Netherlands’ support to improved land governance in developing countries

Frits van der WalSustainable Economic Development Department

May 15th, 2013

Set up

1. < 2001- May 20132. > May 20133. Trends & Conclusions

3

< 2001• Land & women/gender (part of integrated rural and urban

development programs)

• Land administration projects, merely in Latin America

• Support to land policy implementation (as part of an environmental sector support program)

2001 - 2006• Improved land tenure security essential part of a better legal en

regulatory environment (business climate) for sustainable economic development/ private sector development

• NL member of EU Working Group on Land Issues (formulation of EU Guidelines, participation in consultations related to the WB Land & Poverty report, learning lessons from bilateral programs in f.e. Mozambique, Egypt, Bolivia)

• NL supports ILC LAND ppp’s in Indonesia, Philippines, South Africa and Guatemala; increasing number of NL embassies decide to invest in land programs (e.g. in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Surinam, Zambia)

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2007 - 2008• First inventory of NL efforts to strengthen land tenure security

compiled; 10 countries + global programs; lessons learned; presented and discussed at an international conference

• NL first donor who supports the first 4-year Strategic Framework of the ILC in an un-earmarked way

• Increasing number of NL embassies invest in land policy programs (e.g. in Burundi, Mali, Indonesia) as NL steps up investments in agriculture, rural economic development and food security

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2009 - 2010• NL assists in re-establishing the EU Working Group on Land

Issues; main purpose: how to address and react on the steep increase of land grabbing

• LANDac established (www.landgovernance.org); pHD candidates selected, short-term research grants issued, debates on WB and Oxfam studies etc

• Second inventory of MoFA efforts to strengthen land governance compiled; addressing land issues becomes clearly more multi-sectoral and multi-departemental

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2011 - 2012• NL is again the first donor who supports the second 4-year ILC

Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan

• Food Security and Water become major priority themes in Dutch development policies; private sector development key; as a result more Dutch embassies invest in land governance (e.g. Benin, Uganda and Rwanda); NL MoFA supports GRAIN

• NL active in formulation of the VG’s (together with other members of the EU WG on Land Issues)

• Dutch MP’s and journalists ask many questions on issues related to land grabbing; increased attention to the link between CSR, commodity certification and land issues

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2013• NL major sponsor and member of the Program Committee of

the WB Conference on Land & Poverty; NL produces overview of Dutch Land Governance Expertise with 40 organisational profiles and foreword by Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation

• Dutch MP’s keep on asking questions; special hearing of 3 hours on land governance; NL NGO’s urge MoFA to invest in improving land governance; deepened debates on the way NL MoFA can stop land grabbing by (at least) NL companies

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> May 2013• Letter to Dutch Parliament on Netherlands efforts to improve

land governance and stop land grabbing; to be debated on 23/5/2013; this letter was promised by the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation in a parlementaiy session on the functioning of the Worldbank (including the 21 cases with land related constraints that are presented to the Worldbank Inspection Panel and IFC)

• Enlarging LANDac partnership; 3 fora will be organised with multi-sectoral teams from 5 countries; aim: more insight on what can be done by EU businesses in enhancing land governance & food security

• Supporting GLTN (incl UT/ITC, KI, IHS); more emphasis on implementing tested & piloted tools in countries that want to work towards the VG’s

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> May 2013• Using the new policy note ‘A World to Gain:A New Agenda for Aid, Trade and Investment’:

1. Support is provided chiefly to organisations that promote women’s rights, food security, water, and security and the rule of law. We will concentrate further on these areas in the period ahead.

2. Climate change is severely affecting the development of smallholder agriculture in vulnerable areas. More robust forms of land and water use are urgently needed to cope with drought, heavy rainfall, shifting seasons and other increasingly frequent occurrences.

3. We will be investing in transitional justice, preventing violence against women in conflict-affected countries, and protecting land rights.

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> May 20134. Promoting equal opportunities: We support the International Land Coalition (ILC) which is working to improve access to land rights for the poorest people, and to strengthen the position of women in farmers’ cooperatives.

5. For trade to be possible, the conditions enabling investment and enterprise need to be in place. For this reason, we will contribute to a good investment and business climate in low- and middle-income countries.

6. We will look at ways in which entrepreneurs can contribute to improving the local business climate, or whether they can support local counterparts.

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> May 20137. The participation of civil society organisations in local, national and international policy processes is essential to ensure that policy is inclusive and effective. By increasing the government’s public accountability and legitimacy, they bring about social cohesion, more open and stronger democracies, a better response to environmental problems and a more favourable business climate. Civil society organisations must also maximise the transparency and accountability of their own operations.

8. As a result of urbanisation, climate change, exhaustion of natural resources and increasingly complex conflicts, the impact of disasters has also become more severe. People in poor countries in particular are bearing the brunt.

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Trends & Conclusions• From land administration as a goal to land administration as a

tool

• From land tenure security to land governance

• From donor led projects/programs to country-led roadmaps with multi-donor funding

• From mono-actor approaches to multi-actor approaches (golden quadruple)

• From businesses as clients to businesses as change agents

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