before December 2004. Holdings of up to 300 ha (95.5 percent of the total) are to be regularized within three months and without physical inspection. Up to about 100 ha of land will be given for free; between 100 ha and 1,500 ha, a direct sale at highly subsidized rates and with credit will be undertaken; and above this will require returning some land. Sales are not allowed for a 10year period for holdings below 300 ha and for four years for the remainder. Although the need to provide tenure security to encourage investment and reduce conflict is widely recognized, this law could encourage speculative land occupation and deforestation in expectation of future regularization. To prevent this and ensure that the land is not subject to traditional claims, the government issued Decree 9662/2009, which defines the procedures for registering land holdings in the land cadastre, including mandatory field verification for landholdings larger than 400 ha and prior consultation with environmental and indigenous agencies. Although community land rights are recognized in Peru, a lack of boundary demarcation makes it difficult for communities to exercise their rights and defend them against settlers (colonos). These settlers can then illegally log the land and eventually apply to rezone the land, creating a loophole for large-scale agriculture in previously intact forests. Speculators and private firms are also said to “plant” settlers in areas identified for public investment, in areas where private investors received concessions, or as a strategy to deforest the area and have it adjudicated as agricultural land. This has led to loss of natural resources and serious violence. Enforcement of Environmental Policies and Standards The general picture from the case studies is a failure to articulate, implement, and enforce environmental regulations. This is possibly caused by stakeholders’ desire not to let what is perceived as petty environmental concerns prevent them from capitalizing on what they view as a possibly short-lived bonanza of profitable investments. To avoid a race to the bottom—where eagerness to attract investors leads to neglect of essential regulations, consistently implemented national standards will be important.11 This is particularly true regarding the lack of consideration given to indirect effects on the land, and the neglect of risks associated with standard agriculture projects. In many cases, shortcomings in the application of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) or omissions of this requirement prevent effective implementation of environmental regulations and legal frameworks. In Mozambique, the investment and environment laws require investors to submit an EIA when seeking approval for their proposal. But few agricultural land applications had a comprehensive EIA, even if environmental issues were clearly at stake. This is attributed largely to the limited resources of public environmental agencies. EIAs in Ethiopia, though required, are often waived as sunset clauses for project approval. Although an EIA (which includes a social
THE POLICY, LEGAL, AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
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