The current agrarian structure and land tenure in "long-settled" regions of Latin America are the result of the contradictions from colonial times between the large landholders on the one hand (latifundium) and the smallholders (minifundium) on the other hand (Thiesenhusen 1995). In addition, there are forms of ownership created in the newer agricultural colonization period around the change of the 20th century that have been emphasized since the 1950's especially in the humid tropical lowlands. An increase in the transition of commercial farmers to modern agriculture has been noted as well. Although there has been an increase in production as a result, its economic dynamics have hardly improved the social problems.

Despite migration to the cities, population pressure is on the rise in many rural areas. In addition, the divided inheritance of land intensifies the situation as it has a devastating effect on the minifundium. Migration, promoted in part by the government, to available land reserves of the savanna and tropical rain forest can at most buffer or delay the resulting social tension. Besides government-supported programs, spontaneous, not planned migration is also increasing. Illegal occupation of land (squatting) is not only concentrated on state property or communal land of indigenous groups in the humid tropical lowlands. Since the 1950's, land occupation of private property in the "areas long settled" is also rapidly rising (Mertins 1996).

Population growth, market integration, land degradation, the introduction of modern production methods and urbanization are causing land shortages to be an issue more frequently also in Africa. Colonial and national government land policy interventions have accelerated the breakdown of autochthonous communal land rights. Together they have intensified the dispute about access to land. The juxtaposed existence of autochthonous and "modern" structures, values and legal systems weaken each other. A lack of orientation and lawlessness is thus propagated (Kirk 1998a, Münkner 1996). The dissolution of autochthonous land tenure causes especially the poorest to lose their social security. In many regions the low productivity on the smallest plots is resulting in increasing numbers of families not being able to meet their needs from farming, so they are migrating to cities to improve their living situation.

Production increase due to the "Green Revolution", experiences of millions of migrants (primarily to the oil-producing countries) and the positive economic development have caused the stagnation in numerous rural Asian areas to be overcome since the end of the 1960's. Simultaneously, however, the farm size has further decreased due to population pressure and partitioning of holdings (Kuhnen 1995). Already, approximately three-fourths of all Asian farming households no longer have enough land at their disposal to live at the subsistence level. Nevertheless, in some Asian countries (like the Philippines), the potential for agrarian reform in the sense of expropriation of large landholders and a redistribution of land remains.

The interest in farming is decreasing due to further reduction in the amount of arable land a family has. In time, mechanisms for the transfer of land to households that desire to farm will be necessary.

In many regions land is being assigned new functions. Due to the increasing urbanization and industrialization, ever increasing amounts of arable land in suburban areas are being transformed into housing areas, industrial areas, infrastructure projects and recreational areas. This conversion of land is a trigger for conflicts over and over again because urbanization affects fertile land in the lowland areas much more than marginal land.

In some Asian countries as well, the overlapping of different legal systems like national laws and autochthonous rights leads to conflicts and insecurity (e.g. Indonesia and Malaysia).