Addis Ababa, 22 April 2016 – African Governments’ reinforced commitment, and solid support from partners are needed to properly address the land governance challenges that the continent continues to face. Of critical importance, in view of implementing Agenda 2030, is for countries to improve land governance and make concrete progress towards strengthening the land rights of women in Africa.
These are salient points conveyed by participants at the High Level Policy Dialogue on land governance in Africa, an event organized by the Land Policy Initiative (LPI) during the High Level Forum on United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management, held under the theme “Good land governance for the 2030 Agenda”. The Ministerial dialogue organized by LPI was attended by Ministers from Ethiopia, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, as well as a Minister from Germany.
The Ministerial dialogue session was preceded by a keynote presentation made by Ms. Joan Kagwanja, Chief of LPI, which provided a background to the session. Ms. Kagwanja noted that, despite the difficult context created by the colonial legacy challenges, cultural practices, and poor governance, the recognition by African leadership of the importance of land to the development agenda was a crucial step towards a unified approach to addressing land governance issues. Ms. Kagwanja highlighted the importance of improving women’s land rights, in view of the African Union (AU) commitment to have 30 per cent of land owned by women documented, by 2025.
The session provided a forum for Ministers to share their countries’ experiences in creating a legal framework to tackle priority land issues, and in strengthening the land rights of women as requested by the AU Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa. The Commissioner of Ethiopian National Planning Commission, Mr. Yinager Dessie Belay, stressed that, from 1991, the country adopted a transparent land administration system allowing all land users to have titles. He stressed that the political will and commitment are most important ingredients of the successful certification process, a new exercise advanced technology and know-how. The first level land certification in Ethiopia is completed at about 90 per cent, and continues with the second level that requires a major cadastral effort, and would be finalized in a few years.
The Namibian Minister of Land Reform, Hon. Utoni Nujoma, noted that the equitable redistribution of land, and the proper registration and development of under-utilized land are key land issues in his country. He also highlighted that the national land laws guarantee women their land rights, irrespectively of their marital status, and favor women over men in the resettling process in Namibia. As such, Mr. Nujoma said, the country had exceeded the 30 per cent target set by the AU with regard to the documented land owned by women.
The Minister of Natural Resources and Energy from Swaziland, Hon. Dumisani Mngomezulu, noted that the unplanned utilization of land, compounded by the consequences of high population growth rates, is his country’s most complex challenge, currently being addressed by the draft land bill.
In Zimbabwe, about 60 million hectares of land are still under customary tenure, thus not documented. The country’s Minister of Lands, Hon. Douglas T. Mombeshora, said that the massive task of introducing the new tenure systems is guided by the existing legislation. The Constitution, he emphasized, allowed for the fair and equal distribution of land between men and women, and currently the Zimbabwean Government follows through its commitment to allow women to access land independently of their male counterparts.
The Parliamentary State Secretary to the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mr. Thomas Silberhorn, reiterated his country’s commitment to support the consensus reflected by the AU Declaration on Land, as a recognition of land governance being a development cooperation priority. Mr. Silberhorn highlighted the importance of sharing land reforms experiences and best practices, but said that each country should define its best-suited processes.
The Land Policy Initiative is a joint programme of the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Its mandate is to facilitate the implementation of the AU Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa.