Nov11 SDG Land Indicator

In November 2015 the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development – Working Group on Land, issued the following policy brief in support of the Land Indicators that have been included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There are an important set of indicators that we all need to strive towards meeting in our commitments, actions and collaborative efforts.

“The Global Donor Working Group on Land (GDWGL), a network of 23 bi- and multilateral donors and international organisations committed to improve land governance worldwide, praises the work and achievements to date by the Interagency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs).

At the same time, with a global portfolio of investments in land governance reaching USD 8.2 billion in 131 countries, the Donor Working Group on Land is highly concerned with the result of the second meeting of the IAEG-SDGs in October, in Bangkok, where the land indicator (1.4.2) under target 1.4 was recommended for deletion.

The GDWGL acknowledges that the generally approved land rights indicator under Goal 5 Indicator 5.a.1 is very is very related for women’s land rights. However, given the universal nature of tenure rights and large equality gaps also in this area, women will be better served if the land rights indicator remains under Goal 1. The appropriate indicator, under target 1.4, also supported by the Global Land Indicators Initiative (GLII), Landesa and many other partners, would read: “Percentage of people with secure tenure rights to land (out of total adult population), with legally recognized documentation and who perceive their rights to land as secure, by sex and by type of tenure”

In the last three years, the GDWGL has focused its efforts to ensure that the globally endorsed Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) are implemented and monitored at the national level, as much as well represented at the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Without secure tenure rights to land, poor populations will not have access to the very basic resources that would allow them to develop and sustain their livelihoods. That is one key transformation that the 2030 Development Agenda needs to achieve. Without secure land tenure, families and communities are vulnerable to expropriations and face in numerous challenges to access financial resources, markets and other services. This is particularly important in the changing rural landscape in most developing countries, which face increasing demand for land for competing uses, such as for biofuels, large-scale food production and as a safeguard against climate change.”

Visit https://www.donorplatform.org/land-governance/global-donor-working-group-on-land for more information.’ or Policy-Brief-GDWGL-Nov2015.pdf .