There are few more contentious and complex problems in the world than those dealing with land and secure tenure. Many religions have firm rules on land and inheritance, most communities have deeply ingrained cultural traditions, and every government faces the challenge of land differently with its own vast array of laws and with varying degrees of political will. In many countries the rules work against women owning land for a range of reasons from poverty to custom. In wealthy countries land records cover most of the territory and are generally well kept. However, few developing countries have more than 30 per cent of their land accounted for by land records. Land records are also often linked to the middle and commercial classes. In many countries, there is large-scale corruption associated with land. In post conflict societies, land is a key issue as it is often closely associated with the conflict. Sound land governance approaches are therefore primary in building peace. The Global Land Tool Network aims to establish a continuum of land rights, rather than just focus on land titling; improve and develop pro poor land management as well as land tenure tools; unblock existing initiatives; assist in strengthening existing land networks; improve global coordination on land; assist in the development of gendered tools which are affordable and useful to the grassroots; and improve the general dissemination of knowledge about how to implement security of tenure.

The Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) aims to establish a continuum of land rights, rather than just focus on individual land titling; improve and develop pro poor land management as well as land tenure tools; unblock existing initiatives; assist in strengthening existing land networks; improve global coordination on land; assist in the development of gendered tools which are affordable and useful to the grassroots; and improve the general dissemination of knowledge about how to implement security of tenure.

The main objective of the network is to facilitate the 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 livelihoods of the poor. The core values of the GLTN are pro poor, governance, equity, subsidiarity, affordability, and systematic large scale approach as well as gender sensitiveness. GLTN originates from requests made by Member States and local communities world-wide to UN-HABITAT, who together with Sida and the World Bank initiated the network idea. The network is a long term initiative to support and upscale ongoing initiatives on systematic, innovative, pro-poor, affordable and gender sensitive land tools. Discussions with partner organisations and Member States led to the production of a comprehensive initial report that was produced by a team of consultants.

Mandate
The new land and secure tenure tool is pivotal for the success of Target 11 of Millennium Development Goal No. 7 on improving the lives of 100 million slum dwellers around the world by the year 2020, and UN-HABITAT’s Global Campaign for Secure Tenure. Specifically, the mandate related to the campaigns can be found in GC resolution 19/3. In December 2004 the General Assembly passed a resolution which “encourages Governments to support UN-HABITAT’s Global Campaign for Secure Tenure and Global Campaign on Urban Governance as important tools for, inter alia, promoting administration of land and property rights, in accordance with national circumstances, and enhancing access to affordable credit by the urban poor.” (Resolution A/59/484, Implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and of the twenty-fifth special session of the General Assembly.).

A global network of research associates and partners on land is necessary for UN-HABITAT to meet its mandate. The new network is intended to contribute to the achievement of the expected accomplishment in the agency’s programme on Improved regulatory frameworks and capacities that provide: security of tenure, progressive realisation of land, housing and property rights, and increased supply of higher quality housing for the poor, including women and HIV/AIDS orphans, especially in slums.

This network is expected to contribute a report to the Governing Council in 2007, the World Urban Forum in 2006, as well as various expert group meetings. Although there has been extensive global discussion around land policies that work for the poor, not enough attention has been paid to the development of methods for implementing these pro poor land policies. This is essential for creating societies where there is sustainable equal access to land and its use. Work by UN-HABITAT has already started on all these approaches, both for developing countries and in post-conflict societies.

Defining the problem

It has also been found at the global level that there are insufficient pro-poor tools to implement the land policies of the Habitat Agenda, which is limiting the ability of governments for its implementation. Furthermore, policies are not closely integrated with land management, and they tend to focus on description and analysis rather than implementation. Where new policy development is taking place, it is generally outside a human rights framework and is also not pro-poor. Human rights networks tend to focus mainly on the violation of international human rights law, while failing to provide ideas and recommendations that could help countries improve land delivery to the urban poor. There are few global land legal networks and they are mostly limited to professional experts.
Work already undertaken

Regional and inter-regional:

Asia and sub-Saharan Africa  - Co-hosting expert group meetings with the Federation of International Surveyors on innovative pro-poor land administration tools (Sub Saharan Africa 2004, Asia and the Pacific 2005).

Latin America and Southern Africa - Working with local lawyers, research in South America and Southern Africa is underway to identify Best Practices and gaps and build local capacity. (Complete – to be published in 2005)

Disaster and conflict regions - Through the agency’s Disaster Management Programme, work is underway with several governments in countries recovering from natural disasters or conflict.  A special Immediate measures land management evaluation tool has been developed. (http://www.unhabitat.org/programmes/rdmu/tools.asp)

Global - Norway has been promoting an independent High Level Commission for the Legal Empowerment of the Poor while the Rockefeller Foundation is holding discussions with the Economic Commission for Africa on land problems to which UN-HABITAT, along with others, has been invited to take part.

Africa - The first African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD) launched a network of countries focusing on urban development. Key aspects of the Declaration of this conference focus on land. (2005)

Country level:

Kenya - Co-ordination of the land sector donors, working with the Government of Kenya. Research into Islamic land law at a global level is being undertaken as a first phase, to identify the key issues in regard to the management of public land, religious land, inheritance and how it affects women, Islamic law and human rights etc. (From 2004)

Uganda - Teaming up with the Government of Uganda and the World Bank Research Division to develop an innovative land administration system in Uganda. The Government of Uganda has carried out three pilot studies and another six are envisaged.  The studies will be monitored and evaluated for their cost effectiveness and impact on poverty and women. The same  partnership is likely to be extended to Tanzania and Ethiopia in 2006. (From 2002)