Platform Policy Brief

No. 11 // September 2015

Crucial land rights indicator for the Post-2015 SDGs

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Recommended indicator

With the forthcoming endorsement of Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015, the land community is mobilised to ensure that land rights are effectively addressed in such an important global agenda. As of 11th August, the suggested indicator by the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG indicators (Share of women among agricultural land owners by age and location) reduces the scope of land rights included in the Post-2015 SDGs. The Global Donor Working Group on Land is convinced that no sustainable development is possible without responsible governance of tenure of land and other natural resources. In this sense, the Donor Working Group on Land strongly supports the broader global land rights indicator:

The recommended indicator was developed under the Global Land Indicators Initiative (GLII), which includes over 35 stakeholder organisations. The work has been facilitated by UN-Habitat/GLTN funded by the Netherlands, both of which are members of the Global Donor Working Group on Land. This recommended global indicator is essential to four of the SDGs, namely: ending poverty (goal 1), ensuring food security (goal 2), achieving gender equality and empowering women (goal 5) and making cities and human settlements inclusive (goal 11). Moreover, the indicator assesses progress on two levels: based on documentation, by tracking legal and administrative progress by governments in recognizing secure rights to land, and based on perceptions, by tracking how people themselves perceive progress on land rights.

Percentage of women, men, indigenous peoples, and local communities (IPLCs)

with secure rights to land, property, and natural resources, measured by:

a. percentage with legally documented or recognized evidence of tenure, and

b. percentage who perceive their rights are recognized and protected

Platform policy briefs outline

the rationale for choosing a

particular policy alternative or

course of action in a current

policy debate. They guide

decision-makers with their

choices and advocate for a

position.

About the authors

This policy brief was drafted by

Romy Sato (Platform

secretariat), reflecting the views

of the members of the Global

Donor Working Group on Land.

The brief is based on a press

release by a broad coalition of

organisations and shared by

Landesa

Download

This brief is available in PDF at

https://www.donorplatform.org

/news-and-media/publications/

platform-publications#policy-

briefs

Where to place the indicator It is recommended that the global land rights indicator be placed under Target 1.4,

Goal 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere.

Target 1.4 calls for:

By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable,

have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services,

ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural

resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance.

This target includes all people regardless of where they reside, their livelihood

activities or the assets they own. Hence, the indicator must also reflect this diversity.

Beyond agricultural land and ownership The Global Donor Working Group on Land also endorses the view that:

The land rights indicator must capture more than agricultural land

Indicators limited to agricultural land ignore millions of people who live in the forest,

practice pastoralism, live in rural areas but are not engaged in agricultural

production and many other cases which would be overlooked.

The land rights indicator must extend beyond ownership

Tenure security (or secure land rights) encompasses more than ownership and

should be the term used in the indicator. The term is also adopted at the globally

endorsed Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land,

Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT).

The land rights indicator must track both gender ratio and overall progress

The indicator would track both women and men passing from insecure to secure

land rights and reduced gender inequality amongst those with secure land rights.

// Why the Working Group supports a land rights indicator

As largely engaged in the implementation of the VGGT, the Global Donor Working Group on Land believes that securing land tenure is a key condition to achieve the goals of eradicating poverty and hunger problems which are still more severe in rural areas. Secure land rights will be particularly important given the changing rural landscape in most developing countries, which face increasing demand for land for competing uses, such as for biofuels, food production and as a safeguard against climate change.

2 Platform Policy Brief

About the Global Donor

Working Group on Land

In 2013 the Global Donor

Working Group on Land was

established to support enhanced

delivery on improved land

governance in a climate of

heightened attention, need and

awareness of existing challenges

and lessons.

In 2014, under the inaugural

chairmanship by DFID, the

Global Donor Working Group on

Land developed its 3-year road

map for 2014-2017, focusing on

coordination & cooperation,

boosting the country partnership

model, enhancing support to the

private sector and promoting

coherent approaches by donor

governments

The full road map can be found

at https://www.donorplatform.

org/land-governance/global-

donor-working-group-on-land

About the Platform

The Global Donor Platform for

Rural Development is a network

of 38 bilateral and multilateral

donors, international financing

institutions, intergovernmental

organisations and development

agencies. Members share a

common vision that agriculture,

rural development and food and

nutrition security (ARD and FNS)

are central to poverty reduction,

and a conviction that sustainable

and efficient development

requires a coordinated global

approach.

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