practice, and also experiences with alternative procedures at the local level such as users associations, committees, etc.. The field research was founded on combined methods of empirical social research such as qualitative intensive interviews, groups discussions, non-participatory observation and working together with key informants

The preliminary central results of the work were presented and discussed at the locations being investigated as well as thereafter in Cotonou.