Documenting Customary Tenure in Myanmar: A guidebook

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This guidebook provides conceptual, legal and practical tools and resources to help civil society organizations guide communities through the process of documenting customary tenure at the local level. It also provides suggestions for how to build on the momentum generated by the documentation process to develop strategies and actions to defend, strengthen and promote customary rights at community, regional and national level. Documenting customary tenure is important for many reasons: it can empower communities to better articulate and assert their land rights against competing interests; it can build evidence to help advocate for customary tenure recognition at various levels, and it can generate reflection and learning necessary for communities to address key issues concerning land and natural resources management in their communities. Documenting customary tenure now will also help to prepare communities and anticipate any issues that may emerge if and when the government rolls out a customary tenure recogntion program. The guidebook was developed out of practical field experience and conversations with local groups in Myanmar that have been documenting customary tenure in recent years. Some groups have been documenting customary tenure to inform policy and law, some to defend against land grabs, and others to improve community resource management and encourage environmental conservation. MRLG also conducted training and piloting with eight civil society organizations from around the country. Their experiences and lessons learned form a strong foundation for this guidebook.

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