Meeting symbol/code: LARC 00 INF.10

Meeting symbol/code: CSC(94)AGR-21

This paper looks at Valuation as an important component of land administration that has outgrown the land sector gradually becoming an independent professional discipline much to the chagrin of its hosts – the land administration. Valuation as a profession originated in the actual sale transactions in medieval Europe where buyers relied on experienced interventionists in the land/real estate market to advise on the size and buying price of real properties. Its eventual introduction to university curriculum has been diverse amongst different regions and at varying momentum.

Property tax is an invaluable source of revenue that is harnessed to finance municipal services in many urban areas all over the world. In most tax jurisdictions, property tax is a levy that is based on the market value of the property, hence often there is a need to carry out regular property valuations with a view to updating the tax base of a rateable area. In Tanzania, rating valuation has traditionally been carried out using the single parcel valuation approach.

— International Valuation Standards and best practice advocates consistency, objectivity, independence and transparency as critical in ensuring credible valuations and in building public trust and confidence in valuation. However, literature observes that valuers face a myriad of challenges in observing these principles, key among them being the external influence they face.

The shifting of national capitals from old cities to new sites was fashionable from the 1956 to 1990s. While in the past this move was politically motivated, in the later decades this shift has been motivated by economic and innovation attributes to establish centres for building states and national identity. Tanzania declared its intention of shifting the national capital from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma in 1973. This declaration and the recent establishment of large institutions in Dodoma fuelled its expansion from a small town of about 45,000 people in 1973 to 410,956 people in 2012.

In various countries around the world, land expropriation is considered as a major tool used by governments to assemble tracts of land for various activities aiming at public interest. However, determination of compensation which is regarded as a pre-requisite for land expropriation has been a source of controversy in this process. This paper attempts to find out how land valuation for compensation during expropriation is carried out in Rwanda, considering two expropriation projects in Kigali city.

The challenges associated with determining fair compensation for expropriated land have been extensively discussed and debated among scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and the public. However, to date, a comprehensive study of national-level compensation procedures established by law considering whether such procedures meet internationally recognized standards on compensation valuation has not been conducted.

The challenges associated with determining fair compensation for expropriated land have been extensively discussed and debated among scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and the public. However, to date, a comprehensive study of national-level compensation procedures established by law considering whether such procedures meet internationally recognized standards on compensation valuation has not been conducted. This article aims to bridge this gap by serving as a reference point and informing “fair compensation” debates among scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.

Section 404 of the U.S. Clean Water Act includes most wetlands in its jurisdiction and requires wetland mitigation to compensate for permitted wetland losses. These mitigation wetlands can provide ecosystem services similar to original wetlands if properly constructed. Improvement of wetland monitoring requirements coupled with economic assessment is critical for effective implementation of the mitigation policy. The economic assessment when left out of evaluation of mitigation policy could result in mitigation wetlands being given too little weight in policy decisions.

The rapid economic growth in Lao PDR over the last two decades has been driven by the natural resource sectors and commercialization in the agriculture sector. Rural landscapes are being transformed over the past decade from land use mosaics of subsistence and smallholder farms to large-scale plantations dominated by a few commercial crops.

Land acquisitions, either driven by foreign investments or domestic investment needs have continued to polarize opinions. When this research was proposed, it was premised on arguments by scholars Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Helen Markelova, who had analysed agricultural land deals, and argued that there were potentially two schools of thought about foreign acquisitions over agricultural land.