The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information.
FIG is the premier international organization representing the interests of surveyors worldwide. It is a federation of the national member associations and covers the whole range of professional fields within the global surveying community. It provides an international forum for discussion and development aiming to promote professional practice and standards.
The vision of the Land Portal Foundation is to improve land governance to benefit those with the most insecure land rights and the greatest vulnerability to landlessness through information and knowledge sharing.
Land consolidation is a well-proven land management instrument, which has traditionally been used for agricultural development with a main objective of reducing land fragmentation and increasing holding and farm sizes. Some European countries have a land consolidation tradition that goes back a hundred years or more. It is also widespread in particular in countries in Asia but also in Africa.
In the last decades, countries in Western Europe have developed land consolidation into a multi-purpose instrument with a broader objective. Multi-purpose land consolidation can facilitate the implementation of projects related to nature restoration, climate change adaptation and mitigation and large-scale infrastructure projects where land consolidation provides an opportunity to compensate landowners and farmers in land instead of monetary compensation.
After the political changes in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) around 1990, land reforms were in most of these countries high on the political agenda. Many CEE countries have today farm structures characterized by excessive land fragmentation and small average farm sizes. These structural problems are often hindering development of smallholder farms into commercial family farms. From the mid-1990s and onwards, many CEE countries have introduced land consolidation mainly as an instrument to address the structural problems. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has so far supported the process in 11 countries in the region.
Objective
This webinar replaces two sessions on land consolidation initially planned for the FIG Working Week 2020 in Amsterdam (May 2020). As many others, this meeting was cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation.
The webinar will serve to support the application and implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) and achieving SDG targets such as 1.4, 2.3 and 5.a. The objective of this discussion is to promote good land consolidation practices and the practical application of the FAO Legal Guide with the examples from a range of European countries.
In this webinar, FAO introduce the new Legal Guide on Land Consolidation, prepared based on the outcomes of a study of good practices for land consolidation legislation in Europe. The Legal Guide has been prepared by FAO in close cooperation with technical networks such as LANDNET, FIG and UNECE WPLA. The Legal Guide weaves together legislative and technical guidance to make the process accessible to countries where land consolidation is initiated. It will be useful to a broad range of stakeholders: legislatures, legal drafters and land consolidation professionals, public and private entities and persons involved in the land consolidation process.
Facilitator
Morten Hartvigsen
FAO REU Land Tenure Officer and Regional Initiative Delivery Manager
Speakers
Margret Vidar
FAO Legal Officer
Marije Louwsma
Chair
FIG Commission 8
Raimund Jehle
Regional Programme
Leader for Europe
and Central Asia
FAO REU
Frank van Holst
Programme Manager
Territorial
Development
Netherlands
Enterprise Agency
Kristina Mitic Arsova
FAO Team Leader
North Macedonia
Tomas Versinkas
FAO International
Legal Consultant
What experts say about Land Consolidation
What is the potential of land consolidation in your country?
What advice would you give to colleagues introducing land consolidation?
This presentation was given at the Webinar "Land Consolidation Legislation: FAO Legal Guide and Its Application at the Country Level" on 18 June 2020. It sets the scene on the need for land consolidation by explaining the problem it addresses, namely, land fragmentation. The presentation also explores whether land markets can solve the issue of land fragmentation, and can be achieved with land consolidation and who are the beneficiaries.
This presentation was given at the Webinar "Land Consolidation Legislation: FAO Legal Guide and Its Application at the Country Level" on 18 June 2020. It explores the content of the new FAO Legal Guide on Land Consolidation, as well as the context that led to the development of this guide.
The increasing number of salmon in the Skjern River in Denmark is a positive sign, as the Danish salmon is the only strain of wild salmon left in Danish rivers. Before the Skjern River Nature Restoration Project, the salmon had almost gone extinct owing to the state of the environment. The project area now offers ideal conditions for flora and fauna and has already acquired great natural value. In fact, it has already grown into a bird site of national importance.
I was assigned to lead the preparation of the assessments and amendments to the land consolidation legislation in 2016. That appeared to be a burdensome task. The first two land consolidation projects in North Macedonia were initiated according to the existing Land Consolidation Law and the implementation was blocked. The Law simply had no legal solutions for the identified field situations. The problems were many and each was ascending the other in its magnitude and sensitivity.
It happened on the 29th of January 2020 in Bitola in North Macedonia. More than 200 landowners from Egri village gathered in Bitola’s theatre, taking turns to vote on the Land Consolidation Plan. The serious faces of men and women, old and young, were a sign that they may have been as nervous as we were ourselves. The voting on the first majority based land consolidation ever in the country was coming to an end. And then the result was there….. 83% in favour of land consolidation! The villagers were cheering. Our team was overwhelmed by emotion.
Since 2002, the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia has been organising annual workshops to discuss instruments like land consolidation, land banking and land market development. This has created a European wide network of professionals from different countries and different organisations under FAO guidance.
Due to the current COVID-19 situation, FIG Working Week 2020 has been cancelled. However, the programme, all abstracts and both peer review and regular papers have been published in the FIG 2020 Working Week website. There might be some online webinars/meetings, which will be informed in the event website.