MONITORING LAND RIGHTSInternational Land Coalition

Fernando EgurenCEPES

December, 2008

Land Righs and Poverty

Securing land rights of rural poor helps in reducing poverty and in strengthening social and cultural cohesion.

Land rights are related to historical backgrounds.

There are also related to economic, political and social contexts.

Land rights are formalized, either by law or by tradition.

Globlal issues and Rural Territories

Climatic change

Food security

Rural poverty

Rural territories

and peasants

GMOs

Natural resource

s Energy - Agrofuel

s

Decentra-lization

Peru: background -1-

Before 1970: Latifundia and minifundia. Modern (coast) and semi-feudal social relations (highlands) coexisted. Strong modernizing peasant movements contested status quo. Massive rural – urban migration.

1970 – 1975: Radical land reform. All big landholdings were expropriated and replaced by production cooperatives. Peasant communities received land. Land markets virtually suppressed.

Peru: background -2-

1980 – 1990: Cooperatives broke down and gave place to family-size farms. Small holdings became dominant. Legislation gradually softened.

1990 – 2000: Brusque radicalization of neo-liberalism. Land property legislation opened land markets without limits. Medium and big size investments in modern export agriculture. Concentration of land control through different paths.

Peru: background -3-

2000 – 2008: Consolidation of concentration of land property. Impact of globalization trends. Free Trade Agreements (USA, China…). New set of laws weakens peasants rights to land.

Concentration of new irrigated land

Chavimochic (1994-2006)OWNERS

HECTARES

CAMPOSOL S.A 5,865COMPAÑÍA MINERA SAN SIMON S.A 4,166

EMPRESA AGROINDUSTRIAL LAREDO 3,726

REGO CORPORATION 3,542EL ROCIO S.A 2,356DANPER TRUJILLO S.A 1,640GREEN PERU S.A 1,320SOCIEDAD AGRICOLA VIRU S.A 1,281MORAVA S.A.C 1,113

UGAS DE LA TORRE UGARTE MANUEL 1,087

CEFER AGRICOLA CHAVIMOCHIC 1,004

Agrofuels (real and projected)

Region Hectares

Coast 140,145

AndeanSierra 110,000

Amazonian

basin 1,307,000

Total 1,557,145

Firms: Coazucar, Maple Ethanol, Romero Group, Heaven Petroleum, Inversiones Agroindustriales, Agroindustrial Tumán, Agroindustrial Pucalá, Pure Biofuels, Diversified Investment Funds

“Sierra Exportadora” Programme in Junín and La Libertad

Firms: Palmas del Espino, Palmas del Shanusi, Agroexportadora Shanusi, Pure Biofuels, Samoa Fiber, Kausar Corp.

Peru: Concentration of land property

Land markets Transference of workers-owned huge

sugar cooperatives to private investors New arable land (irrigation schemes) Land concessions for extractive industries

(mining, oil and gas, timber) Agrofuel Tourism

Formalization of land rights

WB, IDB and other entities impulse land rights formalization since 1990’s

PETT in Peru; INRA in Bolivia; INDA in Ecuador; CONTIERRA in Colombia; PROCEDE in Mexico.

In Peru: 1’8 million ‘estates’ and 5’7 million ‘allotments’ (1994 census), but only 300 thousand registered.

Official policy: individual titling of communal land.

Purpose

The final purpose of this proposal is to contribute to the amelioration of the conditions of access to the land

by rural poor, and the respect of their land rights. This includes

influencing for better national and international policies.

Objetive

The general objective is to propose a monitoring system of the access of rural poor to land, and the security of their land rights.

This implies the definition of indicators, an institutional arrangement and a working methodology.

Specific objectives -1-

The indicators should aim to influence public policies concerning ownership of natural resources.

They could be used to campaign for registration of land rights, or to favor land reforms; or promoting transparent land markets, to manage conflicts, etc.

Specific objectives -2-

The indicators should be oriented to protect peasant and native’s rights to land, and to increase their capacity to defend them.

Different level indicators (IASCP workshop”. Bali)

Community level. They are useful for and usable by the members of the peasant community.

National level. They describe how security of land rights changes through time at a country level.

Global level. They are useful for comparative purposes, and to reinforce the analysis of relations between global trends and security of land rights. Useful also for regional / international campaigns.

Target Groups

Small landholders and their families

Holdings size: 10 irrigated hectares or less (or equivalent). In coastal region, but also Andean valleys and Amazonian watershed.

Peasants and their families

In the Andean highlands and ‘upper’ jungle. Multiple activities besides agriculture.

Peasant communities

As before, but members of peasant communities.

Native communities

Extended families in ethnic groups in the Amazon watershed. They control territories.

Threats to secure land rights

Extractive industries Land markets / imperfect markets Inappropriate / unjust legislation Compulsive land seizures Mega schemes (irrigation schemes…) Non registered / titled land rights Boundary conflicts Power abuse Lack of monitoring institutions Internal migrations / colonization

Indicators

Normative Institutional Census (land distribution) Subjetive (perceptions of

un/security) Ad hoc indicators

Normative Indicators

Normative instruments

a. Binding international agreements

Instruments on–line

Indicators Analysis documents

b. Non-binding international statements /declarations

Instruments on–line

Indicators Analysis documents

c. National Constitution

Instruments on–line

Indicators Analysis documents

d. National legislation

Instruments on–line

Indicators Analysis documents

Process -1-

1. Preparation of basic drafts (if necessary)

2. Selection and ordering of instruments (international agreements, Constitution, national legislation)

3. Legal instruments on-line4. Defining indicators5. Defining the web site (in

coordination with ILC at regional / global levels)

6. Consultation with members and associates

Process -2-

7. Putting the web page on line8. Widening the process regionally9. Two yearly reports (“Law in Action”) 10. Campaigns

Defining common guidelines for comparison

Selection of the issue to be analysed

11. Widening the process beyond the LA region

THE END

TOWARDS A HARMONISED SET OF LAND INDICATORS -1-

Preliminary Action Plan. Julian Quan, Natural Resources Institute, University of

Greenwich, UK.

Tenure security indicators Are formally registered property rights available

to all without discrimination? (USAID / IARPR) Does the most commonly available form of

tenure guarantee [a minimum standard of] secure rights?

Accessibility of land of administration system to all users

Are there clear and equitable arrangements for secure tenure and negotiating access rights for CPRs ? (IFAD)

Incidence of evictions without due legal process / compensation (UN Habitat)

TOWARDS A HARMONISED SET OF LAND INDICATORS -2-

Indicators for access to land Are there specific programmes to remedy

problems of landlessness and inequitable land access for poor and vulnerable groups (IFAD)

Costs, time and steps to register property (WB DBS; USAID / IARPR)

TOWARDS A HARMONISED SET OF LAND INDICATORS -3-

Indicators of effective land markets Do the most commonly held forms of

tenure guarantee rights to transfer land (by sale / lease / to heirs / by gift / grant / mortgage) ?

Are there policy restrictions on rental or sales markets?

Are formal rental and sales markets accessible to the poor? (IFAD)

Sembríos de piña - Pichanaqui

El altiplano puneño

Arrozal en costa norte