Securing Land Rights for all
Securing Land Rights for all
Professor Siraj Sait, Director of the Noon Centre for Equality and Diversity, has worked closely with over 30 partners - including the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) and UN-Habitat - to support and deliver multiple projects on access to land and secure land rights for all. This includes 3 recent UEL-led projects funded by UN-Habitat on gender- and youth-responsive land tools, land rights and climate change, and creating a structured knowledge base for responsible land administration.
Land is a vital, but scarce resource across the world, especially for the livelihoods, housing, and security of poor and marginalised communities. According to the World Bank, only 30% of the global population has legally registered land ownership, with the proportion of women and youth ownership, estimated to be much lower. The multiple dimensions of land rights are recognised by the UN SDGs, referring to land in 5 goals, 8 targets, and 12 indicators. These objectives include:
- Poverty alleviation through enhanced private sector development and job creation, particularly for youth (SDG 1).
- Providing equitable housing solutions for those living in slum areas, and managing the growth of cities (SDG 11)
- Creating gender equality (SDG 5)
- Creating sustainable agriculture and investment for food security (SDG 2)
- Embedding environmentally sustainable
- Management of natural resources (SDG 15).
- and maintaining peace and security in fractured communities (SDG 16).
Without adequate access to land, large sections of society would not be able to achieve significant development or community empowerment.
UEL's pioneering research identifies several solutions to improving equitable access to land:
- Rather than focus on formal titling/ownership of land, informal as well as unconventional pathways to accessing land which helps women youth and the poor should be promoted (continuum of land rights).
- As land laws and systems are often technical, opaque, and outdated, awareness and capacity for human rights-based approaches should be made available.
- As productive and sustainable use of land is necessary for development and prosperity, innovative financing and planning models are needed.
- To ensure that women and youth can enjoy the benefits of land even in the context of conflict, pandemics or climate change, their tenure security needs to be ensured.
- Through UEL research and advocacy, these proposals have been adopted by land sector partners and stakeholders.
Professor Sait of RDSBL/Noon Centre for Equality and Diversity was seconded to UN-Habitat in 2005 and was part of the three-member team that created the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) – the leading coalition for inclusive land rights with over 80 partners and projects worth $50 million globally – delivering inclusive land rights for all, including women, youth, and communities. Over the past 15 years, UEL has developed land tools, financing mechanisms and community models for pro-poor gender and age-responsive affordable land rights approaches, and contributed to global gender, land and development strategy and implementation. At present, UEL is leading three UN GLTN projects.
- Operationalising gender- and youth-response, land tools at the country level.
- Developing a GLTN land tool for addressing land rights and climate change.
- Delivering a Structured Knowledge Base on Responsible Land Administration Working with over 30 partners, these three projects significantly addressed the four solutions, through a youth and gender land evaluation criteria, a climate-resilient land administration tool, and an updated knowledge base on land rights for professionals. These projects have been part of a wider set of initiatives that have led to the training of over 2,400 delegates from government officials, academic partners, industry, professionals, civil society, and communities in over 24 countries, building capacity to implement responses in the four areas identified. An evaluation of the GLTN programme found that its land tools had benefitted over 50,000 poor and marginalised households.
UEL has also been able to promote its research at dozens of global and national forums including the UN-Habitat Executive Boards comprising over 100 governments, the World Urban Forum Advisory Group, meetings of the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, the annual World Cities Day opening session, Arab Land Initiative meetings, the Arab Land Conference, African Land Policy Initiative Conference, FIG meetings, as co-chair of the UN Habitat Stakeholder Group Enterprise (SAGE), as member of the UN-Habitat Advisory Group on Gender Issues (AGGI), and through various reports including the UN-Habitat Report on Cities and Pandemics, the UN Secretary General’s Quadrennial Report on the New Urban Agenda, and others. UEL partnerships and initiatives have also been strengthened by receiving funding from GCRF, UKRI, the UN, and GLTN, allowing UEL to be a champion for creating equitable access to land rights for all. Professor Sait also works closely with neighbourhood communities in the London Borough of Newham.
Key Areas
Population
Refers to the people living within the area of the assessment.
Urban Land Use
Pertain to the built environment, utilised for residential, commercial, industrial, recreational etc.
Natural Resource-Based Production
Areas utilised for agricultural production, fisheries and forest-related production.
Critical Point Facilities
Provide key socio-economic support services such as schools, hospitals, health units, local government buildings, evacuation centres, bridges etc.
Lifeline Utilities
Cover transportation, water distribution, wastewater, drainage and power distribution networks, among others.