The aim of this policy paper is to present successful approaches to secure land tenure rights in rural and urban areas. To support future programmatic decisions by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), this paper focusses especially on impacts and good practices. It discusses examples from the German technical cooperation but also includes good practices and impacts achieved by other development partners.

Since 2010, the GIZ Land Programme in Lao PDR has sought to improve the land tenure security of rural communities. The programme currently consists of three projects – the BMZ-commissioned Land Management and Decentralised Planning (LMDP) Project, the Enhanced Land Tenure Security (ELTeS) sub-project within a global programme on responsible land policy, as well as the German contribution to the Mekong River Land Governance (MRLG) Initiative.

In April 2019, UN Habitat through the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) and Global Urban Observatory (GUO) Units; with support from the Global Land Indicators Initiative (GLII) contacted National Statistical Offices (NSOs), National Land Registries and SDGs focal points with the aim of mobilizing existing data on land tenure security in response to SDGs indicator 1.4.2. The data drive was conducted in support of UN Habitat Database for Human Settlements Indicators, for which 1.4.2 is part of.

The paper highlights the fast changes in understanding and conceptualizing the complex topic of land governance, its multi-facetted aspects and inter-linkages to other thematic sectors. Major policy developments, such as state divestiture and increasing private investment into land, and a stronger and more influential role of Civil Society Organizations are addressed in more detail. Capacity development at all levels (e. g. academic, administrative, community, private investors) is identified to be essential for good and transparent governance in the sector.

Interactive guide to the VGGT

The Social License Platform (SLP) matches businesses with the services and expertise they need to ensure that investments in agricultural land create growth opportunities for both business and local communities, while respecting the land rights of the communities that use the land.

This Guide is complementary to the Interlaken Group's 'Respecting Land and Forest Rights: a Guide for Companies'. It provides guidance on what companies can do to reduce risk through improve tenure governance in land-based investment, reflecting the principles of responsible governance of land tenure set out in the VGGT. It provides a more manageable presentation of the VGGT, along with steps to ensure that a company acts consistently with them and includes thorough due diligence on the tenure rights of project-affected communities.

Landscope is a system for measuring tenure risk, a term created to describe the financial risk associated with local opposition to a real asset. This kind of opposition to investments is very common across Africa, Asia and Latin America, often causing significant financial losses and operational headaches. It applies a new approach to analysing geospatial data about social, environmental and political issues that is designed to help companies and investors in emerging and frontier markets to prepare a proper assessment of tenure risk at project, supply chain or portfolio level.

The challenges to tenure security in both urban and rural areas are not only large, but they are increasing due to the different types of pressures making land more and more scarce. There is growing acceptance that only by recognizing and supporting a continuum of land rights, can tenure security be reached for all people in an inclusive way.

Land is a key economic resource inextricably linked to access to, use of and control over other economic and productive resources. Recognition of this, and the increasing stress on land from the world’s growing population and changing climate, has driven demand for strengthening tenure security for all. This has created the need for a core set of land indicators that have national application and global comparability, which culminated in the inclusion of indicators 1.4.2 and 5.a.1 in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda.

The Community Land Value Chain (CaVaTeCo in Portuguese) is an approach that can improve tenure security and management of community lands and natural resources in the context of large-scale land investments. CaVaTeCo provides the conceptual base for the project "Piloting the ‘Community Land Value Chain’ approach in Mozambique: The delimitation and formalisation of community and family land holdings within the Portucel plantation concessions of Zambézia Province, Mozambique", implemented by ORAM and Terra Firma in the Districts of Namarroi and Ile.

By observing teams in the field, combined with analysis of their sketch maps and GPS coordinates, we have identified several frequent mistakes. This guide illustrates frequent problems and mistakes using real examples, and suggests good practices for avoiding or correcting them, and for improving team skills.