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Communal Land Titling: Government’s Policies and Plans

Presented by:CHANTHAVIPHONE INTHAVONG

Acting Director, LNRRIC, NLMA/MoNRE.

To the INGO LWG Meeting on Communal Land Titling6th October 2011

Learning House, Vientiane Capital City.

LNRRIC/NLMA 2011 October

LNRRIC/NLMA 2010 August 2

Topics1.Background of Communal Property

2. Government’s Policy and Plans

3.Govt’ expectations

4.What’s next?

Background

• Resolution of First Forestry & Agri. Congresses 1989: the need to have a clear tenureship for every piece of forest land for effective management LUPLA Campaign 2/3rd Village coverage.

• National Constitution and Land Law Article 2: Land & NR are common property of the every people of the nation LU Right Certificate Land Ownership Certificate/Land Title (Private, State and Communal.

Perceptions/Myths

State Land Vs Communal LandExamples:

Public Land? = Pagoda, School, Road, Market PlacesVillage/communal Land? = Entire or part of the

village territory, Slash&Burn rotational cultivation areas, communal wetland.

Cooperative Land? = Cooperative field/plantations.Communal Right of Uses in the State Land? =

community forests.

LNRRIC/NLMA 2010 August 5

Land Use & NRM: Issues and Challenges

• How to generate optimum if not maximum wealth from the country’s land & resources to the country and its population;

• increasing investment from FDI in Laos has posed unprecedented challenges to national land resources utilization, environmental protection and market-oriented land management;

• Existence of large number of land development and concession projects without prior national-wide LU planning & Land titling lead to increasing losing of access to land by rural population;

• Limited law enforcement and governance capacity at local levels (especially at District and Village levels) for Land & Resource sector analysis and policy formulation, implementation and feedbacks;

Lead to increasing social conflict and disparity and environmental degradation and occurrence of natural disasters.

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Economic

Social & Culture

NR & Environment

$$$$$$$$

$$$$$

Pennies !

DisasterRelief $$$$$

Planned Spending

Unplanned Spending

Impacts of Unplanned and Uncoordinated Use and Management of Land & NR

LNRRIC/NLMA 2010 August 7

National Development Objectives(Summary)

• Poverty Alleviation (and Food Security),• Social Equity,• Strong and Good Governance,• Sound Natural Resource Management,• Sustained Economic Growth through– Hydropower Generation, – Ecotourism & other land link service industries.– Sustainable forestry mgnt and biodiversity

conservation;– Development of tree plantations and Agro-forestry, – Mining as a transitory industry,

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National Future Land Use Target (to 2020)

• Conservation (Indirect Use) Land: 70% including wetland areas.

• Production (Direct Use) Land: 30% which comprises of:– Agriculture (Paddy Rice (2 Mio ha) & Annual Cash Crops

(0.2 Mio ha), Fruit Trees (0.2 Mio ha), and Grass land (0.4 Mio ha)=> total 2.8 Mio ha.

– Production Forestry (Natural Production Forests (1.0 Mio ha) & Plantations (0.8 Mio ha)=>total 1.8 Mio ha.

– Infrastructure, Mining & Settlement (2.3 Mio ha)(Awaiting to be approved by GOL & NA)

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Govt’s pland activities related to Land sector

• Increase awareness and recognition that land and natural resources are the fundamentals for increasing food security, reducing rural poverty and for assuring sustainable nation-wide prosperity,

• Determine land needs of different sectors and society to meet national development objectives

• National-Wide Macro- and Micro Land Use Zoning Plans• National-wide Land Use (State, Communal & Private) Right

Registration Campaign• Decentralization of Land Administration and Management

Activities (to District &Village Levels)• Establishment of a Computerized National Land Information

System for effective LAM• Increase land revenue of 15% pa to 5% of GDP

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Govt’s plan related to Land sector for Y2012

• Adoption of the National L&NR Policy and Master Plan to be used within this 5Y plan;

• Completion of micro-LU plans for every locality of Laos;

• Completion of national-wide land titling excise (200,000 parcels)

• Increase land revenue by 15% .

LAND MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATION STEPS

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Importance of Land management and administration

• a nation cannot succeed if development objectives of that country are not supported by development policies that are based on good land management and administration

This is because • good land management and administration can

maintain proper balance between nature and social and economic development.

• Need of holistic approach to land management and administration to keep ecological and environmental balance

Land Management and Administration Steps/Cycle

• Public Education & awareness raising• Land Use Planning and Allocation• Land Use Rights Registration• Promotion of Land Utilization and Development• Collection of Land Use fees• Land Use Monitoring and Inspection• Land Use /land Transaction Administration• Policy Feedback and Updating

MACRO-LAND USE PLANNING

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National LU Master Plan

LNRRIC/NLMA

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LNRRIC/NLMA

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LNRRIC/NLMA

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Final Layout

LNRRIC/NLMA

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MICRO-LAND USE PLANNING

LNRRIC/NLMA 2010 August 21

Issues of past LUP/LA exercise

Generally participation of the villagers in the LUP/LA exercise was very low

Village land use maps, regulations, data on land titles etc. was lost / not available at DAFO or LMA

The villagers did not really know if their temporary land use certificate was still valid or how to obtain an actual land title (no follow-up after 3 year validity)

LUP/LA arrangements were largely obsolete due to population increase and land concessions

Only temporary land use certificates have been issued so far (only 1 permanent land title in the sample) which are all invalid by now.

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Land under 5% slopeLand 5–25% slope

Hilly Topography and Limited Agricultural potential

Example of Land (Biophysical) Condition in Northern Part of Laos.

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Mostly forest

Upland agriculture & forest

GrasslandIntensive agriculture

Land use & land cover

mostly mixed forest/upland production systems

Suitability criteria

Tentative Land Use Zones

+

1 S S S S S S

2 U U U U U S

3 U U M S M M

4 M S S S U U

5 U U U U U U

6 U U M U M S

7 U U S S S M

8 U U U U U U

9 U U M U M M

…

Native ecotype(soil quality indicator) Slope class plots

+

Land Suitability Matrix Conservation status

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Development Objective: Bring livelihood systems from poverty to adequacy

0

10

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Subsistence level = 12.2 M kip per familyIncome level at which families can meet food, clothing, & shelter needs, plus occasional – but insufficient – education, medical & tax expenses

Average output = 8 M kip per family

(Estimated poverty line)

Adequacy level = 17.5 M kip per familyIncome level at which families can meet food, clothing, & shelter needs, plus education, medical & tax expenses, plus small savings

Current conditions

Project objective

Mill

ion

kip

POVERTY ADEQUACY

No. Land Category Area (ha)

¯½-À² ©-¢º¤-©ò À œº-ê†(»-ª)

1 Paddy - ¾§ö -ì ½-̄ ½-ê¾ 0.2

2 Run-off capture or rain-fed terrace rice ¾- Õ-³ ɾ 1

3 Vegetable Garden ¦ ¸ -°ñ¡ 0.012

4 Forage Plot ¾-¢ ̃ -é-̄ ø¡ -² õ©-ì ɼ¤-¦ ñ© 0.5

5 Orchard ¦ ¸ Ä́ É-ù É-Ï ¾¡ 0.2

6 NTFP Garden ¦ ¸ -À£º̂¤-̄ Ⱦ-¢º¤-©ö¤ 0.5

7 Fish Pond ¦ ½-̄ ¾ 0.01

8 Community Forest ¯È¾-§ö́-Ä§É 1.5

9 Village Production Forest ¯È¾-°½-ì ò©-¢º¤-®É¾ 1.5

Subtotal ì ¸´ ¨º© 5.4

Family Land Requirements ©ò -ê†-ªÉº¤-¡¾ -¦ ¿-ì ñ®-£º®-£ö̧

Present and Predicted Future Land Use Areas With and Without Project

Present With Project Without Project Without Project

¯½-¥÷-®ñ -́ ó-£¤-¡ ¾ ®Ò-́ ó-£¤-¡ ¾ ®Ò-́ ó-£¤-¡ ¾

2000 2008 2008 2020

Population ̄ ½-§¾-¡ º 2,928 3,476 3,652 5,087

Agricultural Land ê†-©ò -¡ ½-¦ ò-¡ ¿

Swidden À œº -ê†-Ä»È 1,097 0 1,713 2,384

Bush Fallow À œº -ê†-̄ Ⱦ-Àì ‰¾ 4,325 0 5,043 7,027

Irrigated Paddy Field ê†- ¾-§ö -ì ½-̄ ½-ê¾ 132 202 132 132

Run-off Capture/Rain-fed Rice Terrace ê†- ¾- Õ-³ ɾ 0 289 0 0

Vegetable Garden ¦ ¸ -£ö̧ 7 8 8 10

Forage Terrace À œº -ê†- ¾-¢ ̃ -é 0 351 0 0

Fruit Orchard ¦ ¸ -Ä́ É-ù É-Ï ¾¡ 1 140 1 1

NTFP Garden ¦ ¸ -À£º̂ ¤-̄ Ⱦ-¢º ¤-©ö¤ 0 351 0 0

Fish Pond ¦ ½-̄ ¾ 0.16 6.67 0.16 0.16

Subtotal ì ¸´ -̈ Ⱥ¨ 5,562 1,348 6,897 9,554

Forest Land À œº-ê†-̄ Ⱦ-Ä́ É

Community Forest ¯È¾-§ ö́-Ä§É 997 1,052 997 997

Village Production Forest ¯È¾-°½-ì ò©-¢º ¤-®É¾ 0 1,052 0 0

Dedicated Plantations ¦ ¸ -̄ Ⱦ-¦ ½-À² ¾½-¡ ò© 0 110 0 0

State Production Forest ¯È¾-Ä́ É-Á¹ Ȥ-ì ñ© 8,767 11,764 7,432 4,775

Watershed Protection Forest ¯È¾-̄ ɺ ¤-¡ ñ -ÁÍ È¤- Õ 1,337 1,337 1,337 1,337

NBCA ¯È¾-¦ ½-¹ ¤̧ 8,570 8,570 8,570 8,570

Subtotal ì ¸´ -̈ Ⱥ¨ 19,671 23,885 18,336 15,679

Total Area ì ¸´ -À œº-ê† 25,233 25,233 25,233 25,233

Area (ha) À œº-ê†( »-ª)

Area (ha) À œº-ê†( »-ª )

LAND RIGHT REGISTRATION

National Land and Natural Resources

Sate Land & NR Non-State Land & NR

Communal Land & NR

Private Land & NR

Govt’s Plan related to Land & NR Use Right Allocation

Different rights

Hunting rightsFishing rights

Regenerating forest

Agricultural land

Community forest

Wildlife conservation forest

Watershedprotection

forest

Reservedland

Rice paddy

Newly allocatedparcels

Issuance of Land Titles in different Land use Zones

1. Multipurpose Cadastre(German style)

1. Multipurpose Cadastre(German style)

2. Title or deedstenure stylecadastres

2. Title or deedstenure stylecadastres

3. Taxation driven cadastre (Latin /Spanish /French)

3. Taxation driven cadastre (Latin /Spanish /French)

Tenure

Value

Use

Development

Incorporating:

Land policy

SpatiallyenabledLAS

Services tobusinessandpublic

Countrycontext

Sustainabledevelopment - Economic - Environmental - Social - Governance

Cadastralengines…

Land management

paradigm

Spatially enabled

government

ParcelsPropertiesBuildingsRoads

Inte

gra

ted

funct

ions

SDIMapping agencies

and other data providers

Better decision making

Significance of the cadastre

NEXT STEP

LNRRIC Plan Follow up activities related to Communal land/NR property

• Finalization and development of guide line and data collection format for national survey/research on communal land and NRM.

• Organize a national wide survey and compilation of case study/information related to communal rights related to land & NR in different localities, landscapes and ethnics of Laos;

• Development of policy brief document on communal land titling;• Organization a national workshop on communal land titling;• Production of resources book/hand out of case studies on communal

land use and titling;• Production of training materials for TOT on communal land use and

titling; • Organize a national training of TOT on communal land titling for

Provincial and District personals.

Issues raised

• How to organize?• Who/which organizations are interested in the

said exercises?• Who is willing to take lead?• Potential cooperation between LWG and and

&NRSubSector?

Potential Types of Communal Land & NR in Rural Laos

Communal housing land

community production forestry

communal agricultural plantation

Communal wetland

Communal protection forests

Rotational slash&burn cultivation areas

Reserved communal land for future allocation

Communal land for public utilities (village admin office, school, health care, market,

etc..)

Communal land for spiritual functions ( Cemetary, pagoda/church, etc..)

Thank you !