Customary land tenure : a key area for consideration in development opportunities and challenges in pacific island countries

Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are strategically placed within the Asia-Pacific region, one of the fastest growing regions in the world, but include some of the least developed countries. Increasingly, PICs are encouraged to work collaboratively to find solutions that advance individual economies and contribute to regional economic development. To this end, in 2016 the World Bank introduced new research referred to as Pacific Possible to understand the transformative opportunities that exist in the pacific island nations and to identify the crucial challenges requiring immediate action. Although majority of the seven Pacific Possible focus areas require access to property and despite land playing a crucial part in the transformative opportunities identified, these focus areas do not identify that customary landholding is common in PICs or that customary land tenure is an essential area that needs to be considered within a development context.

© University of South Pacific, 2017.