Making land work in the Pacific

Last week AusAID released its much anticipated tome on land reform in the Pacific titled Making Land Work. At 487 pages spread over two volumes, I hope I will be forgiven for not having managed to read it all as yet. At first glance, however, it would appear to be a useful contribution to the land reform debate, one which is based on extensive regional consultation and inputs from a large number of experts from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds. According to the preface to the main report, which is subtitled ‘Reconciling customary land and development in the Pacific’, the basic purpose of the volumes is to function as an information resource for Pacific countries seeking to undertake land policy reform and, as such, it does not advocate any particular policy options nor does it reflect Australian Government policy. However, it is clear that the volumes are premised on the need to navigate a “middle way” between maintaining the status quo (of customary land tenure systems) on the one hand and the full privatisation of customary land (that is, the introduction of freehold or other forms of individual title) on the other.

This represents a positive progression in a debate that for many years was dominated by economists such as Helen Hughes who were calling for the abolition of customary land tenures and their replacement by systems of individual private property rights. This is not to say that the neoclassical economists have necessarily changed their views on the topic, as evidenced by the recent piece on Solomon Islands by Hughes’ Centre for Independent Studies colleague Guarav Sodhi. But at least their perspectives are now being weighed against those of anthropologists, geographers, historians and, most importantly, Pacific islanders.I have recently critiqued Sodhi’s piece, as well as the broader claims and misconceptions of neoclassical economists who write about land tenure reform in Melanesia, in a State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Project (SSGM) Briefing Note.  Â