Secure land rights are essential for improving the livelihoods of the poor and, more broadly, for economic development. In many emerging economies however, land remains a largely unprotected asset, one that lacks documented tenure and property rights.
By Iris Krebber, Senior Land Policy Lead, DFID and Chair, Global Donor Group on Land, originally published on IISD
In a world of rising demands on scarce resources coupled with a rapidly growing population, interest in land has increased significantly, leading to many new challenges (conflict, corrupt deals, forced evictions), but also offering opportunities to lift up poor areas through infrastructure, good jobs and access to new markets. There is thus an urgent need to improve land rights – for women and men, for communities and for responsible businesses – in order to incentivize much needed investment and to empower people to improve their lives. Yet, investment must not come at the expense of people’s legitimate land rights. While increasing attention is being paid to the role of land rights, we also need to improve transparency, information exchange and coordination, and we need new forms of collaboration to improve the impact of aid to end poverty in our lifetime.
It is for these reasons that in August 2013, donors focusing on land tenure and property rights formed a new group to improve global information exchange, coordination, lesson learning and, where appropriate, to take joint positions and action. The resulting Global Donor Group on Land currently has 22 bilateral and multilateral members and remains open to new members and observers. The Chair of the Group rotates among members, with the United Kingdom (UK), represented through its Department for International Development (DFID), holding the inaugural Chair.
The Global Donor Group’s priorities for 2013-2014 are to:
- Launch a new donor programme database on land and maximize its use and expansion;
- Ensure a strong role for land rights in the post-2015 development framework;
- Help develop a global indicator framework on land governance; and
- Support the country land partnerships launched under the UK G8 Presidency as documented in the UK G8 Presidency Report 2013.
The Group is supported by the Global Donor Platform on Agriculture and Rural Development. More information, such as the Terms of Reference, members, minutes of meetings and interviews can be found online.
For further information, please contact: Iris Krebber, Group Chair, DFID at I-krebber@dfid.gov.uk
