Albogasto John Ngasi

REBUILDING SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS IN POST-CONFLICT SITUATIONS

ALBOGASTO JOHN NG’ASI (PhD. Candidate)

Urban Design and Planning Department

 

THE CASE OF NORTHERN UGANDA.

There is no doubt that unresolved land and property claims due to the return of IDPs lead to severe environmental resource scarcity. Homer-Dixon’s (1994)[1] study noted that environmental resource scarcity has contributed to violent conflicts in many parts of the developing world. Environmental scarcity increases the economic deprivation and simultaneously continues to disrupt the social institutions, thus resulting in further deprivation and poverty. Moreover, unequal land and property ownership claims are linked to social unrest and violence, which in their turn lead to further stress on the environment and stand in the way of rebuilding communities in the post-conflict situation. It is against this contextual background that my aim with this study is to find out how both land and property claims might be approached constructively in a way which furthers both choice and the prospects for a stable societal recovery.

 

Within these contexts the on-going peace negotiations in Southern Sudan may facilitate the large-scale return of IDPs to their home areas, and consequently to claims to land and property in Northern Uganda, form the background of my concern. A failure to address access to land and property claims after the conflict may lead to an ineffective approach when addressing the problems faced by IDPs, thus potentially raising tensions between the different parties involved. The uncertainty brought about by land tenure and property relations may play a destabilising role in the peace, reconciliation and reconstruction process[2].

 

This study focuses on the IDPs’ return process in two study areas, namely Amuru and Kitgum, both in Northern Uganda. The study will be organized into three primary intertwined themes. These are war-related displacement and return, prevailing perception of land and property claims as exposed in a post-conflict situation, and impacts on the environment and thus on future livelihood options. However, gender and housing issues will also be explored as sub-issues of the study. The main study objective is to understand the ‘altitudes of and justification of land and property claims and possession in a post-conflict context, and to examine its implications on the sustainability of the environment’. My reason for wanting to study this topic area is fuelled by an interest in people’s perceptions of these issues and in observing at the close range the way land and property may be handled in the post-conflict situation.