| United Nations |
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E/CN.17/1995/2 |
Economic and Social Council
Distr. GENERAL
2 February 1995
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Third session
11-28 April 1995
REVIEW OF SECTORAL CLUSTERS, SECOND PHASE: LAND, DESERTIFICATION
FORESTS AND BIODIVERSITY
Integrated approach to the planning and management
of land resources
Report of the Secretary-General
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
INTRODUCTION ................................................. 1 - 2 3
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW ........................................ 3 - 23 4
A. Objective ........................................... 3 - 7 4
B. Land and people ..................................... 8 - 15 5
C. A rational approach to land-use planning and land-
resources management ................................ 16 - 23 7
II. REVIEW OF PROGRESS TOWARDS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AIMS OF
CHAPTER 10 .............................................. 24 - 100 10
A. Overall assessment .................................. 24 - 29 10
B. Major issues and challenges ......................... 30 - 33 11
C. Developed countries ................................. 34 - 43 12
D. Developing countries ............................... 44 - 55 14
E. Countries with economies in transition ............. 56 - 62 17
F. Major groups and non-governmental organizations .... 63 - 71 18
G. Finance and technological capacity ................. 72 - 82 19
H. Institutional structures ........................... 83 - 85 22
I. Recent developments and experiences in international
cooperation ........................................ 86 - 100 23
III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................ 101 - 108 26
INTRODUCTION
1. This document reports on progress made in the implementation of the aims
set out in chapter 10 of Agenda 21 1/ (Integrated approach to the planning and
management of land resources) since the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development in June 1992, and presents a set of
recommendations for action. The report was prepared by the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as Task Manager for
chapter 10 of Agenda 21, in consultation with the United Nations Secretariat,
in accordance with arrangements agreed to by the Inter-Agency Committee on
Sustainable Development at its fourth session. It is the result of
consultations and exchange of information between designated focal points in
19 United Nations agencies, governmental officials, and a number of other
institutions and individuals. A summary of its results and conclusions was
presented to, and supported by, the FAO Council at its one hundred seventh
session, in November 1994. Such a large number of issues are related to land
that it has been impossible to do more than touch on some of the more relevant
items in this short report.
2. The overall objective of chapter 10 is to "facilitate allocation of land
to the uses that provide the greatest sustainable benefits and to promote the
transition to a sustainable and integrated management of land resources". In
doing this, environmental, social, and economic issues should be taken into
consideration, and the rights of individuals and categories, such as
indigenous people and women, are specifically mentioned. Much of the world's
land is already settled and used for some purpose, and the aim is to move
towards uses that provide greater benefits but which are sustainable in the
long term, while protecting essential natural ecosystems and biodiversity
values. Immediate objectives are stated as follows:
"(a) To review and develop policies to support the best possible use
of land and the sustainable management of land resources, by not later
than 1996;
"(b) To improve and strengthen planning, management and evaluation
systems for land and land resources, by not later than 2000;
"(c) To strengthen institutions and coordinating mechanisms for land
and land resources, by not later than 1998;
"(d) To create mechanisms to facilitate the active involvement and
participation of all concerned in decision-making on land use and
management, particularly communities and people at the local level, by
not later than 1996."
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW
A. Objective
3. Land can be defined in a general sense as involving all attributes of
the biosphere immediately above or below the terrestrial surface, including
those of the near-surface climate, the soil and terrain forms, the surface
hydrology (including shallow lakes, rivers, marshes, and swamps), near-surface
layers and associated groundwater and hydrogeological reserve, the plant and
animal populations, the human settlement pattern and physical results of past
and present human activity.
4. Land, particularly the more productive classes of land, is finite in
area, and human needs for land are many and varied. Thus the approach to land
allocation that will satisfy those needs in the best and most equitable way
must consider all land in relation to all needs. Land is required for the
production of food, fibre, fuel and timber, for settlement, for recreation,
for extraction of minerals, for water catchments, and for a wide range of
ecological purposes. The way land is used affects all aspects of life, in
particular standards of living and health and social and political stability.
The many forms of environmental degradation, including deforestation, wind and
water erosion, soil acidification and salinization, over-grazing, pollution,
the extinction of plant and animal species, desertification, and even climate
change and associated sea-level rise, are in a sense results of the inability
of mankind to ensure sustainable land management.
5. While other chapters of Agenda 21 refer to land requirements and land-
use planning in terms of individual aspects of the interface between land
resources and human activities, the terms "land allocation", and "land
management" in chapter 10 refer to the integration of all these separate needs
and their interactions in an overall framework. In this sense the task is to
facilitate the matching of land resources and land uses at every level in such
a way that satisfaction of human needs and human rights is maximized on a
sustainable basis. A balance must be struck between the need to increase
production and raise living standards and the need to preserve the
environment. The following major levels of planning and management need to be
distinguished: global, regional, national, provincial or district, local,
municipal or village, and household or farm.
6. It is essential that this exercise should cover both rural and urban
land. There are reciprocal linkages between the city and the countryside.
The former absorbs excess population from the rural areas and provides markets
and services, and the latter provides food, raw materials, and recreation.
The cities are also sources of pollution and are heavy users of certain
natural resources. Peri-urban areas are frequently under great pressure to
produce food and building materials, to provide recreational areas, and the
necessary space for infrastructure of all kinds, and at the same time to
absorb additional population, industry, and to dispose of pollution and other
human and industrial waste. Cities and their associated infrastructure
usually develop from settlements on land initially selected for its high
agricultural potential, such as a fertile plain or valley, which is eventually
built over and lost.
7. The programme of activities described in chapter 10 is intended to
establish an overall conceptual and organizational framework for land
resources allocation and management at each level. This framework should be
made up of a number of modules, or procedures, which should begin with an
inventory of land (and water) resources, a classification of land in terms of
options for use, identification of needs, development of alternative action
plans in collaboration with stakeholders, and implementation. Each of these
stages should be further subdivided, and it is essential that action plans
should cover all relevant social, economic and physical factors, including
land-tenure issues, gender issues and others. Chapter 10 implies both
physical planning, as usually carried out by the State or by local government
organizations for the general good of the community, and land resources
exploitation and management by individual land users. In both cases decisions
need to be taken through a negotiation process with all those who are
affected. It is therefore necessary to identify and reconcile the different
sets of objectives of land users, communities, and governments, short-term
needs such as food production, and long-term requirements such as the
preservation of soil productive capacity, biological diversity, and global
systems.
B. Land and people
8. When there were fewer people, there was no shortage of land for
production, and environmental issues were minimal and localized. Under those
conditions "land-use planning" was often not an important national or global
issue, though at the community or tribal level, land resources management was
often highly developed as a result of local population density. But human
populations are now increasing with accelerating speed, already having doubled
during the past 50 years to a present level of approximately 5.6 billion. At
the same time, on average, food production grew faster than population because
of better crop varieties, increased use of irrigation and mineral fertilizers,
increased cropping intensities, and an expansion of the area under
cultivation. There has also been a general rise in living standards all over
the world.
9. A high price has been paid in terms of the environment for these
results. It is very difficult to provide reliable data on the extent of land
degradation world wide because of the difficulty of assessing and mapping the
various forms of soil degradation and integrating the results. However, the
Global Assessment of Soil Degradation (GLASOD) study 2/ indicates that 16 per
cent of the total arable land surface has been damaged by recent human-induced
soil degradation. The soils and natural vegetation of North Africa, the
Middle East, Central Asia and parts of the rest of the world have become
progressively more degraded and unproductive, in large part due to human
activities over several thousand years. Until the first quarter of the
present century, traditional land uses and production systems, which included
terracing and various forms of grazing control, limited the rate at which land
degradation was taking place. However, many of the most effective traditional
labour-intensive conservation practices have now been abandoned, and
widespread mechanization has caused a general shift to cultivation up and down
the slope of the land. This, and the greatly increased area under irrigation,
has led to a very marked increase in the rate of soil degradation over the
past half century, to a point where, in many areas, it has reached
catastrophic proportions. This very high rate continues in many places where
field crop production is mechanized and on steep lands newly cleared for
cultivation. In many densely populated developing countries, soil degradation
affects most of the land area, together with permanent overgrazing and
deforestation. Tropical forests are being destroyed at the rate of about 15.4
million hectares per year. This in turn has resulted in accelerated
destruction of plant, animal, and microbial habitats. It has been estimated
that over the next 25 years more than a million species of plants and animals
will become extinct. Water has become a scarce resource in many countries and
regions, including many developed countries with temperate climates, and many
water sources are now permanently polluted.
10. Degradation of the environment, particularly in cities, is having a
serious effect on human health, the true extent of which is only just
beginning to be realized. Pressure on productive resources is also
responsible for poverty, hunger, and in many areas is the root cause of
perennial social and political instability and migration. This migration is
mainly a shift from rural to urban areas within developing countries, but also
as continued high levels of migration flow between countries, and increasing
interregional migration - particularly from developing countries with poor,
fast growing populations, to developed countries. The number of refugees,
asylum-seekers, and displaced persons, which has greatly increased in recent
years, is also a factor to be taken into account (the number of refugees
doubled from 8.5 to 19 million in less than 10 years, from 1985 to 1993).
11. The average figures for increased food production conceal the fact that
populations have been rising much faster in some countries than in others.
During the period 1988-1993 per capita food production actually declined in 99
countries, one third of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. For 1988/90 it is
estimated that 20 per cent of the developing world's population was
chronically undernourished. In many densely populated countries the average
land area per head of population is now between 0.5 and 0.1 hectares only.
12. The human population is currently increasing by more than 85 million
persons each year. It is expected to double again by the middle of the next
century. More than 90 per cent of this increase is expected to take place in
developing countries. The FAO study, entitled Agriculture: Towards 2010,
which draws on all available information, shows that the per capita
availability of arable land in developing countries is projected to nearly
halve between the late 1980s and 2010, 3/ from 0.65 to about 0.4 ha. During
the same period the share of land area required for human settlements is
expected to increase from 2.8 per cent to 4 per cent of the total land area.
The demand for recreational areas is likely to increase significantly. The
forest area was estimated at 37 per cent of the total land area in 1990. The
demand for forest products is estimated to increase from 238 million tons at
the 1990 level to 440 million tons in 2010, and the pressure on existing
forest lands will continue. Some of the deforested lands may have to be used
for tree plantations, while others will become available for cultivation, but
often at the cost of environmental degradation. On the other hand the demand
to increase the size of protected areas is likely to increase as a result of
growing environmental awareness. Most of the population increase will take
place in the poorer countries with the least resources and where natural
conditions are often least favourable. Unless a significantly more effective
approach to land resources management is adopted now, a possible scenario
could include a large increase in poverty, hunger, social instability, war,
greatly increased migration from resource-poor environments to more favourable
ones, together with almost complete destruction of the remaining natural
environment and possibly modifications to the world's climate which will cause
social upheaval and political unrest on a vast scale. These are not things
which may happen some time in the far distant future. They are already
starting to happen, and the process may intensify exponentially over the next
five or six decades unless appropriate action is taken.
13. In many industrialized countries the problems of land-use planning are
of a different nature. There is often overproduction, with high productivity
per unit of land, which is often associated with pollution and is maintained
by a set of subsidies at both farm and export level, or a transformation of
agricultural land into nature reserves or recreational facilities.
14. Countries in transition have some of the same difficulties, aggravated
by organizational problems related to the transfer from public to private
ownership.
15. The long-term relationship between humans and the land is represented by
the institutions that make up a society's land tenure systems. These systems
are the rules and practices which determine who has access to how much land
and for what purposes. Where the existing land tenure system results in
unfair rules to access, landlessness, or disregard for society's rules on
usage is where aggravated ecological damage tends to be found. Landless
farmers who invade forest reserves out of desperation, wildcat loggers who
ignore regulations, and farmers with insecure land rights who make only the
most rudimentary investments in land conservation are some of the most common
examples.
C. A rational approach to land-use planning
and land-resources management
16. Too often in the past land-use planning meant a top-down approach
through which "planners" told ordinary people what they ought to do, and
development programmes embodied the objectives of Governments rather than
people. 4/ Failure to involve all stakeholders in the planning process has
had three major consequences:
(a) Development programmes failed because they did not address the real
objectives and needs of land users, who were therefore unenthusiastic about
participation and seldom maintained the improvements created by the programme,
which therefore had little or no permanent impact;
(b) Programmes were inappropriately designed because of lack of
information on real constraints, social and institutional environments, and
appropriate management structures;
(c) There was a failure to utilize the enthusiasm, knowledge, management
ability, community values, and resources of those most directly involved.
17. At the level of the family or enterprise, land is a resource used to
satisfy needs (such as food, money, and security). Land users rapidly respond
to incentives which enable them to increase the level of those benefits, by
raising output through increased investment in the land and higher levels of
inputs and management. A prerequisite for this is that the land user must
have security of tenure, so that efforts put into increasing productivity are
protected. There are many different forms of land ownership and land tenure,
many of them related to the development of rural societies over the centuries.
The advantages and disadvantages of these different forms need to be taken
into consideration and compared with national needs, laws, priorities, and
equity considerations, as prerequisites for successful land-resources
planning. Sale prices need to be such that labour and inputs are adequately
rewarded (in other words, so that there is an incentive to produce).
Information on better crop varieties, disease control etc. must be provided,
together with physical infrastructure and markets. When the right conditions
are in place, production will increase and conservation will be practised.
Many social, legal, and economic factors are involved in creating the right
conditions, and these in turn involve a host of different disciplines and
institutions.
18. Put simply, the objective of the primary land user is to optimize
continued output, of whatever kind. The objective of the community or nation
coincides with this aim to the extent that national goals usually involve
raising living standards, but national objectives also include broader aims,
concerned with preservation of the environment and of natural resources such
as water, soil, wildlife, and forests. It is therefore the task and aim of
national Governments to create conditions and provide services which
facilitate and encourage production but which also, through policies and legal
instruments, allocate and control resource use in the interests of the
community. Once again, different disciplines and institutions are involved,
and many other sectors of the national economy impinge on or affect the land
sector.
19. The functions of an integrated framework for sustainable land-resources
planning are:
(a) To identify and clarify the set of conditions which enables and
facilitates sustained utilization by land users;
(b) To put in place and maintain the necessary physical, informational,
economic, and legal environment for this to take place;
(c) To develop at the national level the necessary structure to identify
and support changing land-use options, protect the environment, make decisions
relating to the use of land, and channel resources.
20. The necessary holistic integrated approach to the optimization of
sustainable land use can be briefly defined as an operational programme
covering a defined area of land and its population which methodically
identifies human and environmental needs, identifies the potential and options
for change and improvement, lists and evaluates all relevant physical, social,
economic and policy factors, and develops, in consultation with all
stakeholders, the series of actions necessary to permit and facilitate agreed
changes.
21. The essential components of an integrated framework for sustainable
land-use planning require that:
(a) Constraints are removed and incentives provided to ensure that
desirable land uses are encouraged and are profitable; land users have legal
title to their land; legal and tax systems do not result in disincentives to
increased and sustainable land use; adequate market and physical
infrastructure are available; the disadvantages and inequalities which
particularly apply to women are remedied;
(b) People are involved and empowered to include identification of
existing successful examples of methods which involve and empower groups of
people and communities in the planning and management of land resources;
factors and institutional structures which lead to successful management by
groups and communities are identified; systems of joint management are
propagated and encouraged; appropriate vertical linkages between decision-
making forums at the local, district, national, and international levels are
in place;
(c) The development of information and management systems to ensure that
data needed for decision-making and monitoring are collected; appropriate
systems of storage and dissemination are in place; information is available at
no cost or at reasonable cost, and in an appropriate form, to all types of
users; areas of importance by virtue of their environment features, natural
resources, or history are located, surveyed and adequately maintained for the
future;
(d) Institutions and the linkages between them are modified so that
institutional responsibilities are clear and do not overlap; all concerned
disciplines contribute appropriately to overall programme design and
implementation; development is carried out jointly with the communities
involved; required interfaces and communications links are established with
groups responsible for all land-based activities, including industry,
processing, marketing, banking, infrastructure development etc. to ensure the
necessary inputs and support for the land resources sector but also to ensure
that adequate provision is made for the safe absorption of waste products.
22. Sustainable development is not possible without the integration of land
and water. Water is essential to human activities and to the functioning of
all ecosystems. Water is required for human consumption, for biomass creation
and for industrial production. It passes through the landscape and between
the landscape and the atmosphere, and it is used and reused for many purposes.
Water is important in terms of quantity and quality. Human activity affects
both these factors and also the extent to which water causes damage and
degradation through erosion, flooding, waterlogging and salinity. Any land-
use plan must include the use of water.
23. Because of differences in climate and soil resources combined with
efficient production systems, the potential for food production in developed
countries often exceeds the consumptive requirements of their populations.
Other countries with high economic growth rates are able to increase per
capita food consumption partly by increasing their food imports. The
countries which fare worst in this respect are those which suffer from war,
political disturbances, and economic stagnation. Therefore at the macro level
an additional aim should be to create conditions of peace and stability which
are favourable to economic growth.
II. REVIEW OF PROGRESS TOWARDS IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE AIMS OF CHAPTER 10
A. Overall assessment
24. Overall progress has been variable in view of the target dates
established in chapter 10. Awareness of the importance of negotiated land
resources allocation and management and of the central role which such
activities play in the development process has been growing. Some progress
has been made in developing a relationship between governmental policy and
land-user decision-making, in developing an integrated approach, in
identifying key constraints, in providing all those concerned with relevant
information, and in developing the means whereby they are able to participate
in the development process. To encourage public involvement in decision-
making, a number of countries have taken steps to make governmental
information more freely available and have passed legislation which obliges
the central government and local authorities to consult with the public in
making policy decisions affecting land and the environment (for example, the
New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement), and in formulating district development
plans. Since UNCED, many countries have begun to address land-related issues
as a whole, through the establishment of new ministries of the environment or
departments of land-use planning and through the declaration of policies
designed to provide a framework for operational programmes. Some examples of
these initiatives are the Sistema Nacional de Desarrollo Sostenible (Costa
Rica), the Programme national de gestion du territoire (Burkina Faso), and the
Green Plan (Namibia).
25. At the international level Governments have adopted the International
Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Severe
Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa. Efforts have also
been made among agencies to develop a strategic planning framework which will
optimize results from a shrinking budget at the international level.
26. Institutions, agencies, individuals and a number of universities, some
under the aegis of FAO's Inter-Departmental Working Groups on Environment and
Sustainable Development and on Land-Use Planning, have been studying the
relationships between policy, the social and economic environments and land
use. FAO also produced several publications, The State of Food and
Agriculture, 1993, 5/ Agriculture Towards 2010, 4/ and Guidelines for Land Use
Planning, 6/ and together with other specialized agencies and institutions, it
published numerous other publications and studies on one or other aspect of
the subject.
27. In the areas of planning, management, and evaluation procedures, there
has been technical progress over the past two years in concept development,
development of databases and other computer-based systems, and in information
products required for decision-making. Examples are the soil databases being
developed by FAO and the International Soil Reference and Information Centre
(ISRIC); land-use analysis concepts and database developed by FAO and the
International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC); a joint
initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), FAO, the United
Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to develop
international land-use and land-cover classifications; further development by
FAO of more precise decision-support systems, and the expanded use of remote
sensing to map and monitor various aspects of land, including the FAO
AFRICOVER project and the IGBP-DIS land cover map of the world, planned for
completion by 1997. As greater contact develops between specialists in this
group of fields, systems such as Email are playing a significant role.
However, though the methodology is being created, it is still only beginning
to be introduced on a practical basis, particularly in developing countries.
28. In relation to the creation of mechanisms for the involvement and
participation of communities and people at the local level, the activities of
many non-governmental organizations and special interest groups should be
mentioned. These are being increasingly recognized, consulted, and brought
into the decision-making process. In a few developing countries self-help
groups are being supported by non-governmental organizations. But a
distinction needs to be made between this and statutory procedures designed to
ensure that each individual having an interest in or likely to be affected by
environmental factors or changes is empowered to participate in the discussion
and decision-making process. Some examples of this are the Microbacias
programme in Brazil, the Land Care programme in Australia, the Primary
Environmental Care programme promoted by the OECD-DAC, the Integrated
Catchment Management approach by the National Rivers Authority in the United
Kingdom, the Farmer-centred Agricultural Resource Management Programme
operating in Asia (FAO, UNDP, and UNIDO), the village land-management approach
currently being implemented in several onchocerciasis-treated areas of West
Africa, 7/ and the Community Management Areas in Burkina Faso. 8/ Mention may
also be made of the Visual Planning System developed by UNCHS (Habitat) for
both urban and rural application.
29. At the community level, locally agreed allocation arrangements may be
the most effective method for protecting natural resources. Resources are
often best protected by the local population's activities for allocating land
to farming, grazing, and forests. Local agreement is often much more likely
than national policies to decrease deforestation, because local communities
benefit from the remaining woodlands and have a stake in protecting them.
Similarly, reserving certain areas for herding through local agreements, such
as the allocation of rangelands in Iran to nomadic tribes, may prevent
encroachment on soils unsuitable for sustained production and maintain space
for livestock. Local management and apportioning of scarce water resources
can be equally effective; an example of this approach is the Keita Valley
development project in Niger.
B. Major issues and challenges
30. World trade and its effects on prices for agricultural products have an
important impact on incentives to develop land sustainably and on the rate of
exploitation of raw materials and degradation of environments, in developing
and industrial countries alike. Reduction of pollution and environmental
degradation are problems in all countries, especially in the vicinity of
settlements and industrial areas. In all countries there is also a need to
identify and conserve key areas of environmental importance and biological
diversity. Many environmental issues affect more than one country - for
example, the management of upper catchment areas of large rivers, the
protection of coastal zones, the migration routes of birds and land animals,
and deforestation, which affect global systems.
31. There is still a lack of sufficiently detailed information on land
resources, at the national, and regional and global levels. The institutes of
the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) need
digitized climate, soil, and land-use information to support the extension of
improved crop varieties to appropriate areas and to develop crop varieties
adapted to marginal areas. The World Soil Map, published in 1987 at a scale
of 1:5 million, is too small for district-level or village-level development
work unless complemented by detailed information collected by national
institutions. The same holds true for socio-economic information; methods of
rapid rural appraisal provide the possibility of collecting at least some of
the social and economic information for sustainable land resource development,
but they have not been systematically applied.
32. There has been some strengthening of institutions in developing
countries on an ad hoc basis through technical assistance programmes and by
national institutions on their own, in both developing and industrialized
countries. The major problem - lack of coordination or collaboration between
sectors, disciplines, and institutions - has hardly been addressed, except
informally, through the development of personal contacts. The problem of
overlapping responsibilities is severe in many countries.
33. The involvement of rural populations, especially women, in the planning,
formulation and implementation of agricultural policies and programmes remains
marginal.
C. Developed countries
34. Population density in parts of many developed countries is among the
highest in the world, and the standard of living and number of households is
increasing rapidly. This has led to a massive expansion of urban areas and
associated infrastructure and placed increasing pressure on land and water,
energy and other natural resources. Agriculture has had an impact on the
environment in a number of ways - high levels of fertilizers, herbicides and
pesticides on arable land; excessive enrichment of some waters, particularly
by nitrogen and phosphates as a result of intensive animal production;
drainage of wetlands; and soil erosion on hilly areas due to the expansion of
cereal production. In addition, past and present industrial use of land has
left a heritage of pollution, much of which is highly toxic. All these
factors have reduced the number of species, damaged or eliminated feeding
areas and interfered with migration patterns, and modified natural
environments. Consequently, there is now a rapidly increasing need to
identify and protect areas of key environmental importance for the maintenance
of natural plant and animal populations or unique ecosystems.
35. An increasing desire among developed countries since UNCED to implement
sustainable development policies has encouraged some of these countries to
create multicriteria knowledge-based information systems and to up-date and
digitize land resource surveys carried out during the 1960s and 1970's in
order to create computerized databases and Geographic Information System (GIS)
systems. Remote sensing is also currently being used to create digitized land
cover and, by inference, land-use databases and maps for many developed
countries. Some progress has been achieved with the reduction of subsidies to
unsustainable agricultural practices and in the provision of technical and
financial assistance to those land users adopting preferable practices. For
example a law introduced in Hungary in 1992 allows a 50 per cent reduction in
the land tax if the farmer adopts sustainable technology. Price subsidies and
mineral fertilizers and pesticides have also been eliminated.
36. Land evaluation techniques are still fairly rudimentary and qualitative,
as is conflict resolution and decision-making. The most common approach is
top-down zoning, together with by-laws and subsidies to control or influence
use in each zone. These may limit the management rights of the landowner or
land user, the stake which he or she holds in the land, and therefore the
incentive to manage for the long term. The effect of taxation regimes current
in some developed countries may also discourage improvements of a long-term
nature. The functional relationship between governmental policy and land use
is still little understood, and existing and well entrenched institutional
structures are ill suited to a holistic approach to natural resource and
environment planning. Many developed countries are currently interested in
the land management planning tools being developed by a few institutions and
agencies, but programmes to extend their use to all levels are not yet in
place. 9/
37. Certain countries have developed systems of ecological zoning, which
they are using as a basis for identification of threatened ecosystems and
development of ecological modelling at various levels, from the regional and
national to the level of individual natural habitats. Others have established
ecological monitoring systems, but there is as yet little development of
procedures and institutional structures to enable integrated and logical
action on the basis of the results.
38. Some developed countries have produced successful models of consultative
management and implementation groups at local levels, sometimes on a
hydrological catchment basis, and sometimes at the level of an ecological
system or biome.
39. A number of countries have developed national land-use policies and
plans, such as the Japanese Comprehensive National Development Plan, which
includes a National Land Use Plan, which itself covers Land Use Master Plans
for individual prefectures. In terms of individual programmes, mention may be
made of the set-aside programme developed by the European Community, the
"Sodbuster", "Swampbuster", and Farm Bill laws in the United States, Land Care
in Australia, and Ecological Infrastructure Planning in the Netherlands.
1. Key issues
40. The need for protection of the environment is an important issue in
developed countries - in particular, the protection of key habitats and
centres of biodiversity, together with control of pollution and rehabilitation
of former industrial sites. Important issues are the widespread acidification
of soils due to industrial pollution and the lowering of water tables and
reduction of river flow due to high rates of extraction.
41. Attention also needs to be drawn to the issue of population
redistribution. This applies to depopulation of rural areas and also to
absorption of an increasing flow of migrants who are a consequence of the
difficulties that developing countries face in raising food production and
living standards at a faster rate than population growth, when a significant
proportion of their populations are still directly dependent on agriculture.
42. Unsustainable consumption patterns and the disposal of waste products of
many kinds, some of them toxic, are increasingly important problems in these
countries.
43. Because of the increasing density of population, paralleled by an
enhanced appreciation of nature and the environment, of heritage values, and
of the health hazards associated with certain kinds of land use, a need is
arising for the general introduction of the concept of land-user covenants
which embody a responsibility to the community and custodianship of the land
by the user for future generations (see proposal 7 in sect. III below).
D. Developing countries
44. In developing countries the situation varies enormously as regards
availability and application of information, development of procedures
involving local communities in decision-making, and institutional development.
Few countries have made progress in collecting land-use information and
storing it in digitized form or in developing the necessary procedures or
institutional framework for integrated and sustainable land resources
management.
45. A number of Asian and some Latin American countries have carried out
national land resource and land use surveys covering climate conditions,
soils, land forms, rangeland, woodland, and forest resources and have
developed land evaluation systems. They have also taken steps to develop
institutional structures capable of formulating integrated plans and policies
and to implement them in collaboration with land users. For example, in
Colombia, municipalities play a decisive role in rural development through
municipal technical assistance units; in Chile municipalities have entered
into agreements with national rural and forest development institutions to
implement education, extension, and investment programmes. These and other
countries in Latin America have also transferred important functions to land-
user associations, cooperatives, and other non-governmental organizations.
Some countries have also prepared national Agenda 21 programmes which give an
important priority to land-use planning.
46. Some of these countries possess a sufficiency of skilled technical
personnel, though they face budget limitations in the development of land-use
planning systems. What is most needed is an exchange of information with
similar countries, technical workshops, and regional institutions that
facilitate international contacts between the staff involved in all aspects of
these programmes. An example of joint action by a group of such countries is
the programme of ecological/economic zoning initiated by the Special
Commission on the Environment of the eight-country Amazon Cooperation Treaty
in 1994, in which Brazil has played a leading role, with FAO in a supporting
capacity. Bolivia has recently completed an exemplary detailed zoning for its
part of the Amazon region, with full participation of all stakeholders. It is
now extending this approach to other ecological zones of the country.
47. A number of other countries, in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East
and elsewhere, have carried out land resources surveys of various kinds in the
past and possess paper maps which can be used for basic land development
purposes. In many of these countries, the establishment of methods to capture
and record original survey data in digitized form has begun.
48. At the other end of the scale are countries that have little quantified
information on their natural resources and whose populations practice
subsistence agriculture supplemented by remittances from members of the family
who are in paid employment elsewhere. In these countries, since the
population expands but land-use technologies do not change, degradation of the
landscape is severe. Deforestation, over-grazing, and wind and water erosion
are all but universal; poverty is the norm for a large proportion of the
people; there are periodic food shortages and frequent social instability and
armed strife. These countries are the most in need of technical and financial
assistance.
49. Many developing countries have continued to receive technical assistance
on natural resources assessment and development from multilateral and
bilateral sources. Initially this was aimed at resource mapping, more
recently at land evaluation and land-use planning. Technical assistance
programmes have typically been of a short duration and have usually been
narrow in scope, involving one or, at most, a narrow range of disciplines.
Their chances of success have been limited by factors outside the control of
the project, such as unwieldy, inequitable, or insecure tenure systems,
economic factors, or bureaucratic structures. Some progress has been made
over the years, such as the move from a project to a programme approach and
the more holistic design of conservation programmes. A basic reason for lack
of success has been failure to develop "development" as a discipline in
itself, together with a holistic and integrated approach which combines the
physical, social, economic, and policy aspects of natural resource use. This
is the weakness that now needs to be addressed.
50. Little progress has been made in developing a relationship between
governmental policy and land user decision-making. Few countries have an
effective institutional structure for land resources development and
conservation, and in some developing countries there is no effective
institutional basis to support legal land tenure. In this respect an
excellent initiative has been recently taken in the Dodoma region of the
United Republic of Tanzania in which village and even plot boundaries were
agreed through an interactive process between local villagers and government
survey staff. Land management in the Machakos district of Kenya and village-
based land management in West Africa are also encouraging signs.
51. Land tenure reform can have a very positive effect in achieving the
goals of Agenda 21. China, for example, has been issuing long-term secure
leases to hillside land to those who are willing to plant trees. Pole wood
sales are perfectly elastic in contemporary rural China, and those who can
produce them are often earning more per hectare than grain farmers. Thus, for
the first time in a millennium, more trees are being planted than cut. In
addition, a change from social property and its related central planning to
models based on private property have resulted in a great reduction in an
overdependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides and in water pollution
from poor farming practices. Well thought out land tenure reforms can serve
as a powerful tool in stimulating land users to choose sustainable practices
that enhance their security of tenure while increasing earnings.
1. Key issues
52. In many developing countries the most important issue, in both the rural
and the urban contexts, is the need to provide the occupier and user of a
piece of land with a clear legal title to it. But while security of occupancy
and use must be provided, some restrictions on how the land is used will
invariably be necessary in the direct interests of the community and in the
broader interest of conservation of the environment.
53. In many developing countries land-use planning systems and procedures
are undeveloped and comparatively ineffective. There is often a severe
shortage of trained and experienced staff in this field and severe budget
limitations on procurement of equipment. Often there is a multiplicity of
institutions involved, with overlapping responsibilities. Bureaucratic
constraints to development of effective procedures and decision-making
processes are sometimes considerable. In the past, in many of these countries
effective traditional land resource management systems existed. Most have
fallen out of use due to the introduction of new forms of government and
because in some cases they were incompatible with present living standards and
expectations. In some countries there remains a tradition of joint discussion
and decision-making at the local level which might be utilized in the future.
54. It is often difficult to locate funding for the collection of the
necessary information to be used for rural or urban land resource development
or for paying for the development of the necessary technical tools and
institutional improvement, partly because they are not perceived as producing
an immediate impact. Until now land-use planning has not been developed as a
tool for decision-making at the village or household level, and consequently
extension services are often largely ineffective. Modern tools such as
geographical information systems would, in principle, make data processing
quicker, cheaper, more transparent and more objective. Once this is
understood, funding may be easier to obtain. During the past two years there
has been some progress in the digitization of information already contained in
maps and reports, and subsequent processing for planning. In some countries
there is need for external assistance to fund "rescue operations" to save
valuable data that were collected in the past but that are now being lost or
destroyed.
55. There is need to develop public awareness and stimulate public debate on
the importance of natural ecosystems and the range of animal and plant life
which is threatened by continued expansion of human activities and consequent
transformation of landscapes, depletion of water resources, and all forms of
degradation and pollution.
E. Countries with economies in transition
56. These countries are currently in the process of transferring large
State-owned enterprises to various forms of private ownership, which include
partnerships, cooperatives, and private enterprises. Such a huge task
involves questions of equity, and, in some cases compensation, land surveys,
and legislation. In most cases the two latter activities lag far behind,
which may cause serious problems.
57. Many of these countries are suffering severe problems of environmental
degradation and pollution which, in some cases, impinge on global systems.
Considerable time and funding will be required to correct the practice of not
accounting for all costs at the enterprise level. Basic resource data are
often available, as are the necessary skills. But they are dispersed, and at
present specialist staff and institutions are often demoralized and
disorganized. Basic institutional structures exist, except for those needed
for interaction with the new majority of land users.
58. There is growing awareness of the problem of environmental degradation,
and much of the information necessary for planning more sustainable land and
water resource use exists, together with the necessary skills. One example is
the new Soil Information and Monitoring System, in Hungary. It covers 1,400
observation points - 1,000 on agricultural land, 200 in forests, and 200 in
areas threatened by environmental degradation.
1. Key issues
59. Several of these countries have pressing problems relating to food
production and living standards and are short of funds for implementation of
projects aiming at the preservation and improvement of resources. There are
also bureaucratic problems, problems of overlapping responsibilities, and
problems stemming from single-sector approaches.
60. There is urgent need to update cadastral maps and land registration
systems and to address questions of equity, land reform, and security of land
tenure. The current transition period provides a window of opportunity for
enlightened land-use planning to match land resources with most suitable uses.
61. A particular problem is the need to decontaminate and rehabilitate
industrial sites and lands that were formerly under military control and that
have become degraded or polluted by toxic substances.
62. Two types of assistance are required. One is funding, for programmes
and equipment. The other is provision of a structure for consultation and
exchange of information between these countries and with other countries and
international institutions. Frequently competent professional staff know what
has to be done and what the priorities are but are hindered by bureaucrats and
lower-level officials, in many cases afraid to take responsibility. If it can
be shown that proposals have been approved internationally, the problem is
often reduced.
F. Major groups and non-governmental organizations
63. It is difficult to identify progress by the major groups, as defined in
Agenda 21. This may be because few land development or natural resource
management programmes are specifically oriented towards women, children or
young people, indigenous people, or workers, except for the indigenous groups
covered by the ecological/economic zoning being carried out under the Amazon
Cooperation Treaty.
64. Increasing responsibility has been given to indigenous people and tribes
in the planning and management of natural resources. This has facilitated the
implementation by national Governments of development programmes and hastened
their progress towards decentralization and the implementation of UNCED
recommendations, especially in relation to chapter 10.
65. Non-governmental organizations can be divided into those representing
the interests of groups, such as farmers and planners (an example is the
International Network of Green Planners), and those providing technical
assistance, mainly at the community level and mainly in developing countries.
Non-governmental organizations are providing valuable assistance to land users
at the village, watershed, or district levels. They tend to represent the
interests of the individual or local community, and it is not always realized
that such interests are often legitimately different from those of the country
as a whole, and therefore of the Government.
66. The international scientific community is closely involved in aspects of
methodology development and environmental monitoring, and land users, the
business community, and local authorities are bound to benefit to the extent
that progress is being made in this field.
1. Key issues
67. In many countries rural communities have suffered because of a tendency
for rural areas to become depopulated. This has often resulted in cultural
deprivation, lower standards of service and infrastructure, and failure to
maintain the productivity of land. Examples of the latter are the neglect of
terraces or drainage systems that ensured the sustainability of cultivated
land and the breakdown of management systems of, for example, wetlands or
forests. The ILO has drawn attention to the social implications of land-use
management practices, including the concept of "sustainable livelihoods".
68. In many countries women have traditionally been environmental resource
managers. This role has often intensified as men shift their efforts towards
cash-earning activities elsewhere and as more men migrate from rural to urban
areas. Women farmers grow most of the food in some regions. Women are often
the caretakers and harvesters of food, fuel, and other products. The threats
to the environmental resources base - degradation of agricultural and grazing
land, deforestation, and increased scarcity of firewood, the advance of
desertification - are all contributing to the pauperization of already poor
women. To this are added the negative effects of structural adjustment, which
are often felt disproportionately by the poor, the "invisibility" of women to
development planners, and the many forms of societal discrimination against
women. Some development projects, by neglecting to determine the gender-
differentiated roles of men and women, further undermine the status of women.
Women need to have access to training in sustainable agricultural methods and
techniques. It is particularly important to note the disadvantage that women
often face in their ability to own land, inherit it, or obtain credit on the
basis of it.
69. Agenda 21 calls for the economic role of women to be taken into account;
for both men and women to be provided with the information necessary for
decision-making on land-use planning and management; and for enhancing local
management capability, particularly that of women. Disappointing progress has
been made in providing such rights and services since UNCED. The Informal
Round Table of Experts on Rural Women, Population and Environment in South-
East Asia, held in February 1994 and organized by the FAO Regional Office for
Asia and the Pacific, is an example of what can be done.
70. There is need to develop further a partnership relationship between
Governments and non-governmental organizations which would be complementary in
terms of strengths and weaknesses. Since UNCED, a number of active
non-governmental organization networks have emerged. They provide potential
contact points between the non-governmental organization community and
international organizations. Some United Nations agencies have a strong
tradition of collaboration with non-governmental organizations. FAO and IFAD
have created cooperation programmes which are a source of funding for
non-governmental organizations.
71. More could be achieved through the involvement of educational
institutions of all kinds in the development of sustainable land management
practices at all levels and in establishing a wider appreciation of land and
environment-related issues.
G. Finance and technological capacity
1. Finance
72. Specific financial and policy measures which have been shown to be
successful in promoting higher sustainable production include the following:
(a) Support to the development of community-level land-use planning and
management schemes;
(b) Tapping the enormous potential in the ability of local groups to
plan and manage their own resources, if permitted and encouraged to do so.
Government costs for such schemes are relatively low, since they consist of
only support, provision of information, and the development of procedures
which ensure that the management systems are truly democratic. Constraints to
the rapid development of such an approach are lack of clear policy decisions
on the part of Governments to encourage such schemes and the difficulties of
communities to obtain credit for development. A successful example of how to
solve this problem is the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the Farmers
Agricultural Credit Groups in Sri Lanka and Bolivia, the latter set up with
the support of FAO's Plant Nutrition Management Programme. The components of
such schemes are a clear and promulgated government policy, an invitation to
groups to come forward with proposals, institutional support to provide
information, and availability of credit;
(c) Tax structures designed to encourage investment in the improvement
of land resources in the long term and to reward investors who buy degraded
land and improve it. An example of this is a new tax system in New Zealand
under which the cost of producing a crop of trees is deductible from income as
a whole in the year in which the trees are planted rather than at the time of
harvest. There is also the possibility of identifying preferred land uses for
each land type and providing tax advantages to encourage their adoption. It
is now possible to monitor land use by satellite, and countries such as
Brazil, Canada and the EC group are currently developing systems to do so;
(d) Financially self-sustaining systems based on demand for legal titles
to land. It has been shown that land users are willing to pay for cadastral
services if they result in legal titles to land.
73. Additional policy options in the financial field include:
(a) Tailoring the Global Environment Facility to cover the vast range of
activities directly related to introduction and maintenance of sustainable
land use, while avoiding land degradation and its effects on global and local
climate systems;
(b) Further investigation of possibilities initiated by the World Bank
for direct investment in enhancing land productivity and soil fertility. This
would have beneficial effects in terms of production, profitability (and
hence, a reduction in rural depopulation) and sustainability.
74. The key to success in land-use planning and management for sustainable
use is felt to lie in an integrated approach based on partnership with the
land users. This requires adequate governmental support in a variety of
different areas, and the Governments of less developed countries will continue
to require technical and financial assistance from donors. This should not be
haphazard and uncoordinated, as in the past, but should be based upon a land
resource management and development plan for each country.
2. Technological capacity
75. The need to strengthen technological capacity is highlighted in chapter
10 of Agenda 21. Governments are urged to promote focused and concerted
efforts for education and training and the transfer of techniques and
technologies that support various aspects of the sustainable planning and
management process. 10/
76. Relevant aspects of technology are:
(a) The mapping, definition and analysis of land resources and
ecosystems;
(b) Identification of sustainable land-use options;
(c) Improvement of production and management systems;
(d) The mapping and registration of land holdings;
(e) Methods of providing information and platforms for negotiation
(social technology);
(f) Environmental and land-use monitoring;
(g) Dissemination of information for decision-making and management.
77. Taking all countries together, comparatively little progress has been
made in the development of land-use planning mechanisms for identifying
objectives, at the global, national, community or individual family level.
Some progress has been made in the collection of the necessary physical data,
and rather less in the collection of the necessary social and economic data.
Practical multiple criteria analysis procedures applicable at the various
levels are beginning to become available to support decision-making.
78. There are some models for resource management at the community level,
but although there has been much discussion about the need to involve local
communities, there has been comparatively little practical demonstration of
how this can be done. FAO's recently published Guidelines for Land Use
Planning 6/ provide advice in this area.
79. The advent of computers and computerized data storage has revolutionized
the field of land resources planning. It is now practical and economically
feasible to store, access, analyse, assess, and combine the mass of disparate
data on soil, topography, climate, water resources, land use, populations,
costs, social factors and so on which have to be taken into account. For some
years it has been possible to overlay layers of thematic information, to take
into account the ecological requirements of crops, model the effects of
production systems, and predict levels of output and environmental impact.
FAO's Agro-Ecological Zoning methodology 11/ is an example which has been
applied at the continental, national, and district levels - the latter, for
example, in China and Kenya. A closely related but less developed approach
which stems from the Framework for Land Evaluation, 12/ and which can be
applied down to the farm level, defines land units, matches them with possible
uses to identify and quantify use options, and facilitates selection of the
best mix of options in relation to production costs, sale prices, markets,
resources and, most importantly, objectives and needs.
80. Standard database structures have been developed and have been in use
for some time for soil and terrain data, climate data, water resources data,
crop environmental requirements data, land use information, and other data
groups. Computer hardware and software is becoming substantially cheaper, and
the level of computer literacy is rapidly rising.
81. Remote-sensing techniques now provide the means to survey and monitor
large areas quickly, frequently, at relatively low cost, and in rapidly
increasing detail. In the future, hand-held global positioning systems (GPS)
will be increasingly used to provide precise geographical locations for all
types of data.
82. But though the technical system methodology exists, it has not been
fully linked with the social and economic aspects of the total picture, and in
all fields there is a lack of the detailed information which is needed for
projects or area programmes. The depiction of spatially diverse social and
economic aspects in a GIS system, with in-built capacity to reflect changes
over time, is still in its infancy. Arrangements for systematic involvement
of all stakeholders in actual or potential land resources planning and
management at the national, district, and community levels, through the
creation of "platforms for decision-making" are still rather rare.
H. Institutional structures
83. In many cases technical answers to the problems of sustainable
development and environmental protection are known, but humanity is as yet
unable to develop the social and economic means to apply them. This is
particularly the case with regard to land, which is the basis for most food
production but which is used for many other purposes and is simultaneously the
direct basis for livelihood for a large part of the world's human population
and for a vast number of valuable ecological systems.
84. Existing institutional structures are very largely sector-oriented.
Ministries or departments of the environment, planning, land, local
government, agriculture, forestry, health, trade and many other sectors all
deal with matters that affect how land is used. Overlapping responsibilities
are very common. Established institutions tend to resist change successfully.
Although a number of environmental protection agencies and ministries of the
environment have been established, effective cooperation is still lacking in
many countries. Since institutional structures are unlikely to change
significantly in the foreseeable future, the only practical approach is to
build a system of linkages in the form of interdisciplinary and
interinstitutional working groups. Such forums are necessary at all levels.
85. Capacity-building must also be mentioned in relation to institutions.
In institutions all over the world there is need for reorientation and
development of integrated strategies. In developing countries and countries
with economies in transition, there is need to provide staff with technical
and professional training. Schools and universities need to devote curriculum
space to land resource issues.
I. Recent developments and experiences in
international cooperation
1. Intergovernmental processes
86. There is a growing realization of the need for action. Some countries
have sponsored activities, such as the Conference on Sustainable Agriculture
and the Environment (1991) and the World Coast Conference (1993). The Global
Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States
also gave high priority to land-use planning. Guidelines for the integrated
planning of coastal zones have been drawn up. The Netherlands Government is
planning to host an international workshop on the integrated planning and
management of land resources in February 1995. But as yet, such efforts are
uncoordinated and do not take place within a mutually reinforcing global
framework. There is danger of fragmentation and dissipation of resources and
effort and even of the growth of conflicting views and technical procedures.
Avoidance of this is particularly important in view of the need for
standardized collection, classification, storage, and processing of land
resources information.
87. There is no international agreement or programme specifically aimed at
land-use planning. There have been a number of agreements dealing with
related subjects, such as the International Convention to Combat
Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or
Desertification, particularly in Africa (which stresses interdisciplinary and
participatory approaches to the preparation and implementation of national
desertification action plans), and several river basin treaties such as the
Amazon Cooperation Treaty, the IGADD agreement on the Nile Basin and the
Mekong Basin Committee.
2. Organizations of the United Nations system
88. Agencies, such as FAO, UNCHS(Habitat), the World Bank, and to an extent,
IFAD and UNEP, work at all levels, from global to farm to municipality, and
deal with all aspects of land resources planning and management. It is not
possible in the present report to mention more than a very small fraction of
their activities.
89. FAO has initiated collaboration with other United Nations agencies in
the development of land cover and land-use classification systems suitable for
widespread application, and work is leading to collaboration in related
fields. An important project to map land cover and land use on the African
continent has recently become operational (the AFRICOVER project). Over the
past two years FAO has also expanded its Special Action Programme for Land
Conservation and Rehabilitation. The Special Action Programme for Water and
Sustainable Agricultural Development (WASAD) gives increasing attention to the
linkages between land and water. Agroecological zoning has been carried out
in Bangladesh, China, Kenya, the Caribbean, and other areas. FAO's Integrated
Plant Nutrition Programme is being reoriented on the basis of an integrated
approach to the management of soil, water, and plant nutrients at the farm
level. Through its regular programme and field projects, the organization
implements many initiatives that directly support the objectives of
chapter 10. It is also actively developing an interdisciplinary approach
through its Inter-Departmental Working Group on Land Use Planning. The FAO
Land Regularization Task Force (LRTF) has been involved in land consolidation
and land registration activities in many countries, including a number in
Eastern Europe.
90. An important task of UNCHS (Habitat) is to provide for the land
requirements of human settlements. Programmes focus on key issues such as
competition between different land uses; access to land, provision of water,
sanitation, and energy; and conservation of land resources in and around
settlements. An example of inter-agency collaboration is the
UNDP/Habitat/World Bank Urban Management Programme. Another is the
Sustainable Cities Programme. At the local level, support is given to the
development of spatial planning and land registration programmes; at the
community level priority has been given to land tenure regularization and the
development of cadasters and up-grading of land registration services.
91. The activities of UNCTAD are based on the premise that one of the most
important requirements is for policies which provide sufficient economic
incentives to rural communities for the adoption of sustainable management
practices.
92. The development and implementation of national land-use policies, land
tenure systems, and land-use planning processes are key activities under the
National Environmental Action Plans which have been prepared by the World Bank
for developing countries since 1992. Many have been completed in Africa,
Latin America, and the Middle East. The World Bank also prepares country
environment strategy papers which define principal environmental and natural
resource management issues for countries and define the Bank's strategy for
addressing those issues.
93. The World Food Programme (WFP), through its food-for-work programme, has
carried out large numbers of projects in support of afforestation, irrigation
and drainage development, conservation, and infrastructure development. WFP
is moving to support community initiatives to plan and manage land resources.
In several Indian states, for example, WFP projects use funds generated
through forestry projects to support tribal communities in planned development
of their lands. Local non-governmental organizations assist the communities
to articulate their needs and manage new forestry or agricultural assets.
94. WHO has drawn attention to the relationships between the occurrence of
disease vectors and land use. Examples are onchocerciasis and river valley
development, and the control of malaria and schistosomiasis in irrigated
areas. The joint WHO/FAO/UNEP Panel of Experts on Environmental Management of
Vector Control (PEEM) is a good example of inter-agency cooperation in this
field. WHO is currently assisting a number of countries to strengthen their
health-sector capacity in the area of GIS at the national and, where possible,
the municipal levels.
95. The work of national meteorological and hydrological services is
coordinated at the international level by WMO which has established a degree
of standardization in the manner in which climatological and hydrological data
and information are collected and analysed. The organization's Hydrology and
Water Resources Programme plays a similar role with respect to information on
freshwater resources.
96. Some of the ILO's objectives relative to indigenous and tribal peoples
for the 1990s include the promotion of a platform for different levels of
government and other parties to develop a shared understanding of the major
problems and hopes of indigenous and tribal peoples and to collaborate in the
diagnosis of relevant environmental issues and in the identification and
implementation of solutions. These would include land tenure security and the
right for the indigenous and tribal peoples to participate in the use,
management and conservation of natural resources pertaining to their lands.
This work forms part of the ILO's efforts to promote the ratification and
implementation of an indigenous and tribal people's convention. Under a
project for strengthening pre-cooperative rural organizations in Bolivia and
Peru, the ILO is managing the legal education component. This consists of
training indigenous local authorities as to their rights and obligations in
terms of land-use planning and management under the ILO's normative framework
and in ways to improve law enforcement.
97. UNEP published a series of guideline documents on the integrated
sustainable management of land resources. UNEP was instrumental in the
preparation of a Global Assessment of Soil Degradation (GLASOD). It
stimulated the development and application of Soil and Terrain digital
databases (SOTER) and, together with FAO and the International Society of Soil
Science (ISSS), executed a number of projects for national soil policies.
98. The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific at its
second session in October 1994 considered a paper on land-use planning for
sustainable development prepared by the Secretariat. 11/ This discusses
issues and provides information on programmes in the region which relate to
the subject. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC), in cooperation with UNEP, conducted a study on the application of
economic and policy instruments designed to address the environmentally sound
and sustainable development of key productive sectors such as agriculture and
forestry. No further information on the activities of the regional economic
commissions specifically related to the implementation of chapter 10 is as yet
available to the task manager.
99. The organizations of the United Nations system feel that development of
a wider exchange of experiences and information is essential. It is clear
that there are overlaps between the activities of the various agencies in
relation to land resources development and management and that considerable
benefits could result from rationalization and closer collaboration. This can
be achieved through development of a joint approach, development of
collaborative programmes, and greater use of joint working groups, to be
initiated by the task manager.
3. Organizations outside the United Nations system
100. A number of non-governmental or semi-governmental organizations have
recently come into existence as a result of interest in a perceived threat to
global systems, many under the auspices of the International Council of
Scientific Unions or the Third World Academy of Sciences. These include the
IGBP group of programmes. One of them is the proposed monitoring of changes
in natural and managed ecosystems through a global terrestrial observing
system, which is also supported by FAO, UNEP, UNESCO and WMO, and would
complement similar arrangements already in place to monitor climate and
oceans. The IGBP programmes are active and institutionally well supported but
are more science- than people-oriented. However they have begun to cooperate
with the Human Dimensions of Global Change programme of the International
Social Sciences Council. Mention should also be made of the activities of the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the World Resources
Institute, and the International Institute for Environment and Development.
III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Main conclusions
101. The greatest constraint to development of more productive and
sustainable land use is probably the present fragmented and sector-oriented
approach to the matching of land resources and human needs for land.
Typically, at the present time, issues relating to the use of land are the
responsibility of a host of different organizations, none of which is in a
position to take a holistic view or develop an approach that covers all
related factors. Thus, for example, an agricultural extension service may
strive to persuade or assist farmers to increase production even though low
prices may fail to provide an incentive for them to do so; conservation
services bewail the fact that land users perversely refuse to see the
advantages of conservation practices even though land tenure systems may
provide no security for the necessary investment; grazing or forest management
schemes provide insufficient incentive to the participants, local people are
denied the benefits of wildlife management programmes and consequently view
wildlife only as dangerous pests which should be eliminated.
102. There is need to review more explicitly the relationship between policy
and land use. The relationship between policy and economic and social
conditions, on the one hand, and land use and its impact on the physical,
social, and economic environment, on the other, has not yet been clarified to
the point where desired effects can be achieved.
103. Advances have been made in the development of tools and technology
necessary to support more productive sustainable land use, but much less
progress has been made in creating the capacity to apply these tools routinely
in all countries, and there is still need to develop the means to obtain
information necessary for planning and monitoring land use.
104. The need for participation of stakeholders in land-use decision-making
is generally realized, but existing examples of how this can be achieved need
to be more widely applied.
105. Special attention needs to be focused on bridging the gap between the
objectives and activities of land users in exploiting the land resources
available to them to generate production and income and the long-term
objectives of the community in relation to preservation of natural resources
and the environment. It is necessary to create economic and legal conditions
which encourage and reward sustainable land use. Inappropriate land tenure
systems are singled out as being one of the most frequently occurring
disincentives in this regard. Countries will need to examine their land
tenure systems, supporting legislation and administrative organizations to
determine whether they are serving as deterrents to sustainable land-use
practices. Where land tenure is a contributing cause of poor land management,
reforms should be undertaken which will serve as stimulants to investment in
long-term productivity while enhancing the security of tenure of those holders
undertaking such investments. Positive land tenure reforms can be a powerful
policy tool for sustainable development. They can also serve as a means of
enhancing local participation in and acceptance of responsibility for a
sustainable community resource base.
106. Attention needs to be paid to the development of linkages between
traditional knowledge and land management systems on the one hand, and the
application of science and technology on the other.
2. Proposals for action
107. Chapter 10 of Agenda 21 provides a comprehensive plan of action for
developing and implementing an integrated land-use approach. An inter-agency
meeting on chapter 10, held in Rome on 10 and 11 October 1994, stressed the
need for the development of a holistic normative framework with the
cooperation of all institutions and stakeholders which would address the
growing and conflicting demands on land resources (for forestry, agriculture,
human settlements, nature protection, biodiversity etc.), while avoiding land
degradation.
108. The following are the main proposals presented for consideration and
approval by the Commission on Sustainable Development:
Proposal 1. At the international level priority should be given to the
development of a holistic and integrated framework to put in place social and
economic conditions which will facilitate optimum matching of land resources
with needs, in terms of production, sustainability, and conservation of
biodiversity, together with the necessary technical and infrastructural
support, which can be applied in any country with appropriate modifications,
according to local needs and conditions.
Proposal 2. Each country should develop a national land use planning
programme, containing a statement of objectives and a detailed timetable for
implementation spread over a period of years, with the aim of removing
constraints and providing incentives, enhancing the involvement and
empowerment of peoples, developing information and management systems, and
modifying institutions which are provided with suitable linkages among them.
Proposal 3. National Governments, institutions, and organizations of
the United Nations system should initially cooperate in critical areas and in
situations where opportunities are most appropriate for an integrated
approach. These would include the following:
(a) Establishment of stable land-use systems in areas where important
ecosystems or eco-regions are being endangered by human activities. This
would include frontiers between cultivated and forest lands, between pastures
and forest lands as well as between rainfed crop lands and range lands;
(b) Applying integrated planning and development approaches in regions
which are becoming open to intensified settlement and agricultural production
after eradication of human and animal health infestations, such as areas
previously affected by river blindness or tsetse fly;
(c) Resolving land- and water-use conflicts of peri-urban areas and
megacities, on issues such as treatment and reuse of solid and liquid waste,
food production, appropriate housing, transport and other facilities;
(d) An integrated approach to capacity-building by means of joint
training and regional workshops and consultancies, in order to facilitate
intersectorial dialogue.
Proposal 4. National Governments, institutions, and United Nations
agencies should collaborate in the development of:
(a) Basic but essential tools such as the classification of land cover
and land use and mapping of eco-economic regions and life zones, the
establishment and/or expansion of structures and programmes, such as
AFRICOVER, that monitor and evaluate land use and environmental sustainability
indicators, share and exchange the resulting knowledge base, and provide
assistance and training for such monitoring;
(b) Maps and statistics showing how land is currently being used and in
which areas that use is unsustainable;
(c) Geographical information systems on land resources and their use, as
tools for land-use planning and decision-making.
Proposal 5. Periodic meetings and workshops should be held to exchange
knowledge and experiences in the area of land resource planning and
management, at:
(a) Various levels within individual countries;
(b) The regional level between countries with similar natural resources
and socio-economic conditions;
(c) The global level, by relevant international organizations, in
support of national needs.
Proposal 6. Individual countries or groups of countries should
establish regional action frameworks in which countries and donor institutions
volunteer to collaborate in joint development and implementation of improved
land-use policies and programmes.
Proposal 7. National Governments and the international community, in
consultation, should draw up by the end of 1995 the first draft of a covenant
for good land use which would describe the general rights and obligations of
all land users in relation to their neighbours and to other members of the
community, in relation to the flora, fauna, and ecology of their lands, and as
trustees of these lands for future generations. The covenant might
subsequently be adopted by Governments as a policy document and might
eventually become an attachment to land title deeds and tenancy agreements.
Proposal 8. Resources should be identified to support the activities of
a working group which should draw up a detailed programme by the middle of
1995 for the achievement of the objectives of chapter 10, for adoption by
countries at their discretion, and should propose arrangements to monitor and
facilitate implementation.
Notes
1/ Report of the World Conference to Review and Appraise the
Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development
and Peace, Nairobi, 15-26 July 1985 (United Nations publication, Sales No.
E.85.IV.10), chap. I, sect. A.
2/ See R. O. Oldeman, R. Hakkeling, and W. G. Sombroek, World Map of
the Status of Human-induced Soil Degradation (Nairobi, UNEP, 1990). Funded by
UNEP and implemented by the International Soil Reference and Information
Centre.
3/ Rome, FAO, 1993.
4/ A. F. McCalla, "Agriculture and food needs to 2025: Why we should
be concerned", Sir John Crawford Memorial Lecture presented to the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, Washington, D.C.,
October 1994.
5/ Rome, 1994
6/ Rome, 1992.
7/ "Settlement and development in the river blindness control zone",
World Bank Technical Paper No. 192 (Washington, D.C.).
8/ "Development and the environment" in World Development Report, 1992
(Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1992).
9/ L. Fresco and others, eds. The Future of the Land: Mobilizing and
Integrating Knowledge for Land Use Options (Chichester, John Wiley, 1994).
10/ See also E/CN.16/1995/4.
11/ "Agro-ecological zones project". World Soil Resources Report No. 48
(Rome, FAO, 1979).
12/ "Framework for land evaluation", Soils Bulletin, No. 32 (1976).
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