FIG CO-OPERATION WITH THE UNITED NATION'S
ORGANISATIONS AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES
- THE APPROACH OF THE GERMAN AGENCY FOR TECHNICAL CO-OPERATION GTZ
Willi ZIMMERMANN,
Team Leader,
Cambodian-German Land Management Project, Cambodia
Key words: Land Policy, Land Administration,
Multilateral and Bilateral Co-operation, Sustainable Development.
Abstract
The land question is currently being reappraised worldwide and
greater importance is being attached to land issues in international
co-operation. Fair access to land, secure land rights and proper
management of land are fundamental keys to future social and economic
development. It is becoming more and more obvious that Land Policy,
Land Tenure and Land Administration play a crucial role on economic
efficiency and the social balance of the development process.
Functioning land tenure arrangements can be considered as enabling
socio-economic and socio-legal infrastructure for development. But
experience all over the world also shows very dramatically that badly
functioning land tenure arrangements can lead to (often violent) land
conflicts, land grabbing and corruption, increase of informal
settlements, loss of government revenue and lack of productive
investments.
Several lessons have been learned. Sustainable development and
right-based development are just two sides of the same coin. We have
learned in many development programs and projects that land
administration is only fully contributing to sustainability in an
environment of good governance, rule of law and accountability. This
calls for complementary strategies and agreements with the donor
community and civil society.
GTZ is more and more negotiating with partner countries the move
from supporting projects to supporting programs. In Cambodia the Land
Management/Land Administration project is providing and receiving
significant synergies by building bridges and signing agreements with
projects on rural development, projects on decentralization, on
coastal zone management, on gender related projects, on forest
management, on irrigation, and on demobilization/de-mining to add
value and to generate wider economic and social impacts.
More attention should be paid to formal but also to "out of
court" mechanisms for the resolution of land conflicts as an
integral element of Land Administration projects. In Cambodia GTZ will
join forces with OXFAM and other NGO's to strengthen the capacities of
the newly established provincial commissions for the resolution of
land conflicts.
The role of Multilateral and Bilateral Co-operation in Land Matters
is clearly defined but poorly coordinated. There are significant
synergies possible between the approaches by different multilateral
and bilateral agencies. If each of them were to focus on its
comparative advantages and complementary strength new models for
coordinated intervention are visible. A multilateral/bilateral donor
coordination group on land policy has been established last year as
one option to create consensus on central aspects of land policy in
development co-operation.
Land tenure issues are closely linked with related resource tenure
categories like water rights, forest law, fishery rights and
environmental legislation. Land rights cannot be discussed in
isolation where people use different resources according to the crop
calendar and season. In Cambodia a Multilateral/Bilateral "Donor
Working Group on Natural Resource Management" has been
established last year to discuss with partner institutions initiatives
and linkages between Land, Forest, Fishery and Nature Conservation.
In recent years GTZ has develop and applied new strategies for
partnerships in development co-operation. Joining forces with
Multilateral Partners (FAO, WB, EU, HABITAT, IFAD, Bilateral Partners
(FINNIDA, DFID), NGO's (FIG, OXFAM) and Private Sector Associations is
contributing to an significantly improved impact in the interest of
our partner-countries.
International Professional Associations like FIG and National
Associations for Surveying are essential partners in development. They
have the crucial task to advise governments in professional standards,
in code of conducts, in professional training and education. GTZ is
providing support to a number of national professional organisations
in developing countries for FIG-membership or other relevant
memberships.
CONTACT
Willi Zimmermann
Team Leader of the Land Management Project MLMUPC / GTZ
Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction of the
Kingdom of Cambodia
P.O. Box 2291
Phnom Penh 3
CAMBODIA
Tel. + 855 23 213 817
Email: GTZ.LMP@bigpond.com.kh
22 March 2001
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