Land tenure arrangements are intimately linked with the organisation of society, the economy (particularly to land use), the political structure and the geography of most countries. The majority of land in all South Pacific Island countries remains under 'customary' or 'traditional' forms of tenure in which land is normally held by a community group. This book argues that many parts of the region are in the midst of a major transformation in the way in which land is allocated and held by owners and users. These changes are closely related to concurrent changes in the demography and...

Land tenure arrangements are fundamental to the way societies and economies operate. This book argues that in the South Pacific Islands, land formerly held by community groups under "customary" or "traditional" forms of tenure is now often being privatized. There is a divergence between rhetoric and reality concerning these trends. The authors present case studies from Western Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and Fiji, and note parallels from other regions experiencing comparable forces of commercialization, individualization and socio-political change.