LAND LAW AND POLICY REFORM: SUPPORTING CUSTOMARY COMMUNAL TENURE OF ROTATIONAL AND FALLOW TAUNGYA

The policy discussion brief, created in parallel with the 2015 National Dialogue on Customary Communal Tenure in Nay Pyi Taw, outlines four policy recommendations for the recognition and protection of shifting cultivators’ customary land rights. These are to (1) recognize and protect customary land and resource management systems to ensure food security of rural ethnic populations, protect biodiversity and promote sustainability, (2) immediately institute an interim safeguard mechanism to protect and recognize customary tenure arrangements, (3) establish a high level Customary Land Tenure Working Committee to take necessary actions to recognize and protect customary tenure and sustainable rotating fallow farming systems, and (4) to set out a process for exploring and documenting various customary tenure regimes and protections to generate further policy recommendations.