Postcard from Vanuatu (post Cyclone Pam)

On 13 March 2015, Vanuatu was hit by severe Cyclone Pam. The Category 5 storm caused considerable damage to infrastructure and livelihoods across the island group – particularly the southern islands. Despite the wide-spread destruction and some delays during the initial clean-up (to clear roads and reinstate services, such as power and telecommunications), the Vanuatu Land Program was able to continue on with its planned activities of:

Generating government revenue
Post cyclone, the collection of revenue will be essential to assist rebuilding activities. In Luganville, Santo, a team of staff (supported by international technical assistance) have completed the creation of a valuation zone map and valuation roll that will enable the Department of Lands to set meaningful land rents, and the Municipality to revise council rates for the Luganville area.

Securing important records
Many of the Department of Lands paper-based records were damaged by water (caused by rain, rather than flooding) entering premises through cyclone-damaged roofs. Fortunately, the recently completed land program scanning project had digitised all of the land registry lease registers and parcel files, including these damaged documents. This experience illustrates how important it is to secure such information via scanning, particularly in countries which are vulnerable to adverse weather events and other natural disasters.

The scanned images will soon be available to all Department of Lands staff and to clients who come into the department to conduct title searches through a title information system. The system, developed in collaboration with local software developers Vanuasoft, is currently undergoing user acceptance testing.

Land reform
In 2014, the Government of Vanuatu introduced innovative new land laws. The Vanuatu Land Program has been supporting the implementation of the laws which are designed to place decision making in respect of land matters back with customary land owners. To ensure that customary land owners understand the new laws, the Vanuatu Land Program has been working with the Customary Land Management Office and the Department of Lands to provide community outreach and awareness about the new laws. Training has also been provided to key members of the community, including chiefs and nominated adjudicators and secretaries, on the implementation and operation of the new laws.

For more information on the Vanuatu Land program, see: http://www.landequity.com.au/projects/mama-graon-vanuatu-land-program/