| FIG PUBLICATION NO. 45 Land Governance in Support ofThe Millennium Development Goals
A New Agenda for Land ProfessionalsFIG / World Bank ConferenceWashington DC, USA 9–10 March 2009
Stig EnemarkRobin McLaren
 Paul van der Molen
 
 
 
 Contents1. Foreword 2. Executive Summary Global Challenges
 Land Governance Supporting the Global Agenda
 The Conference
 Conclusions
 3. Declaration  4. Conference ProfileSetting the Scene
 5. Land GovernanceSupporting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
 Responding to the New Challenges
 6. Conference Highlights and the Way ForwardTheme 1: Land Governance for the 21st Century
 Highlights of the Conference
 The Way Forward
 Theme 2: Building Sustainable and Well Governed Land 
Administration Systems
 Highlights of the Conference
 The Way Forward
 Theme 3: Securing Social Tenure for the Poorest
 Highlights of the Conference
 The Way Forward
 Theme 4: Making Land Markets Work for All
 Highlights of the Conference
 The Way Forward
 Theme 5: Improving Access to Land and Shelter
 Highlights of the Conference
 The Way Forward
 Theme 6: Land Governance for Rapid Urbanisation
 Highlights of the Conference
 The Way Forward
 7. Appendices Conference Programme
 Reference to Proceedings
 Orders for printed copies 
 1. ForewordThis publication is a result of the joint FIG-World Bank 
	Conference on “Land Governance in Support of the Millennium Development 
	Goals: Responding to New Challenges” held at the World Bank Headquarters 
	in Washington DC, 9–10 March 2009. It includes a report identifying the 
	highlights of the conference, the ways forward, and also a declaration 
	produced as a conclusion of the conference. The organisers wish to thank all who participated, contributed, 
supported and encouraged this conference. The support and funding providing by 
the ESRI, Trimble, The Dutch Kadastre, GTZ, Leica, and ITC are gratefully 
acknowledged. Finally, we wish to convey our sincere gratitude and thanks to all 
the delegates who travelled from all parts of the world to attend this 
conference and participated so actively and enthusiastically. This report will be tabled at the FIG Congress in Sydney 11–16 
April 2010 and at the World Bank Land Conference in Washington 26–27 April 2010. 
This should assist national governments and land professionals to develop and 
improve appropriate land governance in support of the Millennium Development 
Goals and to address the new challenges. 
	
		| Stig Enemark FIG President
 | Klaus Deininger Lead Economist, World Bank
 |  
	 World Bank Headquarters, Washington D.C., USA
 
 2. Executive SummaryThe 21st century has dawned with the world facing global issues of climate 
change, critical food and fuels shortages, environmental degradation and natural 
disaster related challenges as today’s world population of 6.8 billion continues 
to grow to an estimated 9 billion by 2040 when over 60% will be urbanised. This 
is placing excessive pressure on the world’s natural resources. The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) form a blueprint agreed to by 
all the world’s countries and the world’s leading development institutions to 
support the mitigation of these global issues. The first seven goals are 
mutually reinforcing and are directed at reducing poverty in all its forms. The 
last goal – global partnership for development – is about the means to achieve 
the first seven. These goals are now placed at the heart of the global agenda. Land Governance Supporting the Global AgendaLand governance is about the policies, processes and institutions by which 
land, property and natural resources are managed. This includes decisions on 
access to land, land rights, land use, and land development. Land governance is 
basically about determining and implementing sustainable land policies and 
establishing a strong relationship between people and land. Sound land 
governance is fundamental in achieving sustainable development and poverty 
reduction and therefore a key component in supporting the global agenda, set by 
adoption of the MDGs. The contribution of the global community of Land 
Professionals is vital.  Measures for adaptation to climate change will need to be integrated into 
strategies for poverty reduction to ensure sustainable development. The land 
management perspective and the role of the operational component of land 
administration systems therefore need high-level political support and 
recognition.  The conference involved 200 invited international experts and was jointly 
organised by FIG and the World Bank with the overall objective to emphasise the 
important role of Land Governance in implementing the Millennium Development 
Goals (MDGs) and responding to new global challenges. The responses are 
categorised into the following six conference themes: The Land Governance for the 21st Century theme focused on adapting and 
improving our approaches to land governance to be more sensitive to and 
supportive of these new challenges and to make stakeholders fully aware of the 
incentives to adopt this paradigm shift. Good land governance must not only 
control and manage the effective use of physical space, but must also be 
holistic to ensure sound economic and social outcomes. The World Bank’s land 
governance assessment framework provides countries with an opportunity to assess 
and improve their current approaches to meet these global challenges, especially 
climate change. Land governance must be further democratised by developing tools 
for all stakeholders to increasingly participate and form partnerships in policy 
formulation, implementation and monitoring all within more realistic timeframes. 
The international community must also provide guidance and contract evaluation 
tools and services to mitigate the risks for countries negotiating international 
land acquisition contracts – the so called ‘farmlands grab.’ The Building Sustainable, Well Governed Land Administration Systems (LAS) 
theme emphasised the role of LAS in providing the infrastructure for 
implementing land policies and land management strategies in support of 
sustainable development. LAS must evolve and must be aligned with the current 
needs of a country through the requirements defined in a land policy framework. 
LAS are most effective when managed as a business and have a sustainable funding 
model based on a robust business case. Early investments in positioning 
infrastructures can realise significant benefits in a wide range of land 
applications. However, it is estimated that LAS are only fully operational and 
work reasonably well in about 30 and mainly western countries. Thus, the 
fundamental support of LAS in achieving the MDGs is of serious concern. The Securing Social Tenure for the Poorest theme addressed the need of 
securing tenure for the rural poor and the 1 billion slum dwellers world-wide; 
reaching 1.4 billion by 2020 if no remedial action is taken. Conventional 
cadastral and land registration systems cannot supply security of tenure to the 
vast majority of the low income groups. It is imperative that we develop 
innovative new approaches that can be scaled to solve this escalating global 
issue. It is essential to establish good land policies that achieve equitable 
land distribution and fair laws that are pro-poor. However, new pro-poor, 
scalable tools to achieve security of tenure for the slum dwellers need to 
include social and customary tenure approaches and the corresponding LAS should 
adopt the Social Tenure Domain Model that is currently being developed in a 
cooperation between FIG, ITC, UN-HABITAT and the World Bank. The Making Land Markets Work for All theme identified ways of breaking 
down the barriers to land markets access. In many countries certain land rights 
are not a tradable commodity, such as customary land rights, allodial lands, 
religious lands etc., and access to the market may be restricted by financial, 
corruption, social or informational reasons. The sub-prime mortgage crisis and 
the unbundling of property rights into complex commodities have also exposed 
high risk groups and in many cases poor people have been left landless. Fairer 
and more equitable access to the land sales and rental markets can be achieved 
through an effective primary land market, the provision of homeowners guarantee 
funds, government co-ordination of social housing, market transparency to reduce 
corruption and the introduction of monitoring tools to evaluate the performance 
of the functioning of land markets, e.g. the World Bank ‘Doing Business Reports. The Improving Access to Land and Shelter theme focussed on 
interventions to support the increasing number of citizens who do not have 
access to land and adequate shelter. This exclusion is caused, in many cases, by 
structural social inequalities, inheritance constraints, conflicts, and often 
land administrations systems are ineffective and expensive for the end user. 
Land reform is unfinished business and interventions are still necessary to 
reduce the structural inequalities since market forces will not naturally 
alleviate the situation. The forced migration of people in conflict situations, 
or the result of disasters, causes significant access issues to land and 
shelter. Longer term measures for housing and land and property rights need to 
be put in place to support social stability. Finally, more effective gender 
responsive land tools are required to widen women’s access to land. All these 
interventions need to be applied within the broader context of economic growth 
and poverty reduction policies. The Land governance for Rapid Urbanisation theme reviewed responses to 
this global phenomenon that will result in 60% of the world’s population being 
urbanised by 2030. This incredibly rapid growth causes severe ecological, 
economical and social problems, with over 70% of the growth in developing 
countries currently happens outside of the formal planning process. However, 
urbanisation with the continuing concentration of economic activities in cities 
is inevitable and generally desirable. Increasing economic density remains the 
objective for all areas at different stages of urbanisation. Due to the 
significant dynamics of urbanisation, urban planning and public infrastructure 
provision tends to be reactive rather than a guide to development. It is 
therefore essential that appropriate priorities for policies are set at 
different stages in urbanisation, essentially providing the elements of an 
urbanisation strategy that conforms to the reality of growth and development. Effective and democratised land governance is at the heart of delivering the 
global vision of our future laid out in the MDGs. However, the route to this 
vision is rapidly changing as a series of new environmental, economic and social 
challenges pervade and impact every aspect of our lives. Land Professionals have 
a vital role to play and we must understand and respond quickly to this on-going 
change. Our approaches and solutions across all facets of land governance and 
associated Land Administration Systems must be continually reviewed and adapted 
so that we can better manage and mitigate the negative consequences of change. 
Central to this is our response to climate change and food security. 
 Washington D. C., USA.
 
 3. Declaration
	
		| FIG–World Bank Declaration on Land Governance in Support 
		of the Millennium Development Goals All countries have to deal with governing their land. They have to 
		deal with the governance of land tenure, land value, land use and land 
		development in some way or another. A country’s capacity may be advanced 
		and combine all the activities in one conceptual framework supported by 
		sophisticated ICT models or, more likely, capacity will be involved in 
		very fragmented and basically analogue approaches. Effective systems for recording various kind of land tenure, 
		assessing land values and controlling the use of land are the foundation 
		of efficient land markets and sustainable and productive management of 
		land resources. Such systems should be based on an overall land policy 
		framework and supported by comprehensive land information and 
		positioning infrastructures.  Sustainable land governance should: 
			Provide transparent and easy access to land for all and 
			thereby reduce poverty;Secure investments in land and property development and 
			thereby facilitate economic growth;Avoid land grabbing and the attached social and economic 
			consequences;Safeguard the environment, cultural heritage and the use 
			natural resources;Guarantee good, transparent, affordable and gender 
			responsive governance of land for the benefit of all including the 
			most vulnerable groups;Apply a land policy that is integrated into social and 
			economic development policy frameworks;Address the challenges of climate change and related 
			consequences of natural disasters, food shortage, etc.; andRecognise the trend of rapid urbanisation as a major 
			challenge to sustain future living and livelihoods. As an outcome of the conference, some key recommendations have 
		emerged. These are argued in more details in this report in terms of the 
		way forward within the six themes of the conference. |  
 4. Conference ProfileThe conference was jointly organised by FIG and the World Bank with the 
	overall objective to emphasise the important role of Land Governance in 
	implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and responding to new 
	challenges such as Climate Change and Urban Growth. The conference 
	demonstrated how FIG and the World Bank are working in parallel to achieve 
	these global aims. The conference aimed to illustrate the far reaching impact of land 
	institutions, highlighting successes, failures and remaining challenges for 
	improving land, and identify resources and measures that can be drawn upon 
	by interested parties. The conference was recognised as a major milestone in tackling global 
	land issues and was attended by around 200 invited internationals experts 
	within the land sector representing governments, UN agencies, development 
	agencies, professionals, academia and the private sector. The conference was divided into six themes: 
		Land Governance for the 21st century;Building sustainable, well governed land administration systems;Securing social tenure for the poorest;Making land markets work for all;Improving access to land and shelter; andLand governance for rapid urbanisation. About 80 papers were presented in 20 sessions. Proceedings are available 
	on both the FIG and the World Bank websites and the full programme of the 
	conference is presented in Appendix 1. 
		
			| 
				The President of Liberia, live in a video-conference with 
				the opening session, described the rebuilding of Land 
				Administration institutions to provide access to land as 
				essential to rekindle economic growth and social stability 
				following the 25 years of war that tore her country apart. Her 
				one request to the conference was to be “quick in solving her 
				land issues”.India has embarked on converting their deeds based land 
				registration system for rural areas into a title based one. This 
				is a daunting task involving over 140 million owners and 430 
				million records in nine scripts and 18 languages. However, it is 
				estimated that it will result in an uplift of 1.3% GDP and 
				reduce petty corruption in the land sector by around US$700 
				million/year (more than India’s entire science and technology 
				budget). [R. Sinha]A similar process is unfolding in Indonesia where it is 
				estimated that 7.3 million hectares of land currently lies idle 
				or abandoned with a significant direct opportunity loss each 
				year. The process is being accelerated by using mobile land 
				offices in rural areas – including motorcycles. [J. Winoto] |  
 5. Land GovernanceArguably sound land governance is a key to achieve sustainable 
	development and to support the global agenda as set by adoption of the 
	Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Land governance is about the policies, 
	processes and institutions by which land, property and natural resources are 
	managed. This includes decisions on access to land, land rights, land use, 
	and land development. Land governance is basically about determining and 
	implementing sustainable land policies. Sound land management requires operational processes to implement land 
	policies in comprehensive and sustainable ways. Many countries, however, 
	tend to separate land tenure rights from land use opportunities, undermining 
	their capacity to link planning and land use controls with land values and 
	the operation of the land market. These problems are often compounded by 
	poor administrative and management procedures that fail to deliver required 
	services. Investment in new technology will only go a small way towards 
	solving a much deeper problem: the failure to treat land and its resources 
	as a coherent whole. Such a global perspective for land governance and 
	management is shown below (Enemark). 
	 A Global Land Management Perspective.
 Land governance and management covers all activities associated with the 
	management of land and natural resources that are required to fulfil 
	political and social objectives and achieve sustainable development. This 
	relates specifically to the legal and institutional framework for the land 
	sector. The operational component of the land management concept is the 
	range of land administration functions that include the areas of: land 
	tenure (securing and transferring rights in land and natural resources); 
	land value (valuation and taxation of land and properties); land use 
	(planning and control of the use of land and natural resources); and land 
	development (implementing utilities, infrastructure, construction planning, 
	and schemes for renewal and change of existing land use). All of these are 
	essential to ensure control and management of physical space and the 
	economic and social outcomes emerging from it. Land Administration Systems (LAS) are the basis for conceptualising 
	rights, restrictions and responsibilities. Property rights are normally 
	concerned with ownership and tenure whereas restrictions usually control use 
	and activities on land. Responsibilities relate more to a social, ethical 
	commitment or attitude to environmental sustainability and good husbandry. 
	In more generic terms, land administration is about managing the relations 
	between people, policies and places in support of sustainability and the 
	global agenda set by the MDGs. Good governance is generally recognised as critical for sustainable 
	growth and poverty reduction. At the same time, the impact of the legal and 
	institutional frameworks that determine how land related issues are managed 
	has only recently been fully appreciated. Supporting the Millennium 
	Development Goals (MDGs)The eight MDGs form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries 
	and the world’s leading development institutions. The first seven goals are 
	mutually reinforcing and are directed at reducing poverty in all its forms. 
	The last goal – global partnership for development – is about the means of 
	achieving the first seven.  These goals, as shown in figure below, are now placed at the heart of the 
	global agenda. To track the progress in achieving the MDGs a framework of 
	targets and indicators has been developed. This framework includes 18 
	targets and 48 indicators enabling the ongoing monitoring of the progress 
	that is reported on annually. 
		
			| Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
 Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
 Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
 Goal 5: Improve maternal health
 Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
 Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
 Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
 |  The Eight Millennium Development Goals. The MDGs represent a wider concept or a vision for the future, where 
	proper land governance is central and vital and where the contribution of 
	the global community of land professionals is fundamental. This relates to 
	the areas of providing the relevant geographic information in terms of 
	mapping and databases of the built and natural environment, and also 
	providing secure tenure systems, systems for land valuation, land use 
	management and land development. These aspects are all key components in 
	achieving the MDGs. Responding to the New ChallengesThe key challenges of the new millennium are clearly listed already. They 
	relate to climate change; food shortage; urban growth; environmental 
	degradation; and natural disasters. These issues all relate to governance 
	and management of land. The challenges of food shortage, environmental degradation and natural 
	disasters are to a large extent caused by the overarching challenge of 
	climate change, while the rapid urbanisation is a general trend that in 
	itself has a significant impact on climate change. Measures for adaptation 
	to climate change must be integrated into strategies for poverty reduction 
	to ensure sustainable development and for meeting the MDGs.  The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has stated that “climate change is 
	the defining challenge of our time”. He said that ”combining the impacts of 
	climate change with the current global financial crisis we risk that all the 
	efforts that have been made by countries to meet the Millennium Development 
	Goals and to alleviate poverty, hunger and ill health will be rolled back. 
	It is clear that those who suffer the most from the increasing signs of 
	climate change are the poor. Those that contributed the least to this 
	planetary problem continue to be disproportionately at risk.” On the other hand the global challenge of climate change also provides a 
	range of opportunities. The Executive Director of UN-Habitat Dr. Anna 
	Tibaijuka has said (Urban World, March 2009) that “prevention of climate 
	change can be greatly enhanced through better land–use planning and building 
	codes so that cities keep their ecological footprint to the minimum and make 
	sure that their residents, especially the poorest, are protected as best as 
	possible against disaster”. This also relates to the fact that some 40 
	percent of the world´s population lives less than 100 km from the coast 
	mostly in big towns and cities. A further 100 million people live less than 
	one metre above mean sea level. The Director General of UN-FAO, Jacques Diouf, has said (World Summit of 
	Food Security, November 2009) that “in support to climate change mitigation 
	and adaptation policy, the FAO created a National Forest Programme Facility 
	in 2002’”. The initiative is presently supporting 70 countries and regional 
	organisations. In 2008 FAO established the United Nations Collaborative 
	Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in 
	Developing Countries followed by a global forest monitoring system in 
	support of carbon accounting and payments. Adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, by their very nature, 
	challenge governments and professionals in the fields of land use, land 
	management, land reform, land tenure and land administration to incorporate 
	climate change issues into their land policies, land policy instruments and 
	facilitating land tools. More generally, sustainable land administration 
	systems should serve as a basis for climate change adaptation and 
	mitigation. The management of natural disasters resulting from climate 
	change can also be enhanced through the creation and maintenance of 
	appropriate land administration systems. Climate change increases the risks 
	of climate-related disasters, which cause the loss of lives and livelihoods, 
	and weaken the resilience of vulnerable ecosystems and societies. In short, the linkage between climate change adaptation and sustainable 
	development should be self evident. Measures for adaptation to climate 
	change will need to be integrated into strategies for poverty reduction to 
	ensure sustainable development. The land management perspective and the role 
	of the operational component of land administration systems therefore need 
	high-level political support and recognition. 
 6. Conference Highlights and the Way 
	ForwardTheme 1: Land Governance for the 
	21st CenturyAt the start of the 21st century the world is facing critical global food 
	and fuels shortages, climate change, urban growth, environmental degradation 
	and natural disaster related challenges as today’s world population of 6.8 
	billion continues to grow to an estimated 9 billion by 2040. This is placing 
	inordinate pressure on the world’s natural resources. The surge in the price of key food products such as rice and wheat, which 
	last year hit record highs, sparked food riots in many countries. Food 
	security has become a key global challenge. In response to the crisis, many 
	countries and private corporations are exploring new ways of safeguarding 
	their supplies of natural resources; especially crops for food and 
	bio-fuels. A global search is now underway to identify ‘underutilised’ land 
	in areas suitable for agricultural production and to acquire the land for 
	large scale agricultural production. Significant areas of land in Africa, 
	India and South America have now been bought or leased to foreign countries 
	or corporations – the so called ‘farmlands grab.’ Although these investments attract capital along with technology and 
	market knowledge to potentially improve agriculture, there are many inherent 
	concerns that are not always covered in the associated contracts: 
	agricultural produce is directly exported from countries with a food 
	deficit; there is no ‘unused’ land and in many cases local people are taken 
	off the land with little compensation; the easiest land to acquire is 
	government land and the benefits normally go to the political elite rather 
	than the local people; large scale agriculture does not employ significant 
	numbers of local people; and much common land, such as grazing land, is 
	targeted and lost. It is increasingly relevant that we strengthen land 
	governance across the globe to ensure that all stakeholders understand their 
	roles and responsibilities in managing land, property and natural resources 
	within a sustainable and equitable framework. The key challenges of the new millennium are all interconnected, with 
	many being perpetrated by climate change. Our understanding of the problems 
	and the formulation of potential solutions will only be achieved through a 
	holistic approach involving collaboration across the professions. Land 
	professionals have a key role in this alliance through the effective 
	management of spatial information related to the built and natural 
	environments and the application of good land governance to help mitigate 
	the damaging impacts on our world and society. We need to adapt our 
	approaches to be more sensitive to and supportive of these new challenges 
	and make stakeholders fully aware of the incentives for adopting this 
	paradigm shift. Good land governance must not only control and manage the 
	effective use of physical space, but must also ensure sound economic and 
	social outcomes. Highlights of the Conference
		The World Bank has sponsored a project to develop and test a general 
		framework for assessing land governance. This is based on the Public 
		Expenditure and Financial Accountability methodology and involves five 
		themes, 24 indicators and 80 dimensions and is currently being tested in 
		pilot projects in Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Peru and Tanzania. This 
		assessment framework should be adopted by countries to assess and 
		improve their current approaches to Land Governance.[T. Burns]. This work is complemented by the recently launched UN-FAO 
		initiative to produce Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of 
		Tenure of Land an activity being sponsored by RICS and FIG [M. 
		Torhonen].
Many countries are strengthening their land governance arrangements 
		and reports were provided by Tanzania [L. Kironde], Peru [V. Endo] and 
		Kyrgiz Republic [A. Endeland] where they highlighted an urgent need to 
		improve governance in the land sector to ensure economic sustainability, 
		poverty alleviation and peace and security. Advances have been made in 
		land policies, recognition of a continuum of rights, communal rights, 
		the rights for women, stakeholder involvement in developing land 
		policies and laws, improved planning solutions and land based taxation. 
		However, most countries still have problems in the institutional 
		arrangements and capacity to deliver effective land governance.Large scale, international land acquisitions are increasing, 
		especially in Africa, driven by food security and the scramble for 
		biofuels [D. Byerlee]. There are issues around the export of 
		agricultural produce directly from countries with a food deficit, the 
		fact that there is no ‘unused land’ and significant loss of ‘commons’ to 
		local people.A proposal was made to engage communities as key stakeholders in 
		climate change and poverty mitigation by extending the bundle of rights 
		associated with land to include key natural resources and the rights to 
		carbon [G. Barnes].The Land Reporting Initiative, organised by the International Land 
		Coalition monitors land issues and trends and seeks to facilitate 
		collaboration between civil society and inter-governmental organisations 
		to promote better monitoring of land issues for ensuring impact on 
		poverty reduction [A. Mauro]. 
	 New Zealand.
 1. Adapt land governance to be more supportive of our global challenges Effective and democratised land governance is at the heart of delivering 
	the global vision of our future laid out in the MDGs. However, the route to 
	this vision is changing as a series of new environmental, economic and 
	social challenges spread through and impacts every aspect of our lives. The 
	degree of change and uncertainty in our world is increasing. As land 
	professionals we must understand and respond quickly to this on-going 
	change. Our approaches and solutions across all facets of land governance 
	must be reviewed and adapted so that we can better manage and mitigate the 
	negative consequences of change. Central to this is our response to climate 
	change. 2. Adopt the world bank assessment framework to improve current 
	approaches to land governance Poor land governance has far-reaching economic and social consequences: 
	lack of inward investment and economic growth; limited poverty reduction; 
	increased deep-rooted conflicts; significant corruption and land grabbing. 
	This all leads to social instability. The increase in population and the 
	growing demand for land driven by food security and biofuels needs will 
	increase the value of land. These trends will worsen the current land 
	related problems unless land governance can be improved to cope with these 
	new challenges. The World Bank’s land governance assessment framework 
	provides countries with an opportunity to assess and improve their current 
	approaches to land governance. This should be an on-going process and 
	countries should transparently publish their assessment results in the 
	public domain. The assessment framework should also be regularly updated to 
	ensure that the land governance we aspire to is increasingly relevant to the 
	new millennium, global challenges, especially climate change. 3. Increase participatory tools to build partnerships and further 
	democratise land governance As the visibility and role of land governance strengthens in the wider 
	policy arena, it is essential that we further democratise land governance by 
	developing tools for all stakeholders to increasingly participate and form 
	partnerships in policy formulation, implementation and monitoring. For 
	example, land policy reforms contribute more fully to poverty reduction and 
	sustainable development when closely related to processes that empower civil 
	society, especially poor men and women, in decision-making processes. And 
	more effective aid is provided when development partners are involved early 
	in planning policy implementation. These tools need to be shared across the 
	international community. However, secure land rights are fundamental in 
	minimising arbitrary dispossession and maximising local benefit. 4. Provide contract evaluation tools to safeguard nations from 
	inappropriate large scale, international land acquisitions The ethical basis and the economic and social impacts of the increasing 
	number of large scale, international land acquisitions, driven by food 
	security and the scramble for biofuels, need to be questioned. Large areas 
	of relatively unproductive land across the globe are being leased or sold to 
	foreign governments and corporations for large scale agricultural 
	production. This mostly involves government land and commons. The contracts 
	rarely provide benefits to local people and there are major concerns about 
	the environmental and social impacts, especially when agricultural produce 
	is being exported from countries with food deficits. Too often these 
	contracts are signed without sufficient due diligence on their affect on the 
	ground. The international community needs to provide contract evaluation 
	tools and services to countries negotiating international land acquisition 
	contracts. 5. Adopt realistic timeframes to ensure more effective land policy 
	implementations Over the past decade around 15 African nations have successfully 
	formulated their National Land Policies through participative and inclusive 
	approaches. However, their corresponding record in implementing their 
	National Land Policies is less successful. This lack of success derives, in 
	many cases, from overly ambitious implementation timescales and insufficient 
	institutional and legal reforms to support the new land policies. Countries 
	need to adopt a more realistic and incremental approach to implementation, 
	where small successful steps will build optimism and effectively change the 
	power relationships over land issues in the country. 
	 Ghana.
 Theme 2: Building Sustainable and Well 
	Governed Land Administration SystemsLand Administration Systems (LAS) provide the infrastructure for 
	implementing land policies and land management strategies in support of 
	sustainable development. This infrastructure includes the institutional 
	arrangements, a legal framework, processes, standards, land information, 
	management and dissemination systems, and technologies required to support 
	allocation, land markets, valuation, control of uses, and development of 
	interests in land. LAS are dynamic and evolve to reflect the people-to-land 
	relationships, to adopt new technologies and to manage a wider and richer 
	set of land information. The LAS is the fundamental infrastructure that underpins and integrates 
	the land tenure, land value, land use and land development functions of land 
	administration to support an efficient land market that fully demonstrates 
	sustainable development. The land information should form part of a wider 
	spatial data infrastructure (SDI) to ensure its wider use in a range of 
	social, economic and environmental applications and services. However, it is 
	estimated that LAS are only fully operational and work reasonably well in 
	about 30 and mainly western countries. Thus, the fundamental support of LAS 
	in achieving the MDGs is of serious concern. To support an inclusive approach, a ‘well governed’ LAS is an 
	infrastructure that is managed in such a way that the products and services 
	are of the appropriate quality level, affordable, easy to use, support short 
	transaction times and are fully transparent. The delivery of this outcome 
	requires a combination of business and technical skills. The sustainability 
	of LAS is enhanced when supporting legal frameworks define a view of the 
	role and function of LAS in the implementation of the land policy; 
	especially for land related laws, such as land law, registration law, fiscal 
	law, land use law etc.  The LAS must operate within and respond to the requirements within a land 
	policy framework. Recent World Bank research reports indicate ‘land tenure’, 
	‘land markets’ and ‘socially desirable land use’ are main drivers for a land 
	policy. These three goals comprise a whole range of instruments, such as the 
	forms of land tenure and how they are recognised in the country, the level 
	of land tenure security that should be provided, the interventions in the 
	land and credit market that are beneficial, the nature of land use planning, 
	state land management and land acquisition for the public good, use of land 
	taxation for budget generation and land use steering, valuable land reform 
	options and workable solutions for land conflicts. The land policy is not 
	isolated as it must be embedded in the wider political agenda of poverty 
	eradication, sustainable agriculture and housing, protection of the 
	vulnerable people, equity of social groups and women, rapid urbanisation, 
	food security, climate change and slum upgrading etc.  It is crucial to understand that LAS can never be an end in themselves; 
	their nature is to serve society, whatever that society currently looks 
	like. For many countries this is definitely a break with the past, because 
	elements of LAS, such as land registration and cadastral boundary surveying, 
	are considered historically as an instrument of the colonial or otherwise 
	ruling powers to securing their own land rights. ‘Sustainable’ land 
	administration systems are therefore systems that serve society well, by 
	providing effective sets of products and services that are fully inclusive 
	to meeting demand now and in the future. This includes the poor who are 
	currently excluded from participating in many countries. 
		Success in the case of land administration systems is based to a 
		large extent, on the availability, access and applicability of related 
		spatial information. In this context, the concepts, technologies and 
		resources associated to the development of sound spatial data 
		infrastructures (SDI) at multilevel have the capacity to optimise land 
		administration processes and land management [S. Borrero].Positioning Infrastructures, such as Continuously Operating 
		Reference Systems or Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) support 
		a range of functions in society: from the traditional function of 
		supporting surveying and mapping processes to enabling the monitoring of 
		global process such as those associated with climate change and 
		extending to real time precise positioning services employed in 
		industries [M. Higgins].A key component of a land administration system is to put in place 
		organisations that are sufficiently robust to develop, enable and ensure 
		the effective operation of surveying and land administration activities. 
		Building the necessary institutional and organisational capacity for 
		land administration is crucial to achieve sustainable development and 
		meeting the MDGs [I. Greenway].Since the early 1990s the World Bank has lent around $1 billion to 
		37 projects (not counting the contributions by the countries) across 
		many countries in the World Bank Europe and central Asia region (ECA) to 
		implement land administration systems and to support land markets. The 
		resulting land markets now contribute between 15%–25% of GDP in these 
		countries. This initial phase of investment in land governance is now 
		maturing and the World Bank have conducted a review of the lessons 
		learned [G. Adlington].Decentralisation of land administration and management is essential 
		in order to achieve efficient, cost effective and equitable services for 
		all participants. Institutional frameworks should be created at the 
		local level to resolve all local-level land administration 
		inefficiencies [E. Silayo].The economic value-add created by spatial data infrastructures (SDI) 
		is significant for the overall economy, together with the value of the 
		SDI itself, and it also stimulates efficiency savings in various 
		sectors. SDIs benefit public administration by eliminating 
		inefficiencies by introducing e-government practices [G. Adlington]. 1. Create a land policy framework to let the LAS function more 
	effectively LAS products and services must be aligned with the current needs of a 
	country. These requirements must be defined in land policy, describing how 
	governments intend to deal with the allocation of land and land related 
	benefits and how LAS are supposed to facilitate the implementation. Such 
	implementation includes the rules for land tenure and land tenure security, 
	the functioning of the land market, land use planning d development, land 
	taxation, management of natural resources, land reform etc. 2. Adopt a business led approach to deliver better managed LAS Although based on scientific concepts, methods, and principles, land 
	administration is a business process that should be managed as a business. 
	Therefore, land administrators need to be acquainted with business 
	administration knowledge, safeguarding good process design and workflow 
	management, performance monitoring and daily financial management. Managers 
	need to have knowledge of both professional matters and ICT matters, to 
	guarantee good alignment between business objectives and ICT support. A 
	sharp eye for customer relations is a prerequisite for sound performance, 
	and a sufficient justifier for investments. Essentially, land administration 
	functions need to be transparent and free from corruption. 3. Invest early in positioning infrastructures to realise benefits in a 
	wide range of land applications Historically, national triangulations have formed the base for 
	consistency in land surveying. Nowadays, these positioning infrastructures 
	constitute not only the base for land surveying and place based land 
	information in all its forms, but the infrastructures also supports a wide 
	range of land applications. The performance of LAS has proven to be enhanced 
	strongly by applying appropriate ICT-tools, including satellite imagery, 
	aerial photographs and GNSS. Early investments in this positioning 
	infrastructure are crucial. 4. Promote evidence of LAS to support economic growth and poverty 
	reduction LAS can be sustainable when the solution fulfils its expected function by 
	users on a continuous and satisfying basis. Good quality management 
	procedures continually safeguard the relevance of the LAS in current and 
	changing times. Maintenance of the records and underlying information, as a 
	minimum, is of paramount importance and financial arrangements should allow 
	for registers and maps to reflect the situation on the ground day by day. 
	Without appropriate funding arrangements this is difficult. Therefore the 
	development of the LAS must be based on a realistic business model. Although 
	investments in land administration are usually justified through qualitative 
	arguments, more attention should be paid to providing robust quantitative 
	evidence such as contributions to economic growth and poverty reduction that 
	are of direct interest to politicians. 
	 Chile.
 Theme 3: Securing Social Tenure for 
	the PoorestToday there are many rural poor and around 1 billion slum dwellers 
	world-wide. UN-Habitat estimates that if the current trends continue, the 
	slum population will reach 1.4 billion by 2020, if no remedial action is 
	taken. These astonishing figures are fuelled by the rush to the cities and 
	over half of the world’s population today live in urban areas. Current 
	trends predict the number of urban dwellers will keep rising, reaching 
	almost 5 billion in 2030 where 80% will live in developing countries.  In this perspective, where one of every three city residents lives in 
	inadequate housing with few or no basic services, it becomes urgent to focus 
	on informal settlement and to support the MDG 7, target 11 to have improved 
	the lives of least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. Most of the urban poor do not have secure tenure within these large 
	informal settlements. Securing formal recognised rights to land and housing 
	in urban areas will generally give people access to basic services and it 
	may also help them to access legal and financial services to raise capital 
	to invest. It is therefore essential that we put in place good land policies 
	that focus on achieving equitable land distribution and fair laws that take 
	into account the interests of the poor. Conventional cadastral and land registration systems cannot supply 
	security of tenure to the vast majority of the low income groups. It is 
	imperative that we develop innovative new approaches that can be scaled to 
	solve this escalating global issue. Land Administration Systems will have to 
	be modified to accommodate a wider range of levels of tenure security and 
	integrate customary systems of tenure. New low cost surveying tools are 
	emerging and need to be integrated into cadastral surveying processes. The 
	understanding that enjoying secure land tenure is also a matter of human 
	rights and social justice, encourages unconventional solutions, whether it 
	regards forms of land rights, levels of security or land administration 
	tools. The Land Professional has a key role to play in delivering these more 
	appropriate tools. Many communities across the world have land rights under communal or 
	customary systems that are often not secure in law. Land and resource rights 
	include both strong individual and family rights to residential and arable 
	land and access to a range of common property resources such as grazing, 
	forest and water. There is group oversight and rules to keep land within the 
	group that are normally derived from customary norms and principles. The 
	lack of legal security can lead to vulnerability in practice, e.g. when 
	predatory states re-allocate land to foreign investors. The policy challenge is to decide what kinds of rights, held by which 
	categories of claimants, should be secured under tenure reform and 
	integrated into a Land Administration System. This is complex since 
	customary tenure regimes are not static and traditionbound, but dynamic and 
	evolving and the associated boundaries are often ambiguous, or flexible or 
	overlapping. The diversity, imprecision and flexibility makes it difficult 
	to codify them and provide them with legal definition. However, this is 
	essential to provide this section of society with a potential route out of 
	poverty and reduced threats of eviction. Highlights of the Conference
		Land tenure reform remains a key policy issue in Africa, given the 
		large proportion of the population that relies on land and natural 
		resources for their livelihoods. It is not enough to recognise the 
		socially and politically embedded character of land rights, or the 
		unequal outcomes of contemporary forms of ‘enclosure’. Privatisation and 
		complete individualisation of land are uneven and contested, and in many 
		places the nature and content of land rights remain quite distinct from 
		‘Western-legal’ forms of property [B. Cousins].The land-sea interface is one of the most complex areas of 
		management. It is the gateway to ocean resources, a livelihood for local 
		communities, a reserve for special flora and fauna and an attractive 
		area for leisure and tourism. Strong arguments were made that land use 
		management in coastal areas should recognise social justice and embrace 
		pro-poor policies and adopt environmentally balanced approaches to 
		development. [D. Dumashie].The Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) is a multi-partner initiative 
		to support pro-poor land administration solutions. The initiative is 
		based on open source software development principles. The STDM, as it 
		stands, has the capacity to broaden the scope of land administration by 
		providing a land information management framework that would integrate 
		formal, informal, and customary land systems and integrating 
		administrative and spatial components [C. Lemmen].A low cost solution for providing geo-referenced village (cadastral) 
		maps seem to have a big potential for security of tenure and land use 
		planning in India [K. Murthy].Modern technology and digital mobile devices can be used as key 
		means for providing land tenure security while at the same time 
		improving the level of equity, fairness and stability in land tenure 
		systems [M. Barry].Evidence from a large scale land administration project in Ethiopia 
		suggest that implementation of a decentralised, transparent and cost 
		effective process of land registration is possible, but also that 
		failure to do so may in many situations miss out significant economic 
		and possible social benefits [T. Alemu]. 1. Adopt a continuum of rights approach to deliver faster and wider 
	security of tenure to the poor  UN-HABITAT’s ‘continuum of rights’ recognises that rights to land and 
	resources can have many different forms and levels. Just as ‘land tenure’ 
	has the notion of a statutory land right, other forms of land rights, such 
	as anti-eviction ‘right’, group tenure etc., refer to the recognition of 
	somebody’s land possession within the social community and can be called 
	‘social tenure’. Land professionals must include ‘social tenure’ in their 
	scope of professional attention and deliver more social tenure oriented 
	solutions. 2. Include customary tenure in Land Administration Systems to reduce 
	vulnerability The diversity, imprecision and flexibility of communal or customary 
	systems makes it difficult to provide them with legal definition. However, 
	it is essential that these social groups are provided with appropriate forms 
	of tenure security within Land Administration Systems that do not restrict 
	their ongoing evolution. These sections of society, especially in rural 
	areas, need a potential route out of poverty and reduced threats from 
	farmland grabs, for example. 3. Adopt the Social Tenure Domain Model to support pro-poor Land 
	Administration System solutions Traditionally, the technology supporting Land Administration Systems uses 
	models and terminology that is aligned with formal, legal systems, making it 
	impossible to adequately support social tenure systems with pro-poor 
	technical and legal tools. However, the development of a solution to this 
	problem is being supported by FIG called the Social Tenure Domain Model 
	(STDM), originally developed as the Core Cadastral Domain Model (CCDM). The 
	STDM is a tool to deal with the kind of social tenure that exist in informal 
	settlements (and also in areas based on customary tenure) that cannot be 
	accommodated in traditional Land Administration Systems. It is planned to 
	provide this ISO standards based solution as free and open source software 
	and should be available as a tool for local communities as well as public 
	authorities. 4. Develop pro-poor and gender sensitive land tools to improve the lives 
	of the poor UN-Habitat has an agenda around the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) that 
	aims to facilitate the attainment of the MDGs through improved land 
	management and tenure tools for poverty alleviation and the improvement of 
	the livelihoods for the poor. All Land Professionals are encouraged to 
	support and contribute to this effective initiative to alleviate the current 
	level and scale of poverty. 
	 Nairobi, Kenya.
 Theme 4: Making Land Markets Work for 
	AllThe land market, more precisely the market in property rights to land, is 
	not always characterised as a perfect market, where demand and supply are 
	brought to the most efficient use by the ‘invisible hand’ of the market 
	mechanism. In many countries certain land rights are not a tradable 
	commodity, such as customary land rights, allodial lands, religious lands 
	etc. Even when land rights are fully tradable, the market can still be far 
	from perfect since access to that sales market may be restricted by 
	financial, corruption, social or informational reasons. Many people cannot afford an initial investment in land and there is 
	growing interest in the functioning of the land rental market. Agricultural 
	leases and residential rents are easier to pay through regular income 
	generation, while buying needs a lot of savings or credit facilities. There 
	are also many social obstacles to land market participation as people might 
	not be familiar with how the market functions through illiteracy and missing 
	education, for example. Lack of transparency and information and complex 
	regulations also creates obstacles. The resulting restrictions mostly 
	disadvantage of the poor, while being at the advantage of the powerful 
	elites. This then results in unequal land possession, and at worse, land 
	grabbing and speculation. Markets in land rights seldom exist in customary areas, where ownership 
	of land is vested in the community. Allocation of use rights is de facto and 
	executed by chiefs, family heads or even the President of the nation. 
	Scarcity of lands, growing population, and mobility of people lead in many 
	cases to a demand for individual land rights in these commonly owned lands. 
	In addition, land claims are increasingly coming from governments or from 
	project developers and examples show that chiefs of representatives of 
	collectives do not always understand that they act on behalf of the 
	community and not for themselves. This erosion of customary areas is 
	creating the ‘new tragedy of the commons’ symbolising the land grab in these 
	areas. Participating in the market requires a certain purchase power. This might 
	come from savings, but it might take a long time before people are able to 
	buy property. Land and houses are particularly suitable for serving as 
	collateral for a loan. However, as the subprime mortgage crisis in the US 
	revealed, inappropriate loans being provided to high risk groups can lead to 
	foreclosures and distress sales, leaving poor people landless. The financial 
	services sector and governments have a major responsibility to set up 
	regulatory frameworks to reduce the risk of re-occurrence.  Land markets need to be accessible by all and supported by land 
	information systems that provides transparency in information about 
	ownership rights and associated transactions and an institutional framework 
	that delivers simple, affordable and efficient land administration services. 
	In many countries the World Bank ‘Doing Business Reports’ facilitate the 
	streamlining of procedures to make transactions simpler, quicker and 
	cheaper. However, the concept of property is rapidly evolving from simple 
	ownership or use, towards complex commodities generated by unbundling 
	property rights, into separate tradable mineral rights or carbon credits, 
	for example. This ‘unbundling’ of rights leads to speculative collateralised 
	debt obligations and, as the recent financial crises has highlighted, 
	stronger regulation is required across the land and financial services 
	sectors. 
		Formal land markets accelerate wealth generation whilst informal 
		land markets fail to generate sufficient national wealth to relieve 
		poverty. Governments therefore need to build land administration systems 
		to manage the full range of land related commodities [J. Wallace].Land and agriculture will increasingly become strategic issues in 
		the next decade, requiring considerable allocations of attention, 
		resources and capital. Institutions, such as the World Bank and FAO have 
		a significant role to play in facilitating partnerships amongst 
		governments, rural communities and the private sector agri-business 
		chain. [A. Selby].The World Bank ‘Doing Business Reports’ have inspired countries, 
		such as Burkina Faso, to simplify the number of procedures involved in 
		land market transactions, opening up the land market to a wider section 
		of society [ A. Traore].Land markets mature and operate to generate significant wealth for 
		the economy. Land markets migrate through the following five steps as 
		they mature: land as a societal resource; land rights in terms of secure 
		tenures; land trading enabling land transfer; land market enabling 
		dynamic land trading and securitisation; and a complex commodities 
		market. A key driver in this evolution is the building of mature 
		cognitive capacity in the public where all stakeholders understand the 
		land market that is transparent and supports inventiveness and trade in 
		ideas. [J. Wallace].There are two principal types of market imperfections in relation to 
		the land and property markets: firstly, informational inefficiency where 
		market participants are not fully informed about market circumstances; 
		and secondly, allocative inefficiency where a person’s actions have an 
		impact for others that go beyond legitimate competition. Therefore, 
		access to common property resources need to be regulated and property 
		rights provided for one have to be provided for all [R. Grover].Low-cost land certification has a significant and positive effect on 
		the amount of activity in the land rental market. Such reforms generate 
		reduced transaction costs in the land market. This encourages poor 
		female households to rent out their land and it becomes easier for 
		people to access land for renting in [S. Holden].Government land acquisition in emerging economies such as China must 
		be applied through fair and responsible rules and respect the existing 
		land tenures, especially of the poorest [S. Jin]. The Way Forward 1. Improve primary land delivery to boost land markets In many countries the trade in land rights between parties (secondary 
	land market) can only develop after the delivery of land to citizens by the 
	government (primary land market). When the primary market does not function 
	well, the secondary market cannot effectively develop causing informal or 
	illegal land occupation, slums and illegal land markets. This land delivery 
	is hampered by long lasting procedures, complex regulations, and weak 
	government structures, for example. Therefore, an effective primary land 
	market is a prerequisite for any market improvement. 2. Don’t leave social housing to market forces A consequence of a poorly functioning primary land market is the lack of 
	social housing supply. When the land market does not work for certain groups 
	in society, especially the poor, the principles of institutional economics 
	dictate that governments should assume responsibility for providing social 
	housing. The allocation of houses in this situation should not be left to 
	the land market, but to social housing organisations. Governments should 
	meet their responsibility tocoordinate social housing.
 3. Guarantee homeowners funds to protect the poor When secured credit is used for production purposes, such as buying 
	livestock, seeds and fertilizers, opportunities for capitalising on property 
	might exist, on the understanding that the loans can be reasonably paid 
	back. Some countries offer state guarantees in the form of homeowners 
	guarantee funds, which aim at protecting the poor against unbearable debts 
	when, unfortunately, loans cannot be paid back and the property might be 
	forcedly sold against liquidity value. The development of such homeowners 
	guarantee funds is highly advisable. 4. Reduce corruption through transparency of markets and incorruptible 
	land professionals Corruption investigations have revealed that the land sector is prone to 
	significant grand and petty corruption. Transparency is the key to fair and 
	equitable access to the land sales and rental market for all. A high 
	standard of ethics in the work of land administrators is also a prerequisite 
	to combat bribing and land grabbing. Therefore, the FIG developed codes of 
	conduct should be adopted by national and local land professional 
	associations. 5. Offer fair compensation when the State acquires land and evicts 
	people Often the poor suffer from unfair acquisition of land by the State. 
	Although the justification for land taking might be legitimate, private 
	right holders should be treated fairly when losing their land rights. In 
	many circumstances, local government officials play an important role in 
	offering fair compensation for people to be evicted and land professionals 
	should develop transparent procedures for land acquisition with fair 
	compensation mechanisms. 6. Introduce monitoring tools to measure the effective functioning of 
	the land markets Many countries are simplifying the number of procedures and reducing the 
	time and costs involved in transactions in the land market and are realising 
	economic benefits. Monitoring tools need to be introduced to evaluate the 
	performance of the functioning of the land market. An example of an existing 
	tool is the World Bank ‘Doing Business Reports’. Land administration systems 
	also need to support both traditional and modern communal systems to ensure 
	that they are protected within the market context. 
	 Mozambique.
 
	 Mexico.
 Theme 5: Improving Access to Land and 
	ShelterAn increasing number of citizens do not have either permanent or 
	temporary access to land and adequate shelter. This exclusion is caused, in 
	many cases, by structural social inequalities, inheritance constraints, 
	conflicts, non pro-poor and pro-gender land policies and land 
	administrations systems that are ineffective and expensive for the end user. 
	Without a range of appropriate interventions being applied within the 
	broader context of economic growth and poverty reduction policies, social 
	exclusion and poverty will continue to spiral out of control; already 90% of 
	all new settlements in sub-Sahara Africa are slums. Land markets, or formalisation of existing land rights, in spite of their 
	great flexibility and usefulness to the poor, are not a magical solution for 
	addressing structural inequalities in countries with highly unequal land 
	ownership which reduces productivity of land use and restricts development. 
	To overcome the legacy of such inequality, ways of redistributing assets 
	such as land reform are still needed. While the post war experiences of 
	Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, China showed that land reform can improve equity 
	and economic performance, there are many other cases where land reform could 
	not be fully implemented or even had negative consequences that illustrate 
	the difficulties involved. If, within a broader strategy of poverty 
	reduction, redistributive land reform is found to be more cost-effective in 
	overcoming structural inequalities than alternatives then it needs to be 
	aligned with local needs and complemented by access to political support, 
	managerial ability, technology, credit and markets for the new owners to 
	become competitive. Every year a significant number of people are forced to migrate from 
	their homes due to conflict situations, evictions or natural disasters. In 
	Iraq, it is estimated that over 5 million Iraqis are currently displaced by 
	violence and the rebels continue to benefit through the lack of a solution. 
	In many countries there are no national policies and associated guidelines 
	that comply with international human rights standards for the eviction of 
	residents of slums and informal settlements. There are examples of evictions 
	involving over 50,000 persons in Africa and these slum residents live in 
	constant fear of eviction. Natural disasters also cause significant 
	displacement of people; the 2004 tsunami displaced over 1.7 million people. 
	Effective and early solutions need to be identified and implemented to solve 
	the housing, land and property issues resulting from these events to enable 
	social and economic stability. Only 2% of registered land rights in the developing world are currently 
	held by women. Many women have very restricted access rights to land and 
	shelter due to religious, cultural and legal constraints. This situation has 
	been exacerbated by the AIDS epidemic and requires the design of more gender 
	responsive land tools.  Highlights of the Conference
		Most violent conflicts are not “caused” by conflicts over land per 
		se, but almost every major eruption of violent conflict has had a land 
		dimension. It is essential to look anew at how institutional 
		arrangements and patterns of political organisation determine when land 
		becomes an object of violent conflict. If this is not done then 
		programmes that may be intended to promote participation or good 
		governance may in fact contribute to aggravating conflict in fragile 
		states [J. Putzel].Several papers reviewed progress of land reform programmes, 
		especially their impact on poverty, in West Bengal, South Africa and in 
		the Philippines where the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program has been 
		operational for 20 years [A. Balisacan & F. Bresciani].Michael Lipton [lunchtime talk] highlighted the impact on the land 
		tenure and land reform debate of three great, current adjustments: the 
		large global GDP setback; rising food and farm energy prices; and the 
		increasing uncertainty of water availability due in part to climate 
		change. These adjustments will strengthen the arguments and pressures 
		for redistributive land reform.One of the fundamental ways to strengthen women’s entitlements and 
		to make their claims over natural and physical assets more enforceable 
		is through legal reform [R. Meinzen-Dick]. However, legal reforms must 
		be accompanied by legal-literacy campaigns to ensure that both men and 
		women are aware of such changes. The Way Forward 1. Continue effective and sustainable land reform to reduce poverty and 
	inequality Land is poor people’s main and usually only productive asset. Around 1.5 
	billion people today have gained farmland due to land reform, resulting in 
	many being less poor, or not poor. However, huge land inequalities remain, 
	or have re-emerged, in many low-income countries; this has been caused by 
	inheritance rather than efficiency and generated inefficient, low-employment 
	farm output. In many developing areas with no, minor, ineffective or 
	incomplete land reform, the poorer half of farming people normally control 
	below 10% of farmland. The impact on the poor is compounded since not only 
	does extreme land concentration increase income inequality, but in 
	developing countries it also reduces farm output and slows growth. 2. Accept that land reform is an on-going process Land reform interventions are still necessary, in many cases, to reduce 
	the structural inequalities since market forces will not naturally alleviate 
	the situation. Land reform is ‘unfinished business’. The new land reform 
	approaches adopted need to be carefully attuned to their target contexts to 
	attain their goals of reducing poverty and inequality, ensuring output 
	efficiency and growth, and achieving sustainability, stability and 
	legitimacy. Future approaches should be shaped and sensitive to a range of 
	constraints, including the degree of social and land rights inequalities, 
	demographic demand, genders rights and roles, resilience of customary 
	rights, willingness of land owners to cost share, economic affordability of 
	compensation and the capacity of the population to tolerate and support the 
	proposed changes. 3. Address land and shelter access issues up front in conflict and 
	disaster situations The forced migration of people in conflict situations, or the result of 
	disasters, causes significant short and long term access issues to land and 
	shelter. Even where land is at the centre of the conflict, the emergency, or 
	first phase, is dominated by emergency issues and short-term’ism. It is only 
	in the second, or reconstruction phase, that housing, land and property 
	rights are treated within a medium to long term framework. Too often there 
	is little funding for the second phase by comparison to the first phase. 
	This means that housing, land and property issues in post conflict 
	situations are not always addressed adequately. The approach needs to be 
	improved and longer term measures put in place from the outset and the 
	delivery of solutions accelerated to support social stability. 4. Identify gender responsive land tools to widen women’s access to land Women’s lack of access to and control over land is a key factor 
	contributing to poverty, especially in the increasing feminisation of 
	agriculture, and needs to be addressed for sustainable poverty reduction. 
	Although the policy statements of almost all donors active in the land and 
	natural resources sector emphasise women’s access to land and many countries 
	also make reference to gender equality in their constitutions, laws relating 
	to property rights do not often give equal status to women. Women’s access 
	to and control over resources is shaped by complex systems of common and 
	civil law as well as customary and religious laws and practices. The 
	practise and perception of a woman’s position in the household, family and 
	community still affects to what extent women can exercise their rights. The 
	challenge now is to translate this political will into action and produce 
	gender equality across the land sector. We need to identify practical 
	solutions, particularly at the grassroots level, that support women’s 
	effective and sustainable access to land and make policy-makers aware of how 
	this can be achieved. 
	 Malawi.
 Theme 6: Land Governance for Rapid 
	UrbanisationUrbanisation is a major change that is taking place globally. The urban 
	global tipping point was reached in 2007 when over half of the world’s 
	population was living in urban areas; around 3.3 billion people. Although 
	this depends on the definition of ‘urbanisation’, as outlined in the World 
	Bank’s ‘World Development Report 2009, Reshaping Economic Geography’ (World 
	Bank, 2009). It is estimated that a further 500 million people will be 
	urbanised in the next five years and projections indicate that the 
	percentage of the world’s population urbanised by 2030 will be 60%.  This rush to the cities, caused in part by the attraction of 
	opportunities for wealth generation, has generated the phenomenon of 
	’megacities’ that have a population of over 10 million. There are currently 
	19 megacities and there are expected to be around 27 by 2020. Over half this 
	growth will be in Asia; the world’s economic geography is now shifting to 
	Asia. Megacities exert significant economic, social and political dominance 
	over their hinterlands. Mega-urban regions are growing, especially in China 
	(Pearl River Delta) and the US (central east coast) to create clusters of 
	cities or “system of cities” and while not megacities in the traditional 
	form of centre and suburbs, they will form “multi-centre megacities”. This incredibly rapid growth of megacities causes severe ecological, 
	economical and social problems. It is increasingly difficult to manage this 
	growth in a sustainable way. It is recognised that over 70% of the growth 
	currently happens outside of the formal planning process and that 30% of 
	urban populations in developing countries living in slums or informal 
	settlements, i.e. where vacant state-owned or private land is occupied 
	illegally and used for illegal slum housing. In sub-Saharan Africa, 90% of 
	all new urban settlements are taking the form of slums. These are especially 
	vulnerable to climate change impacts as they are usually built on hazardous 
	sites in high-risk locations. Even in developed countries unplanned or 
	informal urban development is a major issue. Urbanisation is also having a very significant impact on climate change. 
	The 20 largest cities consume 80% of the world’s energy use and urban areas 
	generate 80% of greenhouse gas emissions world-wide. Cities are where 
	climate change measures will either succeed or fail. Rapid urbanisation is setting the greatest test for Land Professionals in 
	the application of land governance to support and achieve the MDGs. The 
	challenge is to deal with the social, economic and environment consequences 
	of this development through more effective and comprehensive spatial and 
	urban planning, resolving issues such as the resulting climate change, 
	insecurity, energy scarcity, environmental pollution, infrastructure chaos 
	and extreme poverty. 
		The significant rapid urbanisation trend is recognised in the WB’s 
		‘World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography’ that sets 
		priorities for policies at different stages in urbanisation, essentially 
		providing the elements of an urbanisation strategy that conforms to the 
		reality of growth and development. [M. Friere].Unplanned urban growth causes significant ecological, economic and 
		social problems and risks, such as the threat of disasters. The 
		characteristics of these complex and dynamic systems are not well 
		understood to allow these risks to be managed and potentially mitigated. 
		There is a need for a multi-disciplinary perspective to better 
		understand the process of urbanisation and its governance and to develop 
		a set of urban indicators based on an integrated approach to physical, 
		social and environmental aspects of urban growth on one hand and urban 
		planning and land management on the other, to support good governance 
		and disaster risk reduction. [T. Kötter].Several papers identified unplanned or informal urban development in 
		developed countries as a major issue; this problem is significant in 
		more than 20 countries in the ECE region and affects the lives of over 
		50 million people [C. Potsiou]. In Albania, illegal developments 
		represent 40% of the built-up area of major cities [D. Dowall].The importance of good land governance has long been recognised by 
		the people of Kenya as a critical issue for sustainable socio-economic 
		development and an ambitious National Land Policy has recently been 
		formulated. [R. McLaren]. The Way Forward 1. Adapt land governance measures to support evolving cities for economic 
	growth Urbanisation with the continuing concentration of economic activities in 
	cities is inevitable and generally desirable. Increasing economic density 
	remains the objective for all areas at different stages (incipient, 
	intermediate and advanced) of urbanisation. It is essential that appropriate 
	priorities for policies are set at different stages in urbanisation, 
	essentially providing the elements of an urbanisation strategy that conforms 
	to the reality of growth and development. For example, land markets and land 
	management policies must be sensitive to the urbanisation stage and adapt 
	over time to allow the use of the same piece of land to change to 
	accommodate greater value-added activity. This increase in economic density 
	needs to be balanced with environmental safeguarding through sustainable 
	development policies and land policies need to manage and connect megacities 
	and their hinterlands holistically to maximise the significanteconomic and social benefits across the region.
 2. Develop urban indicators and new information management approaches to 
	manage complex and dynamic urban environments Due to the significant dynamics of urbanisation, urban planning and 
	public infrastructure provision tends to be reactive rather than a guide to 
	development. Large portions of cities grow outside of the legislative or 
	development control framework. Lack of information about the informal sector 
	and its dynamics hinders city officials in formulating and implementing an 
	urbanisation strategy and increases the ecological, economic and social 
	problems and risks, such as the threat of disasters. A new set of urban 
	indicators is needed. This should be supported by a new information 
	collection / management paradigm with tools, techniques and policies to 
	monitor and model growth and change across the urban area – all within 
	shorter timeframes than previously accepted. 3. Develop comprehensive and scalable solutions to the shelter problem Rapid urbanisation challenges the human right of access to land and 
	shelter. Slum upgrading approaches need to be more holistic and integrated 
	into broader slum prevention shelter policies, and appropriate shelter 
	policies. The aim would be to develop off the shelf solutions that are 
	replicable and scalable across major urban areas. The issue needs to be 
	tackled systemically across the city; to include all the cities’ systems 
	from finance, to land, to shelter, to planning, and so on, at a city wide 
	scale, within an over-arching shelter policy rather than in a piecemeal 
	approach. Moving from reactive to preventative approaches is a much needed 
	paradigm shift that must harness the potential of all actors, including the 
	grassroots, the private sector (formal and informal) and a strong 
	decentralised Local Government. 
	 Tokyo, Japan.
 
 7. Appendices
	 Panel at the Closing Session: Joan Kagwanja, Economic Affairs Officer, 
	UN-ECA, chair of the closing session (left), Paul van der Molen, the 
	Netherlands, Clarissa Augustinus, UN-HABITAT, Cheryl Morden, IFAD, Jolyne 
	Sanjak, MCC, Helge Onsrud, Norway and Alain Durand-Lasserve, France and Paul 
	Munro-Faure, FAO.
 
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