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News
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| December 2008
Does
Land Titling Reduction Poverty?
 Yes, in the case of the Rwanda Land Tenure Reform Programme according to DFID in a recent press release.
A £37m land registration programme soon to be rolled out
across Rwanda will enable individual farmers to register their 'deeds'
and achieve secure tenure to help them control and develop their land.
A pilot project has tested a methodology to enable land parcels to be mapped
from satellite imagery, thus reducing the cost of surveying - a key
constraint to registration in Rwanda and indeed elsewhere. However,
will providing registered deeds really help hundreds of thousands of
small farmers across Rwanda climb out of poverty as DFID suggest? Maybe
this will provide the evidence found lacking in Geoffrey Payne's study? (see below) |
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December
2008
 Does
Land Titling Reduction Poverty?
No,
is the general conclusion of recent research undertaken by Geoffrey
Payne and Associates. The study comprised two parts: a
desk study followed by case studies in Senegal and South
Africa. The literature study found minimal evidence of land
titling generating an increase in household incomes or
employment status. The case study surveys found that residents
in most informal settlements enjoyed de facto tenure
security already, but titling brought very positive impacts
for women by improving documentation. The conclusions
therefore are that where titling is undertaken for economic
reasons, the objectives are generally not realised, and social
impacts are generally limited. The full paper can be
downloaded here.
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December
2008
Why
Land Tenure Matters?
 Because
the Millennium Challenge Corporation (www.mcc.gov)
- a US Government development assistance agency - has invested
over $278 million in land tenure and administration programmes
in developing countries over the past few years. According to
MCC secure tenure matters for all the established reasons,
such as good governance, personal and community empowerment,
and social and gender equity. But in MCC's view tenure
security and functional land markets are also crucial for
access to credit and promoting investment and private sector
activities. It is one pathway to sustainable economic growth,
and MCC project funding tends to focus on improving legal
frameworks for property rights, making property registries
more service-oriented, and bringing more clarity through
documentation. MCC is currently funding land programmes in
Mali, Mozambique, Mongolia and many other developing
countries. Read here
a recent speech by MCC's CEO on 'Reducing Poverty and
Promoting Economic Growth through Land Tenure and Property
Rights’
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November
2008
 A
Good Question?
A
reader's letter published in the Guardian newspaper (UK) of 15 November
questions why, when you don't need a solicitor (attorney-at-law) to
register land with Her Majesty's Land Registry (HMLR) of England
and Wales, that they insist you need a solicitor to witness your proof
of identity? After all, you don't need a solicitor to witness your
identify when applying for a passport, so why for registering a land
transfer? To their credit, HMLR is one of the few registries in the
world that accepts applications directly from the public; a solicitor
isn't needed to complete any of the forms, but HMLR do strongly
recommend that applicants seek legal advice. This is good advice,
because property is most peoples' principle asset and needs to be
handled with care and consideration of such pitfalls as 'overriding
interests'. However, bare land already registered is much less likely
to be burdened with unregistered rights and interests and therefore is
easier and more straightforward to buy and sell. But a solicitor is
still needed, if only to verify who you say you are. Is fraudulent land
dealing that prevalent in England and Wales?
Postscript
According
to the Chairman of the Conveyancing Association, in a letter
to the Guardian newspaper published two days after the letter
above, fraud amounted to £75m in a market of that saw over
one million transfers last year. With the average home price
of £150k, this represents about 500 properties or 0.05% of
the property market. Unacceptably high or a reasonable level
of risk? Either way, the issue remains, why doesn't HMLR
accept the word of religious ministers, doctors, policemen or
other professionals - all acceptable to the immigration and
passport authority - to witness personal identification?
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October
2008
Facing
the Challenges of African Growth
Although
published over a year ago, this report by the World Bank
should be highlighted because it identifies and explains what
matters most in creating economic growth in Africa and
proposes strategies to remove the obstacles to growth. From
the land administration perspective, the finding that insecure
property rights is a primary constraint should come as no
surprise. Less appreciated but equally as significant is the
high transactions costs associated with securing and enforcing
property rights and one conclusion is that increased efforts
are needed at improving governance in relation to effective
and cost-efficient institutions such as property laws and
registration systems. The report can be accessed here
at the World Bank's website.
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June
2008
Legal
Rights for All
A
report, by the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor,
entitled 'Making the Law Work for Everyone' states that four
billion people – the majority of the world’s people –
are excluded from the rule of law. Prepared by a group
co-chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K.
Albright and Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, the reports
calls on governments, international institutions and civil
society to make legal empowerment a top agenda item in the
fight against global poverty. As the global food crisis wreaks
havoc on nations across the globe, solutions must focus on the
core of the problem...including land and property rights.
Download the report here
from the Commission on Legal Empowerment's website.
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May
2008
Secure
Land Rights for All
Secure
land and property rights for land users strengthen economic
development, social inclusion and good environmental
management; secure land rights are the key to the Millennium
Development Goals in the quest for poverty reduction and
promotion of gender equality; security of tenure is often more
important for the poor than land and home ownership; there are
many tenure choices offering adequate security for all land
users, especially poor women and men in both urban and rural
areas; and, policy makers and planners seeking solutions to
secure land rights must keep abreast of growing urbanization,
environmental problems and climate change. These are some of
the key messages distilled from recent research and
experiences in land tenure and administration and presented in
an important synthesis of lessons and experiences aimed at
policy makers in the developing world. The book is available
online from the Global
Land Tools Network.
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April
2008
Plans
to Fight Hunger
A
recent speech by the president of the World Bank, Robert
Zoellick, laid out a "new deal for global food
policy" to address growing global hunger through measures
to boost agricultural productivity. By moving away from food
aid and by increasing agricultural assistance especially in
Africa, the World Bank are refocusing efforts on the
"forgotten MDG of overcoming malnutrition". A raft
of measures are proposed, one of which is facilitating land
titling. > more
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April
2008
A
New Chapter
Working
in land administration throws up challenges and opportunities.
After spending many years in the challenging role of
independent land administration consultant, working for
governments and companies on short and long term contracts, Sean
Johnson changes tack, grasps an opportunity and
opens a new chapter in his career by working full time for COWI,
one of Denmark's leading consultancy companies and a major
private sector player in cadastre and land administration in
the international development field.
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March
2008
GSDI
10 in Trinidad & Tobago
Ten
workshops,
over 150
papers, and 38 poster presentations made for a successful
and well-attended bi-annual conference
of the Global
Spatial Data Infrastructure Association held recently at
the University
of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, in Trinidad and
Tobago. Papers ranged over global views, across regional
themes, to national developments, but did not forget the
perspectives of small island states and the specifics of
sustainable development. One paper highlighted the
achievements and challenges facing the cadastre and
registration in the Caribbean > more
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February
2008
Land
Policy in Africa and Rwanda
The
consultative workshops on land policy in Africa recently
passed through Rwanda as part of a programme sponsored by the
African Union, United Nations and African Development Bank to
support national governments in their efforts to formulate and
implement land policies. Rwanda adopted a new land policy in
2004 and currently there is a national programme in place to
improve tenure security and build capacity in implementation.
More on the UNECA
website.
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