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Governance: Land tenure

The following indicator is under consideration for this pilot edition of the Barometer: To what extent do relevant laws, regulations, policies, and guidance provide a basis for collecting and publishing data on land tenure?

Feedback on draft Global Data Barometer Indicators

You are looking at a draft indicator to be included in the expert survey of the Global Data Barometer. Between now and May 10th we are inviting your feedback on this indicator and the elements it contains. You can provide your feedback by (a) completing the feedback form below; or (b) adding in-line annotations.

Feedback form

You can share your feedback on the Governance: Land Tenure indicator here, or make use of Hypothes.is annotations

Show/hide supporting questions

Existence

  • Are there laws, policies or regulations requiring collection or publication of this information in any form?

    • No
    • They are being drafted, or are not yet implemented.
      Supporting questions: Please provide brief details
    • They exist and are operational

  • Do relevant laws, policies, regulations or guidance discuss collection and publication of structured and open data?

    • Relevant laws, policies and guidance explicitly create barriers to collecting and publishing structured data
      Supporting questions: Please briefly detail the barriers created (e.g. requirements for paper-based filing only)
    • There is no mention of data in relevant laws, policies or guidance
    • Requirements to collect data are set out in non-binding policy or guidance
      Supporting questions: Please provide a URL to the most relevant legislation, policy or guidance
    • Requirements to collect data are set out in binding policy, regulations or law
      Supporting questions: Please provide a URL to the most relevant legislation, policy or guidance
    • Requirements to publish data are set out in non-binding policy or guidance
      Supporting questions: Please provide a URL to the most relevant legislation, policy or guidance
    • Requirements to publish data are set out in binding policy or law
      Supporting questions: Please provide a URL to the most relevant legislation, policy or guidance

Elements

Part 1: What do the rules or guidance related to structured data cover?

  • The rules/guidance support the collection of structured data. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • The rules/guidance require that data is regularly updated. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • The rules/guidance empower an agency or official to ensure the accurate and timely collection and publication of required data. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • The rules/guidance support publication of open data. (No, Partially, Yes)

Part 2: What types of land tenure do the rules or guidance address?

  • The rules/guidance acknowledge indigenous land issues. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • The rules/guidance acknowledge and envisions strategies to deal with informal land tenure data. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • The rules/guidance apply to all land tenure involving natural persons (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: To which kind of land tenures involving natural persons do the rules/guidance apply?

  • The rules/guidance apply to all land tenure involving legal persons (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: To which kind of land tenures involving legal persons do the rules/guidance apply?

  • The rules/guidance apply to all land tenure involving state land (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: To which kind of land tenures involving state lands do the rules/guidance apply?

  • The rules/guidance apply to all land tenure involving communal lands (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: To which kind of communal land tenures do the rules/guidance apply?

  • The rules/guidance require the publication of land concessions data. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: To what kind of land concessions do the rules/guidance apply?

  • The rules/guidance apply to urban and rural tenure, and to other relevant forms of tenure. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: To what kind of land tenures do the rules/guidance apply?

Part 3: What other requirements do the rules or guidance set out?

  • The rules/guidance require publication of detailed land tenure data (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide url and framework title.

  • Each record has a geospatial reference that allows to assign features to a spatial extent. (No, Partially, Yes) The geospatial reference might be latitude-longitute coordinates, an ID to associate it to a geospatial dataset, an address, etc. "Partially" is intended for cases where a geographical reference exists, but it could have been more precise, for example, when the neighbourhood is informed, but there are no clear reasons for not to inform latitude-longitude coordinates. Will be assessed with "Yes" datasets that have the most granular geographic references that can be expected for its kind.

  • The rules/guidance support the collection and publication of structured historical land tenure data (No, Partially, Yes)

  • The rules/guidance support collection of data about the gender of those holding land tenure (No, Yes)

  • The rules/guidance establish funding to sustain the collection and release of this data over multiple years. (No, Partially, Yes)

Extent

  • Does the framework cover the collection and/or publication of tenure data of the majority of land?
    • The framework(s) for data collection and/or publication covers a small proportion of land tenure in the country?
      Supporting questions: What kind of land tenure does it cover? If there are different frameworks, please provide url source for each.
    • The framework(s) for data collection and/or publication covers a large proportion of land tenure in the country, but not all?
      Supporting questions: What kind of land tenure does it cover? If there are different frameworks, please provide url source for each.
    • The framework(s) for data collection and/or publication cover all forms of land tenure in the country?
      Supporting questions: What kind of land tenure does it cover? If there are different frameworks, please provide url source for each.

Definitions and Identifications

The FAO defines land tenure as “the relationship, whether legally or customarily defined, among people, as individuals or groups, with respect to land.” noting that “Land tenure is an institution, i.e., rules invented by societies to regulate behaviour.” (FAO, 2002b)

The concept of land tenure is closely connected with land ownership, but covers a wider range of rights over, and relationships to, land. This indicator is focused on a complete framework for collection and provision of land tenure data covering all the ways in which subjects (natural persons, legal entities, states, or communities) hold rights over, or relate to, the object (land).

This indicator is concerned with whether tenure information is recorded as digital structured data, and whether there is a legal or regulatory basis to support the releasing of that data in some form.

Whilst most countries have some form of land tenure registration, not all have frameworks to support comprehensive data collection, digitisation, and sharing of land tenure records.

Given potential privacy issues involved in sharing names of land rights holders, a framework does not need to mandate full publication of personal information to be considered robust. However, a framework for tenure data must go beyond collection of data on land parcels alone, to also include data on the rights held over that land and/or some information about the subjects involved, even if those subjects are not individually identified.

Important distinctions

In many countries, land and tenure registration systems pre-date modern technology, and may not provide any basis for the collection of data. For example, land registration may take place solely through filing documents at local offices. In some cases, new frameworks may only support digitisation of new land transactions, meaning historic land titles will not be made available as data.

Processes for registering tenure, and the information that is recorded or published may vary according to the type of rights holder—e.g., legal persons such as a company or trust; natural persons or individuals); communal lands; state lands—or the type of tenure, such as urban tenure vs. rural tenure.

If you locate different frameworks for these situations, or the framework you locate refers to only some of these cases, this may be reflected under specific ‘elements’ and ‘extent’ components of the question.

In a general sense, land tenure data is expected to be gathered through land registries and made available through those registries themselves, or via an integration with cadastres. However, this indicator aims to also track other ways in which land tenure data may be collected and published.

If there are different frameworks covering land tenure in different parts of the country, you should identify the one that appears to be most comprehensive and assess it under Existence and Elements, then under Extent you are expected to note whether it represents common practice for the country, or whether it is exceptional.

In some cases, information on individual rights holders may be available under more restrictive licenses than general rights information. In these cases, you can indicate that the rules/guidance ‘partially’ support publication of open data.

Start by identifying the range of tenure systems operating in the country, and the laws that govern these. Check for evidence that these laws support (a) collection structured data on land tenure; (b) sharing or publication of that data in some form.

Starting points

  • Search:
    • Summaries of national land tenure or registration laws and regulations.
    • For specific land registration and data publication policies.
    • For articles regarding land information or land cadastres in the country.
    • For recent land data collection/publication initiatives, that might refer to land data policies.
    • For National Geospatial Data Infrastructure frameworks that may refer to land tenure data.
  • Sources:
    • Land Portal Country Pages ****provide an overview of land governance for many countries.
    • UN-GGIM publishes country reports regarding geospatial data strategies and policies. Many of them reference land issues and mention national frameworks.
    • For European countries, Eurogeographics publishes a list of cadastral and spatial agencies and its responsibilities that might include land registration and cadastre, and also provides "case studies" that might help to understand the context where each agency operates.
    • Searches inside the FIG site can lead to policy review papers.
    • FAO Gender and Land Rights Database has useful references to land related institutions, legal frameworks and tenure systems for each country.
    • Land Links country pages.
    • The World Bank Doing Business Ranking builds a subindex on "Reliability on infrastructure", inside the topic "Registering property", where it tracks some characteristics of the land registration system, such as level of digitisation, and mentions the agency in charge of those tasks. Be aware that this information is only gathered for the largest business cities in each country. Select the subindex and look for your country.
  • Consult:
    • Organisations that work with land tenure issues, such as tenure security, anti-corruption, economic development, etc.
    • Experts on land registration/land rights.
    • Geospatial data experts.
    • Rural reform advocates/experts.

What to look for?

Look for evidence that can answer the following questions:

  • Is the framework for collecting, maintaining, and publishing land tenure data provided for in law, through regulation, or through policy?
  • Does the framework identify an agency responsible for collecting, maintaining, and publishing land tenure data? Is more than one agency involved in this project?
  • Does the framework indicate how land tenure data should be gathered, maintained, published, and updated?
  • Does the framework require this information to be managed as structured digital data?
  • Does the the framework apply to different types of land tenure? (individual, communal, open, or state).
  • Does the framework address land concessions information?
  • Does the framework require that land tenure data be linked to a geographical extent?
  • Does the framework acknowledge insecure land tenure issues and informal tenure?

National and sub-national considerations

Land data tends to be strongly fragmented when it is available, even though there have been recent efforts to centralise it. Legal and policy national frameworks will guide you to local frameworks and local responsible agencies.

Land is important across societies. A society’s relationship with land may impact everything from social and economic development to cultural and religious practices. Both the eradication of hunger and poverty and the sustainable use of the environment depend in large measure on how people, communities, and others access land and other related assets (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2012). Even though data is recognized as a key asset for good land governance (GLTN, 2018; Quan, 2017; FAO, 2012; Deininger et al., 2011;UNGGIM, 2020), collecting and publishing information about land has proved challenging, due to technical, conceptual, or political reasons. Good land governance is central to attainment of a number of the Sustainable Development Goals, namely: SDG 1. No poverty; SDG 2. Zero hunger; SDG 5. Gender equality; SDG 11. Sustainable cities and communities; and SDG 15. Life on land (Land Portal, 2020).

While different initiatives, policy recommendations, and research papers categorise land concerns in various ways, certain subjects consistently emerge. One of these is the importance of accurate information about land tenure. Land tenure includes a range of concepts. LandVoc, an online Land Governance thesaurus, for example, understands land tenure to include concepts such as land tenure systems, tenure regularizations, indigenous land rights, housing rights, and land ownership. The Barometer will focus on data related to different kinds of rights held by people and/or institutions over a piece of land since this kind of data has been highlighted as a valuable asset to address those matters related to land tenure (UN-Habitat et al., 2017; Deininger et al., 2011; May, L et al., 2020).