Secure land tenure in the South Pacific Region : developing the toolkit
Boydell, Spike
After introducing the spiritual, social, environmental, and economic context of land in the South Pacific Region (where 83-100% of land is vested in the customary owners), this paper investigates the challenges of implementing land reform for secure access in the region. The Pacific Umbrella Initiative (Boydell and McIntyre 2004) was taken to the World Summit on Sustainable Development the enabling initiative provided for an evolution (and further research investigation) of land tenure conflict transformation work initially developed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. The catalyst was the 2002 FAO/USP/RICS Foundation South Pacific Land Tenure Conflict Symposium which provided a benchmark for further development. Subsequent themes investigated include gender, tourism on native land, natural resources (forestry), trusteeship, absenteeism, urbanization, property rights, valuation and the wider development of property theory in the region. The process of developing a relevant regional toolkit stems from the need to deconstruct the nature of social, environmental and especially economic based conflicts which impact on land. A range of participatory approaches are adopted to support a sustainable livelihoods approach which also allow for an investigation of the five components of capital (Human Capital, Natural Capital, Social Capital, Physical Capital and Financial Capital) (DFID 2005). Over the last seven and a half years, the Department of Land Management at the University of the South Pacific has been actively involved in developing, testing and applying a range of methodologies, which are introduced in anticipation of further discussion at the Expert Group Meeting on Secure Land Tenure.
Event: FIG Expert Group Meeting on Secure Land Tenure : New Legal Frameworks and Tools
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