Land Tenure Reform and Pastoralist Communities in Benin

In northern Benin, ongoing land formalization initiatives are transforming customary pastures into registered plots, prompting significant structural and social adjustments for local Fulani agropastoral communities. Historically defined by lineage, collective memory, and seasonal migration patterns, land governance is increasingly shifting toward legal titles, boundaries, and formal certification.

A new video research release from PhD fellow Eunice Adwoa Sarpong examines the complexities and friction associated with this tenure reform. Through qualitative interviews with Fulani families, the study documents how agropastoral communities navigate changing legal frameworks while managing agricultural land use and local resilience.

This research output is part of the Decision Support for Strengthening Land Resilience in the Face of Global Challenges (DecLaRe) project, contributing to ongoing scientific outreach for the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026).

Institutions involved in the collaborative research framework include WASCAL, the University of Kassel, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Université de Parakou, University for Development Studies, University of Hohenheim, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Read more