A Systems Approach to Land Registration and Cadastre

The article is based on the dissertation ‘Systems of Land Registration – Aspects and their Effects’ (Zevenbergen 2002), which applies the systems approach to the field of land registration and cadastre. It focuses on the technical, legal and organisational aspects, and their interrelation, of such systems of land registration. It includes a case study of four countries (the Netherlands, Indonesia, Austria and Ghana). The system of land registration is modelled, both by a static and by a dynamic model. The three main functions from the latter model (adjudication, transfer and subdivision) are elaborated as well. The importance of emergent properties within the systems approach is introduced; the example with regard to land registration being ‘trustworthiness’

Developing a Framework for Improving the Quality of a Deteriorated Land Administration System Based on an Exploratory Case Study in Pakistan

As in numerous other countries, the present Land Administration System (LAS) in Pakistan is not up-to-date and can even be considered as deteriorated. It is entirely based on paper land records and maps lacking standards with outdated information stored at different administrative levels of the responsible agencies. Such practice restricts the usefulness of reliable and quality land information for supporting tenure security to citizens, socio-economic development, and urban/rural development including infrastructure. To be able to understand, analyse and ultimately improve the present situation, this paper develops a framework for improving the quality of LAS. It gives ample attention to elements of an institutional and of a technical nature. In order to identify such elements to be included in the framework, theoretical perspectives on both institutional and technical aspects are firstly discussed. The selection of elements is done which is based on this in combination with the results from the case study. The exploratory case study was conducted in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. The main outcomes of this case study are described here, leading to two results. On the one hand, an initial picture of the institutional and technical situation of the LAS in Pakistan is depicted (to be detailed in further research). On the other hand, this picture is used to select the elements to be included in the framework for improving the quality of a deteriorated LAS. The selected elements are presented including their application to the case of Pakistan. Finally, the framework is developed that will help to describe, analyse and ultimately improve a deteriorated LAS

Towards Responsible Consolidation of Customary Lands: A Research Synthesis

The use of land consolidation on customary lands has been limited, though land fragmentation persists. Land fragmentation on customary lands has two main causes—the nature of the customary land tenure system, and the somewhat linked agricultural system. Since attempts to increase food productivity on customary lands have involved fertilisation and mechanisation on the small and scattered farmlands, these approaches have fallen short of increasing food productivity. A study to develop a responsible approach to land consolidation on customary lands using a design research approach is undertaken and reported here. Based on a comparative study, it is found that three factors inhibit the development of a responsible land consolidation approach on customary lands—the coverage of a land administration system, a land valuation approach, and a land reallocation approach the fits the customary land tenure system. To fill these gaps, firstly, this study developed the participatory land administration that brought together traditional land administration approaches with emerging bottom-up approaches, as well as technological advances that drive these approaches together with the growing societal needs. Secondly, a valuation approach was developed to enable the comparison of the farmlands in rural areas that are without land markets. Finally, a land reallocation approach was developed based on the political, economic and social, as well as technical and legal characteristics of rural customary farmlands. This study concludes that though the land consolidation strategy developed is significantly able to reduce land fragmentation, both physical and land tenure, the local customs are an obstruction to the technical processes to achieve the best form of farmland structures

Fight or Flight? Understanding the Nature of Land Conflicts and Stakeholders' Roles in Oyo State, Nigeria

Context and background Land conflicts are evident across African countries arising from competing land interests among land conflict stakeholders. Understanding the interests, beliefs, and roles these stakeholders play in protecting their land rights is fundamental to effective land conflict management.  Goal and Objectives: The study investigates the nature of land conflicts in Oyo State, Nigeria, vis-a-vis the roles played by stakeholders, with a view to providing useful information that could enhance effective land conflict management. Methodology: Using a case study approach and mixed methods of data collection, the study analysed the data through thematic and narrative analysis. Results: Findings revealed that the interests and beliefs of stakeholders determine the forms, stages, intensity, and resolution of land conflicts in Oyo state. These land conflicts differ between rural and urban areas, with certain forms and stakeholders being common in each. However, urban areas have diverse forms of conflict, and stakeholders play significant roles as actors and resolvers of land conflict. The significance of land as people’s identity and generational heritage led people to engage in physical fights, killing and property destruction to defend it. To reduce land conflict, stakeholders' interests and roles need to be considered in land conflict management decision-making. Therefore, involving stakeholders in decision-making and implementing a workable framework is important for land conflict management success in Oyo state

Scaling up pro-poor land recordation:Findings and consequences of three peri-urban cases from sub-Saharan Africa

Scaling up promotion of land rights and improved access to land for the poor, women and other vulnerable groups has been at the core of the global land community’s agenda. The pro-poor land recordation tool (PPLRT) offers an alternative approach to both conventional and emergent responsible land tools, which can be implemented on its own and in combination with other tools. It has recently been tested for various types of rural contexts. This article further develops the PPLRT based on literature review on peri-urban challenges and three documented peri-urban cases in sub-Saharan African cities. It recommends refinement of three design elements, especially related to peri-urban characteristics of rapid changes in landholdership, land fragmentation and asymmetry of actors in conflict resolution. Further research needs to include other continents, contexts with land appropriation, and attend to topics of local weighting of evidence, impacts of pro-poor land recordation, and contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda

Geo Shared Licenses: A base for better access to Public Sector Geo-Information for value added resellers in Europe

In a digital age public sector geoinformation (PSGI) is potentially a vital link in the added-value chain. Yet private sector value-added resellers (VARs) still face a number of barriers to using PSGI. Price is only one impediment. The complexity of licences and restrictive licence conditions of PSGI may be an even bigger obstacle. Especially when combining different datasets, VARs can face a quagmire of conflicting licence conditions. Batty (2006 Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 33 163 – 164) called for research that would stimulate value-added use of PSGI. However, inconsistent and intransparent licence conditions for PSGI are among the biggest obstacles of PSGI for VARs. This paper explores the current PSGI licences to assess the actual restrictions and how current obstacles can be levelled. The Creative Commons licensing concept was explored and adapted to make it suitable for licensing PSGI. The resulting concept of Geo Shared licences is a means to harmonise licence conditions for PSGI. Our research shows that the Geo Shared concept can be a valuable contribution to further harmonisation of PSGI licences and thus development of valueadded chains. Furthermore, development of geographic information infrastructures will also be stimulated. Similarly, the concept can be considered as a serious option within the Infrastructure of Spatial Information for Europe (INSPIRE), as a way towards transparent harmonised licences in Europe and beyond

Groundwater management in land administration: a spatio-temporal perspective

Although the use of land and water is intertwined, specifics for groundwater management are not effectively dealt with in the laws and other institutional mechanisms related to land. Provisions for groundwater aspects in land management are there, but with a focus on the land itself. Land rights and restrictions are more or less static, lacking enough flexibility to incorporate the relatively short interval spatio-temporal dynamics of groundwater resources in the land management and regulation mechanisms. This leads to a gap between the scientific inputs and policy-decision making. The paper suggests the adaptation of a spatial information science based approach to bridge the gap between the technical and administrative aspects of groundwater management. The land administration domain model (LADM) provides a basic set of elements capable of supporting the inclusion of basic groundwater modeling elements into land administration, making it possible to create a support system for the management of land and water. For this purpose, spatial and temporal dimensions under the legal-administrative and spatial unit components of the standard LADM model are reviewed. The paper shows that the advancement of spatial technologies is capable of providing solutions for global issues such as groundwater resource management. As a first step towards implementation of these technologies, it is essential to include spatio-temporal dynamics properly in the standard data models. Increased knowledge of the behaviour of groundwater resources, supported by a technical system built on a land administration counterpart, could help improve greater sustainability in the use of such resources. Considering the specific arrangements of rights, parties and spatial units this could, if desired, also provide the base for a regulated private market in groundwater assets. Further research will be needed to fully operationalize and implement such data models, which ultimately could produce outputs at case study level which can help to formulate policies regarding natural resources more on the basis of technical inputs

Spatial dimensions of land administration and user rights over groundwater: case study of Kerala, India vs. Coca Cola

Supporting the management of rights related to groundwater based on input from hydrogeology software is contributing to bridging the gap between the technical and administrative aspects of groundwater management. The research reported herein is focused on a specific example (or ‘use case’ in UML terminology), resulting from a court action by Kerala State in India, against the Coca-Cola company, on the overexploitation of the local groundwater aquifer. The use case reports on the economic and policy contexts conducing to the establishment of the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada, and the ensuing court actions, triggered by the local community assembly first, and then by Kerala State authority, on the grounds of the introduction of toxic waste into the groundwater, making the water unfit for human consumption, and the depletion of the aquifer. Considering the specifics of the use case, the ISO/TC211 Land Administration Domain Model (LADM, DIS 19152) is used as a basis for the development of a specialized profile addressing the need to define laws and regulations with proper spatial and temporal dimensions, to represent the rights to groundwater use by the local communities. Two alternative scenarios are reported: the first is based in the consideration that all the different Property parcels are regulated by Private Law; the second, further develops on the consideration of groundwater as a Public Trust, thus regulating private use through the Public Law domain. The modelling here provided goes from a subset of the LADM conceptual classes to more specialized classes, and is reported through the use of class and instance level (object) diagrams. These build on the existing spatial unit package and the legal and administrative profile, demonstrating the flexibility which can be introduced by LADM. Specifically concerning the representation of spatial units, a previously proposed ‘Mixed 2D/3D’ spatial profile is further developed, addressing the needs of the use case. In combination with the ‘Level’ representation of LADM to organize spatial units, it can contribute to an easier reuse of existing, 2D based, land parcels data, into the proposed 3D and time based model architecture. Concluding, the modelling and architectural framework here reported contributes to a more informed decision in the choice of groundwater rights to be made by the law, policy and courts, taking into account societal needs and changes induced by new socio-economic contexts. The resulting institutional setting will be best informed with spatial and temporal data, and the legal solution chosen be it public or private law focused, can be recorded in a system based on the LADM standard; it allows for much flexibility and only a few specific classes need to be added and further specified in order to be implemented

Meeting the 2030 Agenda:Responsible Consolidation of Ghana's Customary Lands

Land Consolidation on Sub-Saharan Africa’s customary lands have generally failed for various reasons. However, with the prevalence of land fragmentation as a problem in the past two decades, there has been a new wave of land consolidation activities in the region. Land fragmentation on customary lands has two main causes—the nature of the customary land tenure system, and the somewhat linked agricultural system. Since attempts to increase food productivity on customary lands have involved fertilisation and mechanisation on the small and scattered farmlands, these approaches have fallen short of increasing food productivity. Land tenure security is further low on these lands. This study examines how a responsible land consolidation measure can be developed for customary lands to contribute to food security and land tenure security. A design research approach is used to develop a land consolidation measure for customary lands and reported here. This study concludes that though the land consolidation strategy developed is significantly able to reduce land fragmentation, both physical and land tenure, the local customs are an obstruction to the technical processes to achieve the best form of farmland structures. Hence the developed approach can contribute to land tenure and food security