News in 2014
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The Missing Key to Eradicate Poverty
High Level Conference on Property Rights, European Parliament, 9 April
2014
High-Level Conference on Property Rights was held at the European
Parliament, 9 April 2014.
The European Parliament states that land tenure security and property
rights provides an opportunity to improve and consolidate bases for
development and poverty reduction in some of the poorest regions of the
world.
About 1.2 billion people worldwide live without permanent homes, land
access or formal property rights. With recognized rights and secure physical
assets, farmers, small business owners, slum dwellers and untitled urban
inhabitants would be brought into the formal economy, enabling them to
secure their investments and intensify production, access credit and start
businesses. Property rights hold the key to sustainable development.
Within this perspective, the European Union (EU), as the leading partner
on food security and nutrition, issued guidelines on land policies in 2004
and has financed 92 development projects since then. The EU now strongly
supports the application of the Voluntary Guidelines on responsible
Governance of Tenure and the African Frameworks and Guidelines on Land
Policies. Furthermore, The European Parliament has recently adopted a report
on the role of property right, property ownership and wealth creation in
eradicating poverty and fostering sustainable development in development
countries. This report places land rights at the heart of the EU development
policy.
At this backdrop a one day conference was held at the European Parliament
9 April 2014 to discuss the future of land policy in developing countries
and the role of the international community, and the EU in particular, in
the post 2015-development framework.
The conference attracted members of the parliament, ambassadors, UN
agencies, NGO representatives, and a number of land professionals. The
conference was chaired by Nirj Deva, member of the EU Parliament,
Vice-President of the EU Development Committee and author of the European
Parliament Report on Property Rights and Andries Piebalgs, European
Commissioner for Development. The conference format consisted of a number of
sessions with brief interventions by invited speakers and wide space for
questions and discussions.
FIG was represented by Honorary President Stig Enemark and the
President of the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE) Jean-Yves
Pirlot. Stig Enemark made a brief presentation of the joint FIG /
World Bank publication on Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration which was very
well received.
Further readings:
Stig Enemark, April 2014.
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Opening session. from the left:
Andris Piebalgs, EU
Commissioner for Development, Nirj Deva, MEP, Vice-President
development committee, H.E. Djibrill Bassole, Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Burkino Faso. |
Conference participants including
Solomon Haile, GLTN, Joan Kagwanja, Chief LPI, UNECA,
Klaus Deininger, World
BanK, Maria Semedo, Deputy DG FAO, Paul Munro-Faure,
FAO. |
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Session on Improving Land Governance in Practice
European Parliament
Jean- Yes Pirlot
Stig Enemark second from the left
CLGE President |
28 April 2014
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