Projects to take control of vast areas of arable land in Southern countries have revived interest in public policies to improve land tenure security. Often based on principles inherited from colonial times and focusing on the issue of land titling by government departments, these policies are now unsuited to the growing social demand for improving land tenure security in Southern countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, the advance of the market economy, the growth of cities, the decline of customary authorities and forms of regulation and the progressive commodification of land are all at the root of a growing need to secure land rights in writing. This need is all the greater because rural societies are faced with the land acquisition strategies pursued by major economic operators. Between the preservation of long-standing land policy instruments that have shown their limits, and the promotion of community regulations, some Southern land tenure policies are exploring the middle ground combining the recognition of social land management practices and the formalisation of land rights by the public authorities. This is the case in Madagascar, which launched a land policy reform in 2005 based on the decentralisation of land management powers.