Cadastral Systems in Developing Countries

on Cadastral Systems in Developing Countries

 Tommy Österberg

Chairperson

Working Group 7.2

Commission 7 (Cadastre and Land Management)

International Federation of Surveyors

 Introduction

 This paper gives a background to the activities of the working group on cadastral systems in developing countries. The presentation at the Permanent Committee in Singapore will also include some issues and outcomes from the activities during the first half of 1997 and particularly the annual meeting of Commission 7 in Penang during the preceding week.

Commission 7 (Cadastre and Land Management) established this working group at the FIG Congress in Melbourne in 1994 to address questions related to cadastral systems in developing countries. The Commission later adopted a workplan for the working group at it’s annual meeting in Fredericton, Canada in October 1994.

 Terms of reference of Working Group 7.2 - Cadastral systems in developing countries

Based on the Work Plan, the Working Group distributed a questionnaire to all members of the Commission asking for information on cadastral projects in developing countries. The questionnaire was answered by 27 countries. The answers have been summarised in a report dated 28th August, 1995.

 A seminar aiming at further developing the questions to be discussed by the working group was arranged in Gävle, Sweden in May 1995. About 50 persons participated, representing about 25 developing countries, members of Commission 7 and SIDA (the Swedish International Development Authority). The proceedings from the seminar were published and distributed to the participants of the seminar.

 The seminar identified the following as the most important cadastral issues in developing countries:

• Legal and administrative framework, land policy

• Surveying and mapping

• Maintenance and sustainability

• Guaranteed land rights

• Organisation and financing

• Land information system

• Training and education

• Local involvement for local needs, both in establishment and maintenance

• Appropriate and adaptable technology

• Cadastre serving society in many ways (multipurpose)

• Efficient government support (political will) for change (of laws) and for financing

• Realise the long term process

• Different solutions in different areas

• Arrange pilot project

• Involve politicians

• Describe impact on society

 United Nations in co-operation with FIG Commission 7, the State Ministry for Agrarian Affairs, the National Land Agency and the National Co-ordinating Agency for Surveys and Mapping (Bakosurtanal) organised a meeting of cadastral experts in Bogor, Indonesia in March, 1996. The meeting had the aim to develop a document setting out the desirable requirements and options for cadastral systems of developing countries in the Asia and South Pacific region and globally. The meeting was attended by about 30 experts, mainly from Asian and South Pacific countries. The meeting resulted in the Bogor declaration, which was presented at the Habitat congress in June 1996. A report is also available from the meeting.

 The meeting identified a number of important cadastral issues among others:

• the need for clear identification and recording of land rights

• the need to identify restrictions and obligations on individual land parcels and to simplify access to this information

• recognise that a variety of informal tenures exist, including illegal occupation of land, infringement on land use control, informally recognised land use and vacant land subject to an unproved claims

• there may be a need for provisional land tenures, when cadastral systems are unable to cope with fast development, such as urban growth

• land record systems should be kept simple and up-dated. Exchange of information on land issues should be facilitated and data in different systems should be compatible with each other

• efficient cadastral processes are needed

• cadastral processes need to be re-engineered including changes of legislation, institutional arrangements and use of different technologies

Land Policy options:

• the need for a coherent national land policy to guide policies in different areas

• the cadastre can provide support to land polices through a legal framework, procedures for structural changes of land distribution, information for planning and monitoring of land use, and the provision of tools for implementation of land polices

• appropriate land registration legislation

• indefeasibility of title and adverse possession

• protection of different levels of rights and interests in land, ownership, leasehold, easements, shares, rights to apartments, rights to jointly owned facilities etc.

• land acquisition including compulsory purchase

• land allocation and adjudication, land consolidation and mutations

• copyright and data protection

• quality assurance

• provision of provisional titles

• preference or protection for certain groups, such as women, the poor, tenants, ethnic groups.

• separate or combined organisations for land registration and cadastral surveying

• centralised or decentralised systems

• linkage between different authorities responsible for maintaining records on the ownership, value and use of land

• whether cadastral activities should be commercialised, corporatised or privatised

• the role of professional bodies and NGOs and the administration of licensing boards

• education training and continuing professional development

• research and development

• funding arrangements and cost recovery, fees, Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)

• regulation of responsibilities, accountability, quality assurance etc.

• international co-operation

• communication

• computerisation upon need, geography and political dictate. Availability of trained staff, maintenance, communication and storage facilities. In principle computerisation should bring better security, accessibility and prevent deterioration of paper systems.

• phasing of computerisation starting from indexes, legal data and ending with automated mapping capacity

• the need to show results and the importance of pilot projects

• the importance of a unique parcel identification systems

• the move from paper titles to computer titles will highly facilitate market transactions. This calls for a change of approach to certification of documents and the adoption of risk management

• systematic and sporadic approaches can be applied. A national uniform system for integration of isolated systems should be developed.

• different technologies can be applied based on local circumstances, land values, the geography etc., ranging from plane tables to GPS, large scale photo maps to field surveys, etc.

The Working Group will arrange a one day symposium on cadastral systems in developing countries in connection with the FIG Commission 7 meeting in Penang, May 7, 1997. The aim of the symposium will be to further elaborate on important questions for cadastral development in developing countries, based on the activities so far. The symposium will continue to develop questions related to legal, institutional, land policy and technical options. The situation in Malaysia as regards the National Land Information System and cadastral development will also be presented. This will be followed by a presentation of the conclusions at the FIG Permanent Committee meeting in Singapore the following week.

The Working Group will then prepare a report, which will be presented at the Congress in Brighton 1998.

If you are interested in the activities of the Working Group, please contact me or the secretary Ms Agneta Ericsson on the following address: