Equitable land management is an extremely complex problem around the world. Subject to countless legal, administrative, cultural and religious practices, it is something that has to be addressed by taking in a number of factors simultaneously.

These range from land policy and land use policy, to land tenure including rentals, land registration, land use planning, land information, land management and administration, gender, valuation, state land and private land, governance issues, NGOs and civil society, land tax, as well as different forms of capacity building. Most importantly, it is an issue that encompasses the rights of citizens, especially of the dispossessed and the poorest of the poor, those least able to stand up for their rights.

At UN-HABITAT we have found that little can be achieved in the area of slum upgrading or housing development without taking all these factors into consideration.

In September 2000, the Millennium Declaration was adopted by the UN General Assembly. It articulates the commitment of Member States to significantly improve the lives of at least

100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020 - Target 11 of Goal No.7 - a task monitored by UN-HABITAT. Security of tenure is one of the major indicators to measure progress in achieving this target.

Our Global Campaign for Secure Tenure identifies the provision of secure tenure as essential for a sustainable shelter strategy and as a vital element in the promotion of Housing Rights. The campaign is also considered one of the most important tools to achieve the Millennium Development Goal on slums. Our Campaign for Secure Tenure supports partnerships between organized groups of slum dwellers and local governments. By stopping evictions and securing land tenure, the Global Campaign provides a strategic entry point to urban upgrading, based on social and economic justice.

There are three fundamental challenges that need to be tackled when it comes to security of land tenure.

Firstly, UN-HABITAT believes that conventional titling is not the easiest way to give people tenure security. Instead a range of options could be introduced. To challenge conventional thinking about land registration and cadastral approaches is at this stage very important. The land regulatory framework has to be innovative. Affordable tenures and pro-poor land management systems must be introduced. Conventional titling approaches are generally not affordable to slum dwellers. They do not deliver fast enough, or at a suitable scale. Flexible systems should be promoted.

Secondly, decision-makers need to have reliable, updated and correct land and spatial information. This information is needed to make decisions on safe drinking water, for the development of roads, the provision of electricity, the management of natural resources, and for raising land-based taxes to develop urban areas. The systems supplying this information should be user-friendly and designed to assist all stakeholders and professionals as well as citizens. The information systems should be transparent and open
for everyone. They should be useful to all levels of government, especially local authorities. To develop and use such land information systems is usually a major challenge for local authorities.

Finally, we need to consolidate available knowledge on land management. In Africa, there are various good examples of innovative land management systems. In Latin America, and in Asia too, they have to be better documented.

We need to share this information extensively to change the lives of the poor, especially those living in urban slums.

Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka
Executive Director