FIG and the UN-Habitat

ice-president Stig Enemark attended the UN-Habitat workshop in Oslo from 23rd to 24th March 2006 to pre-sent FIG commitment to the UN-Habitat Global Network for Development of Innovative Pro-Poor Land Tools. The workshop was jointly organised by UN-Habitat, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norwegian Agency for International Development (NORAD) and the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida). About a hundred participants attended the workshop by invitation, representing various land-right-related organisations throughout the world, all potential partners of the Global Land Tool Network.

The Social Tenure Domain Model
Land is the key issue behind slum formation. Addressing the challenge of slums means taking seriously the land issue. Given that experience has shown that it takes 15-25 years to change a country’s land administration system we cannot afford to wait if we wish to improve the lives of slum dwellers now and in the short term. Many people think that the way to solve the problems of insecurity of tenure, homelessness and the development of slums is through large-scale land titling. While this approach is, of course, important and necessary, it is not enough on its own to deliver security of tenure for the majority of citizens in most developing counties, especially in Africa. Land-administration systems with colonial roots do not really support the registration of customary or informal rights. This means that socio-technical innovations are required. It should be noted that in the technical field there is often insufficient focus on pro-poor technical and legal tools. With development of the FIG Core Cadastral Domain Model, efforts are being made to avoid such criticism. This pro-poor approach is being strengthened by undertaking further research into domain modelling, especially in regard to the proposed Social Tenure Domain Model as a specialisation of the Core Cadastral Domain Model.

The first half-day of the workshop focused on the High Level Commission for Legal Empowerment of the Poor (HLCLEP). This is chaired jointly by Dr Madeleine K. Albright, former secretary of state, USA, and Mr Hernando de Soto, president of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Peru. Presentations included those by Mr Naresh Singh, secretary general of the High Level Commission, and Mrs Anna K. Tibaijuka, executive director, UN-Habitat. The key objective of the Commission is to generate political support for broad reforms to ensure legal inclusion and empowerment of the poor, including fungible property rights for their assets, and access to credit and capital. The Commission will work closely with the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) to develop a comprehensive set of practical, adaptable tools that will guide policy-makers in reform efforts at country level. Further information on the High Level Commission can be found on the UNDP website.

The following one and a half days focused on the GLTN, with Dr Clarissa Augustinus, chief of the Land and Tenure Section, UN-Habitat, playing a key role. A range of presentations were given to introduce and discuss various GLTN mechanisms such as those covering peer review, gender, grassroots, and dissemination. Also given were a range of partner presentations addressing ongoing and planned land-tool programmes and international initiatives.

FIG vice-president Stig Enemark presented the FIG commitment to the GLTN. This is in line with general FIG commitment, especially within Commissions 7 and 8, to developing and promoting the concept of land-administration systems for sustainable development, wherein special attention has been given to good governance, gender issues and pro-poor land tools. The contribution of FIG to the GLTN will be mainly in the area of analysing and designing adequate land-administration systems to include relevant pro-poor land tools, promote social inclusion and support sustainable development. The project on developing a Social Tenure Domain Model can be seen as an example of FIG contribution to the GLTN (see sidebar); this project was presented at the recent FIG Regional Conference in Accra, Ghana.

The main objective of the GLTN is to facilitate attainment of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals through improved land-management and tenure tools for poverty alleviation, and the improvement of the livelihood of the poor. The core values of the GLTN are pro-poor, govern-ance, equity, subsidy, affordability, systematic large-scale approach and gender sensitiveness. Six themes are identified for land-tool development:

• land rights and records
  
• land information/planning
  
• land management/administration
  
• land law and enforcement
  
• land tax/valuation
  
• cross-cutting issues (such as capacity building, gender etc.).

UN-Habitat will play a central role in co-ordinating the network at global level, but designated experts and institutions outside the UN will undertake the tasks of conducting research and tool development, and of managing the other ongoing activities of the network. UN-Habitat intends this network to be scaled up over time, building the capacity required to support member states, regional offices, civil-society organisations, and other key stakeholders in advancing attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The GLTN will be officially launched during the third session of the World Urban Forum in Vancouver, to take place from 19th to 23rd June 2006.