ILC's contribution to land administration and management

This conference, whose theme was “Earth Observation Services for Resilient Social Systems”, was held on 6-7 September 2022 at the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), Nairobi, Kenya. ILC-Africa was represented by Ibrahim Mwathane, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Land Development and Governance Institute (LDGI).

Thematic Areas

The RIC 2022 provided a good platform for knowledge sharing, advocacy, and building of partnerships by stakeholders from governments, academia, civil society organizations, private sector, and development partners. The thematic areas embraced during the conference were: Agriculture and Food Distribution Systems; Early Warning and Disaster Preparedness; Water Resources and Blue Economy; Land Administration and Management Systems; Natural Ecosystems and Biodiversity Conservation; Geo-Innovations in Health; and Smart and Green Cities.

ILC Contribution

ILC was the designated Partner Lead during the Land Administration and Management Systems session. This allowed ILC to make the opening presentation, which brought out its role at global, regional, and national levels. The presentation highlighted ILC’s goal, membership, partners, criteria for membership, and its ten priority commitments. The presentation also brought out some of the key areas of intervention by members of the Kenya National Land Coalition, which essentially inform land administration and management, and the broad realm of land governance in Kenya. These include; Tenure Security, Capacity Building and Knowledge Generation; Agriculture and Food Security; Development of Innovative Tools; Women’s Land Rights; Conservation; Community Land Rights; Natural Resource Governance; and Protection of Indigenous Rights.

Key areas: Land Administration and Management

The presentation also echoed the need to keep focused on the key areas that ordinarily inform land administration and management systems. These include:-

• Appropriate land policies and laws
• Land tenure security
• Inclusion of women’s land rights
• Adjudication, planning, surveying, recording, and registration of tenure rights (key land delivery processes)
• Efficient and expedient land information management
• Development of Innovative Tools and Methods
• Accessible and efficient Dispute Resolution Institutions and Mechanisms
• Capacity Development for Land Administration and Management
• Key emerging issues

Helpful resources and networks

The audience was also sensitized on the need to beware and maintain a reference to overarching global and regional instruments whose principles are helpful to national instruments and processes. The need to participate in networks and platforms that promote knowledge generation and sharing in land administration and management was also underscored.

These include:-

• The 2012 FAO Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security
• The 2009 Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa
• The 2009 African Union Declaration Land Issues and Challenges in Africa
• The 2014 Guiding Principles on Large Scale Land Based Investments in Africa
• Events and activities by the African Land Policy Center (ALPC)
• The East African Land Administration Network (EALAN)
• The Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA)
• Periodic platforms organized by IGAD and EAC Regional Economic Communities for sharing of lessons and best practices on land policy formulation, implementation, and review as provided in the African Union Declaration.

The presentation raised comments relating to the management of transboundary natural resources and ecosystems and the poor implementation of land policies, which undermines land administration and management.

November 2022 COP 27

Other presentations shared during this session were on: the development of policy guidelines for sharing earth observation data; fit-for-purpose technologies; geospatial infrastructure to promote tenure security; the effects of urban expansion on land use efficiency; and the use of GIS technology in revenue management. Resilient land administration and management practices have a role to play in mitigating climate change impacts, and in promoting land uses that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The discussions shared in this session are therefore a good pre-cursor to the UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (COP 27), to be held in Egypt in November.