Press Release

[Index]

Good land administration is a powerful tool for sustainable development, affirms international conference

Geneva, 15 April 2008 -- More than 50 million people in 15 countries of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) live in informal settlements. Rapid urbanization, poverty and the lack of access to land and ownership in addition to limited or no social housing have led citizens to build their homes illegally under very poor environmental and social conditions. The phenomenon is growing at an exponential rate in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and calls for urgent political, legal and planning solutions.

Informal settlements show that the lack of adequate access to public services, poor living conditions, harmful environments and segregation go hand in hand with uncertainty over ownership and the lack of secure tenure.

Over the last 20 years, a number of UNECE countries with economies in transition have had to undertake dramatic policy changes, including land reforms and massive reallocation of State and private assets. The economic problems and social stresses related to the transition to new housing and land management systems have added to the many other challenges facing these countries. In some cases, the lack of a clear and transparent scheme for land tenure and property rights has compounded the problems of already poor administrative and cadastre systems.

An international conference in Bergen, Norway, organized by the Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority under the auspices of the UNECE and its Working Party on Land Administration (WPLA), recently discussed how poverty is linked with limited property access and insecure land tenure.

The conference also assessed how the recommendations of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor on access to land and property could be implemented in the UNECE region. The Commission is hosted by the United Nations Development Programme ( http://legalempowerment.undp.org/).

“Many of the recommendations of the Commission concerning land management are relevant to the activities of the Working Party on Land Administration (http://www.unece.org/hlm/wpla/welcome.html),” said Peter Creuzer, Chair of the WPLA. “The Working Party is striving to promote improved land administration through enhanced management practices, better tools and new initiatives to empower the most disadvantaged in their striving for better living conditions”.

The two overarching messages of the conference were that land is at the basis of wealth and that sustainable land management and good land administration are key elements in the sustainable development equation. These messages hold true for the UNECE region, as well as for other parts of the world, where appropriate sustainable development policies need to be translated into specific solutions for informal settlements, better housing provision and improved access to land and promotion of secure tenure.

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Paola Deda
Secretary to the Committee on Housing and Land Management
UNECE Environment, Housing and Land Management Division
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Phone: +41 (0) 22 917 2553
Fax: +41 (0) 22 917 0107
E-mail: [email protected]

and/or:

Mr. Magnar Danielsen
Director of the Land Registry and Cadastre Division
Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority
3507 Honefoss, Norway

Phone: +47 9220 7242
Fax: +47 9 021 1154
E-mail: [email protected]