Information and Land Management in Support of Good Governance World Bank, Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Division FAO of the UN, Climate, Energy and Tenure Division Information and Land Management in Support of Good Governance The World Bank and the FAO Experience and Future Agendas Gavin Adlington, Land Program Team Leader for ECA Region The World Bank Group Rumyana Tonchovska, Senior Land Administration Officer – IT Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations Joint FIG Commissions 3 and 7 Workshop  “Information and Land Management. A Decade after the Millennium” and Commission 3 Annual Meeting, Sofia, Bulgaria - November 15-17, 2010

Information and Land Management in Support of Good Governance. 2

Information and Land Management in Support of Good Governance Developing and implementing land policies that can bring major benefits to disadvantaged farmers, bolster agricultural production and improve food security is a complex, politically-charged, long-term process. It requires significant commitment from governments, international financing institutions and development donors. For this reason, land access, security of tenure and land administration (registration and titling) have represented a major area of collaboration between FAO, the World Bank and other financing partners in Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Africa and Latin America. 3

FAO/WB Cooperative Programme (CP) ECA Region /7/2009 -30/4/2010 Land Administration and Management is recognised as the leading example of collaboration between the FAO and the World Bank through the CP It accounts for about 30% of the work delivered by FAO for the World Bank’s European and Central Asia (ECA) region 4

Information and Land Management in Support of Good Governance The predominant World Bank and the FAO policy in support of Land Tenure reforms during the last 10-15 years was to rebuild the systems of secure real estate tenure by developing transparent and accessible systems of real estate registration and cadastre. The main outcomes are increased transparency and access to information and as a result of that more liquid property assets and establishment of effective and efficient property registration systems that have allowed the introduction of these assets into the economy. 5

Information and Land Management in Support of Good Governance The quality of the governance of tenure is a fundamental factor in the success or failure of efforts to: improve gender equity in access to land and other natural resources; manage disputes and conflicts over land and natural resources; provide access to land and shelter following violent conflicts; facilitate land reforms; recognise and implement indigenous, customary and community rights; improve leasing arrangements; improve the management of state owned land resources, and improve land administration and land management services such as land registration and cadastre, regulated land use planning, and property valuation and taxation. The principles of good governance can be made operational through: equity, efficiency, transparency, accountability, sustainability, subsidiarity, participation, civic engagement and security. 6

FAO Current Work on Land Tenure The current FAO work on Land Tenure includes: Investigations of the land tenure implications of climate change scenarios and policy options in relation to the rapid growth of land use for bioenergy production; land tenure in emergency and post-emergency work; compulsory purchase of land and compensation; state land management; low-cost land tenure security; good governance in land administration; making land information accessible for the poor. 7

Introduction to the FAO Initiative on Voluntary Guidelines In response to growing concerns for international instruments to improve the governance of tenure of land and other natural resources the FAO is developing Voluntary guidelines on responsible governance of tenure of land and other natural resources. The Voluntary Guidelines will provide practical guidance to States, civil society and the private sector on the responsible governance of tenure; The guidelines will be prepared jointly with governments, civil society, private sector and international organizations. Once drafted, the voluntary guidelines will be submitted for FAO member country approval; Upon adoption of the voluntary guidelines, FAO and its partners will support their implementation through national action plans and through the Organization’s extensive partnership networks and related project activities. 8

FAO in Support of Development of Open Source Cadastre & Registration Software Introduction of IT systems to land registration is one among the most important steps reducing opportunities for corrupt and non-transparent land management. In June 2010 the FAO started a project for the development of affordable and flexible, open source based, information management system for the benefit of security of tenure for the poor. An active user and developer open source cadastre and registration software community will be established. The financial resources are provided by the Government of Finland. The software will be implemented in three pilot countries: Ghana, Nepal and Samoa. The project is currently in its “Requirements Phase”. A workshop involving pilot country participants is planned for November 18-19, 2010, where decisions on the scope of the initial generic software is expected to be made. 9

A Decade after the Millennium Changes in ECA Region A Decade after the Millennium 10 RPM-50

The World Bank ECA Region (29 countries)

Countries in ECA with WB funded projects in Land Administration 21 stand alone Land Management Projects 16 with large Land Management Components 23 countries US$ 1.1 billion in loans and grants 19 projects currently ongoing The largest program of land reform the world has ever seen!

The Changes in ECA Region Have Been RADICAL In 2000 Hernando de Soto linked the situation in transition countries to those of the less developed world and stated: “….. today they look astonishingly similar: strong underground economies, glaring inequality, pervasive mafias, political instability, capital flight and flagrant disregard for law ….. most people can not participate in an expanded market because they do not have access to a legal property rights system that represents their assets in a manner that makes them widely transferable and fungible.” The Mystery of Capital. 13

Doing Business 2010 According to Doing Business 2010, 9 of the top 20 performers in registering property Worldwide are ECA countries: 2. Georgia 4. Lithuania 5. Armenia 9. Azerbaijan 10. Belarus 11. Slovakia 13. Estonia 17. Moldova 19. Kyrgyzstan 14

Changes in the ECA Region Were Done in Several Stages... Pre-1989 State ownership very common Private ownership in some Central European countries, but transfers of ownership discouraged. Mortgages generally unavailable. 1989 – 2000 Various programs to privatize land and property, and establish registration systems. 2000-2010 Building on the reforms.

Land Management Projects in ECA Stage 1 and Stage 2 Focused on Land Privatization Business, housing and enterprise privatisation Restitution of property rights Institutional development and Legal base Stage 2 Registration of property rights and encouraging land and property markets to operate Cadastre and Systematic registration Improving services through changes in work flows, procedures, IT systems, introducing service standards

Countries in ECA with Computerised Land Administration and Cadastre Systems Virtually every country has an automated system for registering rights, but they nearly all work on paper and then transfer to the computer. Many have some form of digital cadastre maps, but very few are linked to the legal register. 17 17 17

New Requests from ECA 18 RPM-50

Land Management Projects in ECA Stage 3 The countries in the ECA region are requesting World Bank support in two key areas: Improving the quality of services and reducing corruption through e-government initiatives. The E-Cadastre; SDI and meeting the requirements of the INSPIRE Directive.

The World Bank Land New Agenda in ECA - Stage 3 The World Bank support for the next five to ten years in ECA region will be focused on the following five broad objectives: Objective 1: Completion of property registers and cadastres to provide safe and secure property rights, and facilitate privatization and land reform; Objective 2: Development of a more integrated approach to land management through land policies that reflect environmental and sustainable development concerns; Objective 3: Encouraging innovation and the use of SDI or spatial information underpinning new products and services; Objective 4: Improving the management of the organization and use of space data; Objective 5: Supporting governance and quality and method of services provided

...Linking Land Administration, Geoinformation, SDI and INSPIRE... INSPIRE, ANNEX I THEMES (2011 / 2016) Coordinate reference systems*, Geographical grid systems*, Geographical names*, Administrative units*, Addresses*, Cadastral parcels*, Transport networks, Hydrography, Protected sites *Data produced by the Surveying and Cadastral Administration 21

...Linking Land Administration, Geoinformation, SDI and INSPIRE... INSPIRE, ANNEX II THEMES (2014 / 2019) Elevation*, Land cover, Orthoimagery*, Geology ANNEX III THEMES (2014/2019) Statistical units, Buildings*, Soil, Land use*, Human health and safety, ... 22

FUTURE CHALLENGES Coordination and cooperation among all key players at all levels; Collaboration with the private sector; Institutional and human capacity to implement the NSDI; Infrastructure capacity; Establishment of national standards for digital data; Data quality; Creation of digital data in various strategic sectors – and data conversion where digital data does exist; Geodetic networks and secrecy of the coordinate systems in some countries.

CONCLUSION There are some promising initiatives underway that is expected to make a positive impact: In order to enhance the governance of tenure the FAO is developing Voluntary Guidelines on responsible governance of tenure of land and other natural resources; There is a potential to introduce best practice through the use of land governance indicators; The formation of an open source community of software developers, focussed on the development of software supporting cadastral and registration functions. An admirable goal with the potential to significantly reduce the cost of software and make it more accessible to developing countries; Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), which facilitates the decision making process at all levels and allows governments, local communities, non-government organizations, the commercial sector, the academic community and common people to make more informed decisions and to cope with disasters like the earthquake in Haiti, wildfires around Moscow or floods in Pakistan. 24 24

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