ABSTRACTED FROM THE SUMMARY: The impact of land titles on social and economic development and poverty reduction in the rural sector can be optimized by targeting land-titling efforts in areas where government agencies, NGOs, and private investors are actively engaged. The benefits for disadvantaged households can also be increased by policies that specifically link land-titling efforts to pro-poor development objectives.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE INTRODUCTION: My focus in this paper is on the kinds of development pursued by state agencies and large international aid organisations, and specifically, the displacement effects of what I am calling the new land tenure reform agenda. I will illustrate my arguments through an account of the Land and Forest Allocation Programme in Laos.

This is a mixed methods study on the Cambodian Cadastral Commission (CC), a body set up in June 2002 to resolve disputes involving unregistered land. It was conducted by the Center for Advanced Study in collaboration with the World Bank Justice for the Poor Program, National Cadastral Commission Secretariat and the German Development Cooperation (GTZ). The study undertakes a review of the functioning of the CC and evaluates a new case management/incentive scheme which was being piloted with the support of GTZ.

Land fragmentation, where a single farm has a number of parcels of land, is a common feature of agriculture in many countries, especially in developing countries. In Vietnam, land fragmentation is common, especially in the north. For the whole country, there are about 75 million parcels of land, an average of seven to eight plots per farm household. Such fragmentation can be seen to have negative and positive benefits for farm households and the community generally.

Vietnam Land Administration system has implemented successfully the land policy in recent decades. In the next phase of socio-economic development plan, land is requested to become important domestic resources for many investment projects. Obviously, land registration needs further development so that land use rights or land use right certificate can be used as asset in the open market. In the past ten years, many improved on land registration was undertaken. Many first-look problems have been identified and fixed. The issues of Vietnam land registration are more difficult to identify.

This ADI study in collaboration with the Land Information Centre seeks to understand the relationship between land titling and poverty reduction in two sangkat of Prey Nup District, Sihanoukville Municipality.

According to the annual report of Huaphan Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office (PAFO) (1999), despite land allocation, some villages are still practising shifting cultivation. To address this problem many decrees and regulations on land and land use have been developed and declared. The land allocation (LA) programme is one of these initiatives. So far, no effort has been made to evaluate whether the LA programme could facilitate change in land use and land management. The major objective of this study was to assess the impact of the LA programme on land use and land management.

Slow agricultural development has restrained economic growth and poverty alleviation in Cambodia. The country’s volatile history has left a legacy of weak tenure security and large areas of underutilized land. This study estimates the impact of access to land on poverty in a logistic regression framework using household survey data. Increased access to land is shown to significantly lower the risk of household poverty. Tenure security, land improvements and irrigation strengthens this effect.

The legal framework for land use planning and land allocation (LUP/LA) in Lao PDR has been analysed based on the relevant laws (Land Law, Forest Law, Agricultural Law etc.). A national LUP/LA program under the overall responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has been created in 1996. Until 2003, district agricultural and forestry staff have conducted LUP/LA activities in a total of 5400 villages in all provinces of Lao PDR. It is estimated that approximately 300.000 Temporary Land Use Certificates have been issued as a result of LUP/LA.

The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to describe the legal and institutional framework governing land in Cambodia, as well as the current status of land ownership and use; (2) to estimate the impact of access to land on human development and the potential benefits from land reforms; and (3) to discuss implications for land polices and challenges for implementing land reforms.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE OBJECTIVES: This paper aims to identify, scrutinise and comment upon the quality and adequacy of different existing large data sets (available from government ministries, international organisations, research institutions and so forth) that contain information on land use, tenure and related issues. It then analyses these data to establish linkages between standards of living/poverty and landholding.

Land is the most important productive asset in agrarian societies such as Cambodia’s. Throughout Cambodian history, land ownership rights have varied with changes in government. In the period before French colonisation (pre-1863), when all land belonged to the sovereign, people were freely allowed to till unoccupied land and could cultivate as much as they liked. With French colonisation, a property-rights system was introduced in 1884.