Compliance with Residential Building Standards in the Context of Customary Land Tenure System in Ghana

Zoning regulation is considered as a tool used by government to control developments to ensure sustainability. In Ghana where about 80% of lands are held under customary land tenure systems, implementation of residential standards, which is a government function may conflict with customary norms of holding land. This paper uses case study to examine the implementation of residential policies and enforcement of residential standards in areas under customary land tenure in Ghana and if these policies and standards affect the enjoyment of land rights in the context of customary land tenure. Results showed that non-compliance to residential standards and non-conformity to the local plan has minimal interference on enjoyment of land rights. Residents are ignorant of the details of the residential standards and have never seen a zoning regulations document. There is also low level of monitoring and enforcement. Spatial analysis reveals four main types of non-conformity between orthophoto and local plans i) discrepancies in the orientation of the parcel boundaries, ii) discrepancies in the shapes of plot boundaries, iii) houses constructed on the plot boundary or straddle parcel boundaries, and iii) differences in plot sizes. Results suggest the need for planning authority to use efficient approaches such as GIS and UAV’s to communicate, monitor and enforce the residential standards. It is concluded that collaboration between customary land authorities and the Municipality during the allocation and development of plots may improve spatial conformity between orthophoto and the local plans

UAV Technology: Opportunities and Limitations to support Land Administration:powerpoint

map millions of unrecognized land rights in the region. Land administration systems, the technologies and processes that maintain information about people to land relationship, are recognized as a crucial tool for delivering sustainable economies, environments, and social cohesion: land tenure recording helps to deliver tenure security, dispute reduction, investment opportunities, and contributes to good governance. Amongst others, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are emerging as a tool for alternative land tenure recording. The advent of low cost, reliable and lightweight UAVs have created new opportunities for collecting timely, tailored and high-quality geospatial information. Even though UAVs appear a promising technology, it is not clear to what extent it can contribute to existing land tenure recording workflows of communities and governments in the land sector. To address this questions, field data collection was carried out in early 2018 which encompassed numerous UAV flights and the consultation of relevant stakeholder. Supported by preliminary results of use cases in Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania, this conference contribution bridges technological capabilities and expressed stakeholder needs to ascertain opportunities and limitations of UAV technology to support land administration. The outline includes insights into data collection workflows, quality measures, challenges of capacity development