Housing and Land Management
Achievements in 2007
The Committee on Housing and Land Management put strong emphasis on the implementation of policy recommendations and of the Ministerial Declaration on Social and Economic Challenges in Distressed Urban Areas in the UNECE Region that was adopted in 2006 and that will guide the work of the Committee in the next five years. The Committee also attempted to strengthen the linkages between housing, spatial planning and land administration in its activities.
A number of demand-driven follow-up and capacity building activities to the policy guidelines on condominium management, housing finance and social housing took place in 2007 under the auspices of the Committee. The issues discussed were concentrated on specific topics selected by the organizing country, such as integrated approaches for housing development, housing maintenance and management, and the sustainable development of small and medium-sized cities. They were perceived as useful and contributed to the implementation of policies.
The country profile on the housing sector of Georgia was published in 2007, using a streamlined approach with an increased emphasis on analytical parts and policy recommendations. The Ministry of Economic Development of Georgia recognized the usefulness of the country profile for the development of the housing sector, in particular regarding the management of the multi-family housing stock, the provision of affordable housing, the role of municipalities in housing and spatial planning, and the consolidation of the legal framework. A number of recommendations have already been implemented. A study for Belarus is ongoing, which follows a more integrated approach and therefore contains a chapter on spatial planning and land administration.
The Working Party on Land Administration held its fifth session in 2007. A major decision was the approval of the Real Estate Market Advisory Group, which is expected to provide additional expertise on real estate markets, finance and legislation to the activities within the Working Party’s programme of work. In-depth discussions were held on institutional challenges and changes in land management, on policies regarding the imposition of fees and charges for land administration services, and on informal settlements. The latter was based on a joint workshop of the Committee, the Working Party and the International Federation of Surveyors on informal settlements, which considerably increased the awareness of stakeholders for the existing challenges in this area. A joint study on the topic will be prepared.
A questionnaire survey on fees and charges was carried out in 2007, through which the current practices of 40 member countries could be identified. Moreover, a number of workshops provided member countries and participants with information on the modernization of the land administration system, the creation of an effective institutional set-up, and sustainable land management.
The land administration review for Azerbaijan was published in 2007. It puts forward a number of recommendations, such as on legal aspects, land reform and land markets, privatization of urban land, land-use and spatial planning, real property cadastre and land registration, topographic and cadastre mapping, and international cooperation.
A publication “Spatial Planning – Key Instrument for Development and Effective Governance, with Special Reference to Countries in Transition” was discussed and approved for publication by the Committee at its sixty-eighth session. It was felt important to consider spatial planning as a way to better integrate the economic, environmental and social aspects of development. Several countries reported to have taken measures to adjust their spatial planning systems and legislation. For instance, laws and government programmes were adopted or amended in Slovakia (Law on Spatial Planning), Romania (Law on Spatial Planning and Urban Development), Moldova (National Plan of Territorial Arrangement) and the Czech Republic (Act on Town and Rural Planning).
Challenges for 2008
In view of the three pillars of work of the Committee, namely housing, spatial planning and land administration, there is a need to further integrate these areas. Chapters on spatial planning and land administration will be included in future country profiles on the housing sector. In 2008, reviews are planned in Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan, and launching events will be carried out in Georgia and Belarus.
Cross-sectoral activities should also be intensified. The secretariat is currently exploring synergies between the Environmental Performance Reviews and the country profiles as well as between housing and population. A joint pre-mission to Kyrgyzstan of the Environmental Performance Review and the Country Profile on Housing will be carried out in February 2008. An in-depth discussion on linkages between housing and demographic developments is foreseen for the Committee’s sixty-ninth session. The Committee also welcomed a proposal to establish an expert group on energy efficiency in the housing sector. The topic will be addressed in cooperation with the Sustainable Energy Division.
A major obstacle for the implementation of recommendations remains the weak institutional set-up and the lack of capacities at the national, regional and local government levels. Thus, the clear division of responsibilities, and the creation of effective decentralization and functioning public institutions should be stressed in future activities.
In land administration, the streamlining of institutional responsibilities between cadastre, land registration, mapping and rural development agencies; the use of land management tools for urban and rural development; and the promotion of public-private partnerships can be identified as areas for future action. Within the Working Party, ways to more closely link the workshop series with the programme of work will be discussed. Land Administration Reviews will be carried out in Tajikistan and Latvia in 2008. Workshops are planned on Legal Empowerment of the Poor in Bergen, Norway, and on Influence of Land Administration on People and Business in Cavtat, Croatia.
In the area of planning, future activities should emphasize public participation and effective division of responsibilities between national, regional and local governments. Moreover, the integration of spatial planning with housing policies, land administration and other policy areas such as education, infrastructure, health and economic policies, is needed.
POPULATION
Achievements in 2007
Population Ageing
The UNECE Ministerial Conference on Ageing convened from 6 to 8 November in León, Spain, marked the first five-year cycle of review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) and its Regional Implementation Strategy (RIS). Ministers and high-level officials from 45 UNECE member States and the European Commission, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders discussed progress achieved in implementing the MIPAA/RIS, shared experiences and good practices and identified priorities for future action. Twenty-four countries were represented at the ministerial level. The Conference adopted the Ministerial Declaration “A Society for All Ages: Challenges and Opportunities”.
Adjustments to social protection systems, the labour market and health care constitute core areas of ageing-related policy interventions in many countries and they received corresponding attention at the Conference. Governments recognize that it is crucial to go beyond the adjustments motivated mainly by fiscal concerns and take a broader view, including promoting active ageing, lifelong learning and intergenerational solidarity, and leaving more room for individual choice in life-course transitions among education, work and retirement. Recognizing that population ageing will continue for many decades, member States emphasized the need to make adjustments that are sustainable in the long run.
The preparatory process for the Ministerial Conference included several meetings and monitoring activities. A group of leading experts on ageing established to prepare the Conference met in February in Vienna and proposed topics for the political declaration and agenda items for the ministerial conference. The intergovernmental Preparatory Committee for the Conference met in July in Geneva and in November in León, to negotiate the Ministerial Declaration and to elaborate the content and modalities of the Conference. The European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, which is assisting the UNECE secretariat in the follow-up to MIPAA/RIS, published country-profiles based on a coherent set of ageing-related indicators.
In collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a capacity-development workshop “Ageing – a Challenge and an Opportunity for the Countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia” was organized in March in Chisinau, Moldova, with the participation of 18 out of the 19 countries of the target region. The workshop improved understanding of how to identify and analyze challenges and opportunities related to ageing and demographic change. It provided knowledge for developing action plans and projects in response to population ageing as well as practical guidance for compiling country reports for the Ministerial Conference.
Generations and Gender
The UNECE Generations and Gender Programme (GGP) is on its way to becoming the most compelling source of policy-relevant research on population issues in the UNECE region. It comprises a survey that deals with a broad range of influences on demographic behaviour in a longitudinal panel study, and a related contextual database that covers national and regional trends and policies on these issues.
The Sixth Meeting of the International Working Group of the Programme took place in January in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It decided on the format of analytic outputs of the Programme, exchanged experiences on its national implementation, and discussed issues related to international accessibility and dissemination of the collected micro-data. These decisions are being implemented and the release of the first harmonized micro-data files for comparative research is foreseen in January 2008.
Norway started the first wave of the survey, which brought the total number of countries that entered data-collection phase to 15. The two countries (Bulgaria, Russian Federation) that were scheduled to implement the second wave of the survey completed it successfully. Four more countries (Georgia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland) formed their contextual database, which is now available for eight countries.
Challenges for 2008
In the follow-up to the 2007 Ministerial Conference on Ageing, the challenges will be related to improving international exchange of experience and to monitoring of the implementation of MIPAA/RIS and the León Ministerial Declaration. Relying on the positive experience over the last couple of years, the cooperation in the network of focal points on ageing need to be strengthened further, including establishment of a framework for regular intergovernmental meetings. For monitoring, voluntary contributions need to be attracted from member States and partnerships strengthened with other organizations, such as the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, the International Institute on Ageing and the United Nations Population Fund.
In the Generations and Gender Programme, two crucial steps are scheduled for 2008: launch of the archive of harmonized micro-data for internationally comparative research, and presentation of policy-relevant results in an intergovernmental conference on generations and gender. The main challenges are (1) to shorten the time from data-collection to the availability of the harmonized micro-data for the countries already in the Programme, (2) to demonstrate the benefits of the programme beyond the research community, and (3) to encourage more countries to join. These challenges can be met in the strengthening strategic partnership with the European Commission in developing this Programme.
_______