The webinar Land Rights for Slum Dwellers in the East Indian State Odisha: Making technology work for the urban poor took place on 14 February, 2018. 

The webinar discussed anecdotes of the land rights policy in the state, application of innovative technology, processes and partnerships in the project execution and best practices followed in gaining rights for slum dwellers. 

This report provides a brief summary of the webinar dialogue and the main points that emerged.

O acampamento de “Sem Terra” ( Assentameno Alegre), do Pov. Alto Bonito, município de Riachão, Maranhão – Brasil, foi criado em 08 de junho de 2003 por trabalhadores rurais sem terra com o objetivo de conquistar uma área para o sustento. Após alguns meses decidiram acampar as margens da Rodovia Federal - BR 230, entre os povoados Alto Bonito e o Povoado Posto Fiscal.

There has been rapid growth in urban populations in Namibia (Pendleton et al, 2014). This growth is amongst predominantly amongst less educated, poorer migrants from rural areas in search of opportunities in urban areas. From the data available the estimated shortfall of either titled land or houses appears to be above 150 000 and increasing at about 11 000 per year (Weber, 2017). This trend of urbanisation is occurring not only in Namibia but across the world, particularly now in developing countries.

Ancestral land refers to ‘land of ancestors’. That is the land occupied by ones’ forebearers for generations and left something behind of value for current and future generations. There are usually contestations as to which ancestors the land

belongs because of the history of internal migration and of displacements by stronger nations (tribes).

Namibia is moving towards an urbanised country. This is illustrated by the fact that at independence Namibia was only 28% urbanized by 2011 urbanization has already grown to 42% and current projections are that by 2020 urbanization would by 66% and more than 70% by 2030. As the urban population is growing the need for serviced land and housing is also growing. As Namibia has failed to respond through appropriate strategies to facilitate this change in the human geography of the country it resulted in the growth of poorly serviced informal settlements.

Namibia is compelled to observe and to undertake efforts to realise the right to adequate housing, since it has ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1994.

A functioning land administration sector is the foundation for economic growth. Unfortunately, effective land registry and cadastral systems with national coverage exist in only a fraction of the world’s countries. Cadasta Foundation is working to overcome this challenge by developing simple digital tools and technology to help partners efficiently document, analyze, store, and share critical land and resource rights information.

In the early 1990s to date, the private sector has continued to gain momentum in urban planning and service delivery. Among others, the penetration of neo-liberal ideology in policies and legislations empowered the engagement of private sector in urban planning domain. Subsequently many private firms have dominated the process of the preparation of details schemes including regularization of informal settlements in different cities, municipalities and towns in Tanzania.

A Serrinha, trata-se de uma área de terra da União Federal, grilada e denominada Fazenda Serrinha, na Gleba Garimpo. A área foi ocupada em 15 de maio de 2012, por 34 famílias sem-terra da região de Araguaína/TO e Barra do Ouro/TO. A Serrinha está situada na Gleba Serrinha, no município de Barra do Ouro, distante 12 km do centro urbano e aproximadamente há 130 km de Araguaína.

The LANDac Conference 2018 looked at land governance through the lens of mobility. Land acquisitions trigger migration and yield other types of mobility such as capital, goods and ideas. Ensuing land claims raise new questions for land governance. So far, the discussion has focused on respecting land rights, informing local residents and offering fair compensation. The conference explored the question: Given the variety of mobility, what are good ways forward in land governance?

This case study in the World Resources Report, “Towards a More Equal City,” examines transformative urban change in Ahmedabad, India, by analyzing the land pooling and readjustment mechanism called Town Planning Scheme (TPS). This paper reviews the evidence on whether the TPS mechanism has enabled transformative change with equitable outcomes in Ahmedabad City—and if so, how.

The Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Goal11, one of the 17 SDGs, is about all of these dimensions, with a specific focus on urban areas and settings. This synthesis report is the first publication showing the progress, challenges and opportunities of global monitoring of this Sustainable Development Goal.