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3.2.3 Spontaneous Occupation of Land – Self-Help or a Threat to State Authority?
The illegal
occupation of public and private estates and thus the informal creation of farms is an
especially widespread phenomenon in Latin America (Mertins
1996). Reasons for this are the following:
Termination of smallholder lease and employment contracts,
Decimated farm sizes by divided inheritance,
Insufficient and especially uncertain income as a daily wage laborer,
Repatriation of unsatisfied former rural-city migrants.
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Causes of
spontaneous occupation of land |
The occupation
of land (squatting) occurs at the agrarian colonization frontier or pioneer frontier, on
the one hand, and on parts of unused or only extensively used large and mid-sized farms,
on the other hand. The spontaneous and the "state- directed" colonization of
arable areas, i.e. the occupation of public land that was cleared and then used for
shifting cultivation, occurs at the pioneer frontier. The promotion of squatter farms occurs through the construction of roads whether desired or
not (Amazon region of Brazil) and the establishment of state agrarian colonization areas
with a minimum of basic public infrastructure (schools, health services). |
Land
occupation at the agrarian colonization frontier |
The occupation
of private estates (land invasion) in areas suffering from
failures of agrarian policy and social crisis is usually organized by a larger group
living nearby. The goal is to meet the enormous demand for individual ownership of land or for more land by the lower social strata in the
agricultural community. |
Occupation of
private estates |
The occupation
of public land is almost always tolerated. In some way the squatters stake a claim to the
land which they have cultivated according to the motto: The land should belong to the
person who cultivated it. The toleration of squatters also needs to be seen in the context
of the strategy "colonization instead of agrarian reform"
in Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia. Supposedly, "land without people" serves as a
valve for "people without land," i.e. it is a distraction for acute social
tension and the resulting land conflicts in the densely populated rural areas. |
Tolerating
"squatting" on public land |
In contrast,
those occupying private estates illegally may be forced off the land by the police or
military and not necessarily in a non-violent manner. They are usually required to leave
the land within a certain time span after occupation (varies between 30 and 120 days).
They do not have to leave the land until the owner pays for melioration already carried
out by them (e.g. constructed buildings, fences, and permanent crops). |
Forcing
squatters off private land |
The main
problem the squatters have is that they lack legal security,
i.e. the missing land title which needs to be entered into the land registry. The title would also afford them access to subsidized
public credit programs and to the formal land market (cf. 3.10.2). The creation of a formalized land tenure system is one of the main problems in the agricultural sector
for all countries in Latin America. It is necessary for the generation of investments and
for implementation of measures for modernization of the agricultural sector. |
Squatters'
main problem |
Not nearly
enough farms have been legalized in all Latin American countries, although the awarding of
a large number of land titles for occupants of state property
comprises the most comprehensive agrarian reform measure. However, for members of the
lower strata, it is quite difficult and expensive to acquire a land title for occupied
state land unless it is within a specified program for the awarding of land titles for
squatters. Since land tenure security is so important, it is necessary for development
cooperation to not only identify the current land tenure situation, but also to
specifically offer legal support for the determination of legal claims to ownership and
for the application of land titles. |
Legalization
of squatter farms |
Millions of
people leave rural areas and migrate to urban areas in search of work and income. For the
majority, however, there awaits a life on the urban fringe without any perspective of an
adequate place to live and certain employment in formal sectors. Agricultural land is
often spontaneously occupied for settlements nearby the cities. Often, huts are erected
overnight as it is the case in South Africa. Within limits, it is possible for the people,
despite a high degree of legal insecurity, to build up a basic infrastructure and to
construct settlement structures through self-help. |
Spontaneous
occupation of land in sub-urban areas |
Table 2: The percentage of the urban population living in
informal settlements
| City |
Population 1980
(1,000) |
Estimated population in
informal settlements
(1,000) |
Per-centage |
Addis
Ababa |
1668 |
1418 |
85 |
Bogota |
5493 |
3241 |
59 |
Ankara |
2164 |
1104 |
51 |
Lusaka |
791 |
396 |
50 |
Manila |
5664 |
2266 |
40 |
Mexico
City |
15032 |
6013 |
40 |
Karachi |
5005 |
1852 |
37 |
Nairobi |
1275 |
421 |
33 |
Lima |
4682 |
1545 |
33 |
Sao Paolo |
13541 |
4333 |
32 |
(UNCHS 1984)
Spectacular
eviction of illegal settlers with
bulldozers and in part with violence takes place at regular intervals not only in Latin
America, but also on the urban fringe of metropolitan areas in Africa and Asia. However,
in Latin America ideas are already being implemented to push legalization of spontaneous
settlements forward on the outskirts of cities by simplified land registration systems (Lastarria
& Barnes 1995). |
New conflicts
and solutions |
The number of
people clearing rain forest areas as a lucrative "business" is rising in
Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil, Peru and Bolivia. By clearing the forest, the land is
occupied and the plot is declared as own property. In Brazil, the colonist is declared the
owner after cultivating the land for one year as long as no other governmental or private
legal claim to the land can be proven. Thus, an area of land which is traditionally used
for crop cultivation becomes an object of speculation and is sold at a certain point in
time for a profit to medium to large-sized landholders. In this manner "squatting as
an occupation" contributes considerably to a rapidly advancing pioneer frontier of
forest clearing. The individual benefit is in no proportion to the resulting soil
degradation. (Comparable processes are found also on the outskirts of cities.) |
Squatting as
an occupation |
Conflicts with
indigenous groups are an additional problem. They are
forced from their ancestral land or from land occupied by squatters.
The security for survival of indigenous groups (e.g. through reservation policies) lasts
only as long as it does not conflict with the economic interests of the squatters. |
Conflicts with
indigenous groups |
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