UNECE / UNECA Publications

List of UNECE / UNECA Publications

Guidelines for the formalization of informal constructions

This publication is a brief, practical and easy-to-read guide, explaining how to structure a programme for the formalization of informal constructions. The focus is on the formalization process itself, but there are also descriptions of the preparatory work needed to analyze problem magnitude, as well as how to find political acceptance, identify post-formalization factors, and identify the root problems that cause future informality. Main authors are Chryssy Potsiou, FIG President (2015-2018)and Steven Nystrom, FIG Commission 9 Chair (2015-2018).

Formalizing the Informal: Challenges and Opportunities of Informal Settlements in South-East Europe

The publication examines the causes of informal housing development in South-East Europe and assesses the Government’s policies to address this issue.

Over the last 25 years, informal settlements have become an increasingly important and urgent matter in the region. At an international conference in 2007, it was estimated that more than 50 million people lived in informal settlements in 20 member States of the UNECE. In 2009, the ECE Committee on Housing and Land Management published a first study on informal settlements: Self-Made Cities: In Search of Sustainable Solutions for Informal Settlements. This publication continues the discussion opened by the previous study. This report, Formalizing the Informal: Challenges and Opportunities of Informal Settlements in South-East Europe examines the causes of informal housing development in five countries of South-Eastern Europe – Albania, the Republic of Cyprus, Greece, Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and assesses the governments’ policies to address this challenge. Based on this assessment, the study makes policy recommendations to these five countries’ governments. It also contains lessons learned and best practices that can be applied throughout the UNECE region.

Tracking progress in land policy formulation and implementation in Africa: background document

Cognizant of the centrality of land policy issues in Africa, a joint initiative was undertaken by the African Union Commission (AUC), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 2006, forming the genesis of the Land Policy Initiative (LPI). Through the LPI important actions and measures have been launched including a series of regional studies on land issues across Africa accompanied by rigorous consultations and discussions at regional and continental levels. During the whole process, the immediate and urgent need to develop and implement a tracking system to monitor land policy formulation and implementation has been underlined in bold. These pinpointed the urgent need to track progress in land policy formulation and implementation, among other issues. The F&G outline the functions of the tracking system, and the principles and criteria to be used to develop it. This background document, therefore draws on the F&G, on a review of a series of land monitoring reports produced by LPI and other pertinent literatures. Broadly, its key purpose is to define a relevant, flexible and pragmatic system for tracking progress in land reform in Africa and design a strategic road map to realize the proposed tracking system.

Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa

The Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa is the result of a three-year road map of activities that involved intense reflection, rigorous consultations and exemplary collaboration across the continent. These activities involved African continental and regional institutions, governments, prominent African land experts from all regions of the continent, and representatives of land stakeholders and development partners. The activities of the road map were implemented by a tripartite consortium of the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), through a Land Policy Initiative (LPI). The AUC provided overall leadership for the functioning of the Initiative, with ECA and AfDB providing technical support and mobilizing effective partnerships to ensure its success.

Land Administration in the UNECE Region

Development trends and main prinicples

This publication is a further contribution of UNECE in the ongoing process of improving land administration systems in the region. It takes into account the developments that have taken place since the publication in 1996 of the Guidelines on Land Administration.