This joint FAO-World Bank publication aims to draw attention to the negative impacts of weak governance in land administration and to point out the manifold benefits of good governance in the protection of property rights and the development of efficient land and property markets. It provides positive examples of good practices from around the world, as well as an overview of principles and key questions to be applied in any country for the evaluation of governance in land administration.

This guide on Access to rural land and land administration after violent conflicts has been prepared to assist land tenure and land administration specialists who are involved with the reconstruction of systems of land tenure and land administration in countries that are emerging from violent conflict. Providing secure access to land is particularly complex in such situations. Violent conflicts typically result in the displacement of much of the population. At the end of the conflict, people returning home may find that others occupy their property.

The 1: 2 000 000 Soil Associations map is based on

the Geomorphology and Soils map, at 1: 1 000 000 scals, prepared

by the FAO/UNDP Eth/78/003, Assistance to Land Use PlJ

Project in 1981 It incorporates some new information ob%,3 _

since the finalizing of the Geomorphology and soils map.

This Topic Guide is written for DFID staff, but is relevant to all development professionals. It comprises the following sections:

This case study has been produced in response to a request made to the Evidence on Demand Helpdesk. The objective of the request was to provide a detailed case study on the evolution of land policy in Mozambique and provide the reader with insights into what is viewed as one of Africa’s most progressive land laws, recognising multiple forms of tenure.

The Land Tenure Journal is a peer-reviewed, open-access flagship journal of the Climate, Energy and Tenure Division (NRC) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The Land Tenure Journal, launched in early 2010, is a successor to the Land Reform, Land Settlement and Cooperatives, which was published between 1964 and 2009. The Land Tenure Journal is a medium for the dissemination of quality information and diversified views on land and natural resources tenure. It aims to be a leading publication in the areas of land tenure, land policy and land reform.

The LEGEND Knowledge Management team has published a Portfolio Overview that looks across 24 DFID land programmes. It looks at how programmes are designed, where they work, what they do and how they have performed. It looks at both the main programmes that work on land governance and those that work on land to achieve a broader set of objectives.

In the third of the Land Governance Booklet Series created by the NGO Uttaran, the work to identify and reduce the amount of landless people in Bangladesh is decribed.

The content of the booklet is as follows:

Urbanization has increased dramatically across Asia, rising from 32% urban in 1990 to 48% urban in 2010. The highest rate or urbanization was in East Asia (2%) which was 59% urban in 2010. South-East Asia was 47% urban in 2010. South and Central Asia remain the least urbanized areas in Asia, and while the Pacific region overall has low levels of urbanization, that is changing quickly. The highest estimated rate of urban growth between 2010 2020 will be in South and South-West Asia (27%), South-East Asia (24%) and East and North-East Asia (20%) close behind.

Everyone has a relationship to land. It is an asset that, with its associated resources, allows its owner access to loans, to build their houses and to set up small businesses in cities. In rural areas, land is essential for livelihoods, subsistence and food security. However, land is a scarce resource governed by a wide range of rights and responsibilities. And not everyone’s right to land is secure. Mounting pressure and competition mean that improving land governance - the rules, processes and organizations through which decisions are made about land - is more urgent than ever.