Key Concepts, Approaches and Tools for Strengthening Land Tenure Security Dr. Samuel Mabikke Land & GLTN Unit / UN-Habitat Urban CSO Cluster Learning Exchange on Strengthening Land Tenure Security for Urban Poverty Reduction in Asia Pacific Manila, Philippines, November 7-8, 2017
Land Tenure..??
Fundamental Questions we need to ask ourselves!! o What is land tenure? o What is land tenure security? o Why is achieving security of tenure for everyone important? o How can we develop appropriate concepts, tools and Approaches to help us understand and act to achieve this?
Land Tenure defined as.. Relationship whether legally or customarily defined, among people as individuals or groups, with respect to land and associated natural resources (water, forests, etc..
Tenure Security for All Still a Global Challenge!! Finding ways of Recognising, Recording and Administering a variety of appropriate and legitimate land tenure forms to achieve security of tenure for all
SECURITY OF TENURE GLTN BRIEFING AND PROGRAMME Security of tenure is the right of all individuals and groups to effective protection against evictions. Security of tenure can be defined as an agreement or understanding between an individual or group to land and residential property, which is governed and regulated by a legal and administrative framework. Source: HABITAT III, Issue Paper 9
WHY IS TENURE SECURITY IMPORTANT? Increased tenure security can: o Help overcome land, housing and livelihood inequalities o Promote equity, inclusion and the realisation of human rights o Promote food security, entrepreneurship and sustainable development o Facilitate provision of essential facilities, services and quality of life o Reduce physical insecurity and conflict o Reduce forced eviction, corruption, land grabbing o Overcome wide-spread discrimination against women o Create options for youth
RECOGNISING THE CHALLENGE, 1991 Notwithstanding the type of tenure, all persons should possess a degree of security of tenure which guarantees legal protection against forced eviction, harassment and other threats. States parties should consequently take immediate measures aimed at conferring legal security of tenure upon those persons and households currently lacking such protection, in genuine consultation with affected persons and groups. General Comment 4, UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1991
A RESPONSE, HABITAT II GLTN BRIEFING AND PROGRAMME Access to land and legal security of tenure are strategic prerequisites for the provision of adequate shelter for all and for the development of sustainable human settlements affecting both urban and rural areas. It is also one way of breaking the vicious circle of poverty. While recognizing the existence of different national laws and/or systems of land tenure, Governments at the appropriate levels, including local authorities, should nevertheless strive to remove all possible obstacles that may hamper equitable access to land and ensure that equal rights of women and men related to land and property are protected under the law. Habitat Agenda, Habitat II, 1996
THE SITUATION TODAY GLTN BRIEFING AND PROGRAMME Accelerated urbanisation & growth of informal settlements and slums Powerful economic forces pushing towards individualisaion and commodification of land and housing rights Many situations of land conflict, dispossessions, grabbing, eviction Conventional land administration policies & systems unable to cope Large-scale individual land titling programmes mostly unsuccessful An overall trend of growing tenure insecurity, at the expense of poor and vulnerable individuals, groups, communities
FALLING OFF THE REGISTER o 70% of developing country populations fall outside any land register o In Sub-Saharan Africa: more than 60% of urban dwellers live in informality, and poverty o Conventional land administration is too expensive, and where in place is often not working Problems of sustainability and inability to implement at scale Inadequate recognition of communal, secondary, group rights, etc. Need to develop an affordable, inclusive, scalable approaches
Rapid Urbanization unplanned settlements in Developing Countries RURAL 63% URBAN 37% RURAL 53% URBAN 47% RURAL 40% URBAN 60% 1970 2000 2030
PROPORTION OF SLUM DWELLERS AROUND THE WORLD Proportion of Slums Dwellers in Urban Areas Most Slum Dwellers By around Region: the World 2005 lack Security of Tenure More Developed Region More Developed Region More Developed Region Northern Africa Southern Asia Western Asia Eastern Asia More Developed Region South-eastern Asia Latin America Sub-Sahara Africa More Developed Region % of Slum Dwellers 6 25-30 30-50 50-60 70+ Country Boundary
Status of Land Tenure and Property Rights
Urbanization Context in Kenya and Uganda
GLTN Land Tools & Approaches A land tool is a practical method to achieve a defined objective in a particular context. It can be a guide, criteria, software, training package, manual, guidelines, frameworks, etc.
GLTN BRIEFING PROGRAMME IMPROVING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF TENURE o Tenure is frequently understood in binary terms: - formal vs informal, - legal vs extra-legal, - secure vs insecure, - de facto vs de jure o In practice a diversity of appropriate, legitimate tenure arrangements exists between these extremities o There is no automatic correlation between the form of tenure and its security o The extent of the actual security depends on many factors, including historical, social, regulatory, institutional and governance
SO WHAT IS THE CONTINUUM? The continuum of land rights is not a theory, it is rather a powerful concept, or metaphor, for understanding this rich land tenure diversity Rights to land are regarded as lying on a continuum between informal and formal In between these lie a wide and complex spectrum of rights
GLTN BRIEFING AND PROGRAMME
GLTN TOOL KIT &THEMES 1. ACCESS TO LAND & TENURE SECURITY 1a. Enumerations for tenure security 1b. Continuum of land rights 1c. Deeds or titles 1d. Socially appropriate adjudication (STDM) 1e. Statutory and customary 1f. Co-management approaches 1g. Land record management for transactability 1h. Family and group rights 4. LAND-BASED FINANCING 4a. Land tax for financial and land management 5. LAND POLICY AND LEGISLATION 5a. Regulatory framework for private sector 5b. Legal allocation of the assets of a deceased person (Estates administration, HIV/AIDS areas) 5c. Expropriation, eviction and compensation 2. LAND MANAGEMENT & PLANNING 2a. Citywide slum upgrading 2b. Citywide spatial planning 2c. Regional land use planning 2d. Land readjustment (slum upgrading and/or post crisis; PILaR) 3. LAND ADMINISTRATION & INFORMATIONS 3a. Spatial units 3b. Modernizing of land agencies budget approach
GLTN BRIEFING AND PROGRAMME INTERACTION BETWEEN GLTN GOALS, CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES, THEMES AND TOOLS
THE TOOL DEVELOPMENT PROCESS GENERIC STEPS - Devt. of training packages - Conduct of training, i.e. TOTs Training (6) Scoping Studies (1) -Global knowledge -Current initiatives Consultations (2) Revision/ Adoption/ Dissemination (5) -Consultations with partners -Revisions, enhancement -Publication and dissemination TOOL DEVELOPMENT Piloting/Testing (4) - EGMs, E-Forum, Meetings Workshops Product Development (3) -With (and through) partners -Specific products, i.e. criteria, guidelines, software (STDM) - At country level, with partners
Land Tools being Implemented at Scale 1.Social Tenure Domain Model 2.Participatory enumerations 3.Gender Evaluation Criteria 4.Continuum of Land Rights
STDM: AS AN EXAMPLE GLTN BRIEFING AND PROGRAMME 3. Strengthened capacity of partners and land actors to promote and implement pro-poor and gender responsive policies, tools and approaches Map of STDM implementation
Land Tools & Approaches being Piloted 1. Participatory and Inclusive Land Readjustment (PILaR) 2. Costing and Financing Land Administration Services (CoFLAS) 3. Land-Based Financing 4. Tenure Responsive Land Use Planning 5. Youth Responsiveness Criteria on Land 6. Transparency in Land Administration 7. Global Land Indicators 8. Capacity Assessment tools for Policy Implementation 9. Fit for Purpose Land Administration
Tools under development 1. Customary Land Tenure Tools 2. Valuation of Unregistered Land 3. Pro-poor land records 4. Land Readjustment for Slum Upgrading 5. Land Tenure for Women in the Muslim world 6. UN System-Wide Guide on Land and Conflict
AN INCLUSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF TENURE Tenure can take a variety of forms along this continuum documented as well as undocumented, formal as well as informal, for individuals as well as groups, including pastoralists, and residents of slums and other settlements, which may be legal or extra-legal The rights do not lie on a single line, and they may overlap Registered freehold should not be seen as the preferred or ultimate form it is one of a number of appropriate and legitimate forms (customary, leasehold, group tenure, others) The most appropriate form depends on context (See: Handling Land, GLTN 2012)
A POWERFUL ALTERNATIVE APPROACH o The continuum offers a powerful and practical alternative approach to the dominant focus on titling of individually held private property as the ultimate form of tenure security, or the end goal of land tenure reforms o It recognises that there are a number of tenure forms that are appropriate, robust, effective, legitimate it builds on what is there o It promotes increase of security across the continuum, with opportunity for movement between tenure forms o The Continuum of Land Rights is now widely accepted, as part of a global shift in understanding of land tenure
GROWING ACCEPTANCE WORLDWIDE The continuum concept and approach are increasingly visible in key resolutions, statements, tools, programmes, law and practice. Examples include: o Land Policy Initiative Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa (2010) o UN-Habitat Governing Council Resolution, April 2011 (GC 23/17) o Land Governance Assessment Framework, or LGAF (WB and others) o Namibian Flexible Land Tenure Act, 2012 o Voluntary Guidelines (FAO and others governance of all forms of legitimate tenure) o Social Tenure Domain Model concept and tool (GLTN partners) o Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration approach (FIG, WB, others)
HABITAT III GLTN BRIEFING AND PROGRAMME The New Urban Agenda We commit ourselves to promoting, at the appropriate level of government, including sub-national and local government, increased security of tenure for all, recognizing the plurality of tenure types, and to develop fit-for-purpose, and age-, gender-, and environment-responsive solutions within the continuum of land and property rights, with particular attention to security of land tenure for women as key to their empowerment, including through effective administrative systems. New Urban Agenda, 35 Habitat III, 2016
KEY INGREDIENTS FOR IMPLEMENTATION o A continuum of land rights can be said to have been implemented in a particular country situation once: the full spectrum of formal, informal and customary rights are catered for within the land information management system; and the range of rights in the country constitutes legally enforceable claims which can be asserted and defended in a forum such as a court
THANK YOU GLTN Secretariat UN-Habitat, P.O Box 30030, Nairobi 00100, Kenya gltn@unhabitat.org www.gltn.net