Getting a Clearer Picture: Civil Society Reports on Progress Towards SDG Target 1.4 in Seven Asian Countries, 2020

Target 1.4 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seeks to ensure that “all men and women, particularly the poor and vulnerable, have equal rights … to ownership and control over land and other forms of property.”

This target’s inclusion under SDG Goal 1, on “ending poverty in all its forms,” signifies a new global recognition that secure land tenure should be a central strategy in combating poverty. However, this land agenda has not been prominent in recent SDG reporting processes of governments.

This publication was therefore prepared by civil society organizations (CSOs) working on land rights in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, and the Philippines, to identify potential gaps in reporting on land under the SDGs. It gauges the progress made by governments towards addressing land rights under SDG 1.4, not only through the lens of official data and global indicators, but also through studies and feedback from CSOs and rural communities.