In the country, most of the land is held customarily. For common purposes as grazing or water fetching, communities often share ownership over parcels of land, which are called “communal land”.

By nature, this type of ownership is not formalized in a registered land title. Even though customary tenure is considered on an equal footing with the other types of tenures in Uganda, the Government has not put in place the necessary structures and guidelines to register land under communal tenure. Consequently, and with the intensification of extractive activities, local communities are facing various land rights-related abuses, such as land grabbing, forced displacement, or unfair and inadequate compensation.

The aim of this policy brief is to start a reflection on the relevance and feasibility of preventive mechanisms to protect communities’ land rights in the context of extractive industries, especially Communal Land Associations (CLAs) and Land Trusts.