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Contributions from
the Column
Facts and trends
Werner-Schuster-Haus
Land policy: quick privatisation with disastrous consequences
Out of work
Cooperation with Jordan
Water is not like oil: there is no substitute for it
'Communities in the One World' Service Agency one year on
A change of course
"We must show that supporting independent NGO work is worthwhile"
US government: new money for fighting AIDS
Change to a more just agricultural trade not in the offing
Germany supports peace process in Sri Lanka
03/2003
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Fourth symposium 'Land tenure system and land policy'
Land policy: quick privatisation with disastrous consequences
Some 40 academics and representatives of government and international development organisations took part in the fourth symposium 'Land tenure system and land policy' in Marburg, February 11, hosted by the GTZ and the University of Marburg. The focus was on Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cambodia and Russia and the question of how bilateral and multilateral donors could best support land reforms there.
Common to these four countries is the dominance of collective forms of land use and holding compared with individual private property. By granting and registering titles to land and drawing up land registers, the authorities hope to secure the rural population's rights to land and at the same time stimulate the trade in titles to land and investment in farm production. However, Hubert Quédrago, a legal adviser from Burkina Faso, pointed out that the option of being able to sell land can threaten the common law rights of local people. Christian Graefen, of the GTZ , confirmed that. He said that for instance the World Bank had pressed Moldavia for speedy privatisation, causing a "disastrous fragmentation of state land". Also, Sulemana Mahama, who coordinates the government land reform project in Ghana, pointed to the great influence of divergent donor interests, which, he said, often contradicted "ownership".
Meanwhile, new perspectives appear to be opening up in the land policy of the European Union. Philip Mikos, of the European Commission, presented its initial thoughts on the directives of an EU land policy. "Harmonisation of the donors' policy approaches would increase significantly the effectiveness of financial support of land reforms," he said. A Commission task force set up for this purpose would present a first draft of the directives by June this year. It was still unclear whether and to what extent NGOs and smallholders were to be included in this process and whether redistributive land reforms should be supported. Unfortunately, the subjects of redistribution and participation played no important role at the symposium.
Armin Paasch
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