Moving forward with formalizing land tenurein Lao PDR

1. Page 1
Moving forward
with formalizing land tenure
in Lao PDR
15-Jun-16
By: Viladeth Sisoulath and Julian Derbidge, GIZ-LMDP, Lao PDR
Regional Land Forum
21-23 June 2016
Hanoi, Vietnam
Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR

2. Page 2
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
15-Jun-16
1. Land Issues in Lao PDR
2. Approaches to address land issues and GIZ
strategy
3. Concept of Systematic Land Registration
Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR

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Land Issues in rural areas of the Lao PDR
15-Jun-16 Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR
• Large scale land acquisition
• Low formal tenure security
• Limited recognition of customary land tenure
• Unclear legal framework
• Government prioritizes urban and peri-urban areas
• Lack of awareness of land rights
• Limited access to and affordibility of registration and
land titles

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Urban Rural
Tenure
insecurity
Government priority
In land titling
Area of
Communal
Lands
15-Jun-16 Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR

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Laos: 24 million ha
Official
estimate of
“land plots
Land used by smallholders
?
?
nationwide”: 5 m
ha & 2.6 m plots
Titled
land:
~800,000
plots
15-Jun-16 Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR

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Banana plantation in Northern Laos
Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR

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Approaches to address land tenure issues
15-Jun-16 Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR
• Participatory land use planning (PLUP)
• Systematic and inclusive land registration and titling
• Communal land registration and titling
• Recognition of customary land tenure
• Strengthening of community management rights
• Legal awareness raising and education

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Strategy by GIZ LMDP Laos
15-Jun-16
• Support the National Land Policy development through the Land
Sub-Sector Working Group (“Round Table” process), the Land
Issues Working Group.
• Provide policy recommendations following the VGGT and from
practical implementation of systematic land registration, communal
land registration and quality investment promotion
• Development of a Concept for Systematic Land Registration
• Implementation support to
• Participatory Land Use Planning
• Systematic Land Registration and Titling
Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR

9. Page 9Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR15-Jun-16

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Concept of Systematic Land Registration
15-Jun-16 Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR
• Systematic and inclusive: Registration of all lands, including Individual, Company,
Communal, Collective and State Lands
• Follows the current legal framework and include future recommendations
• Makes best use of existing resources available at sub-national level
• Incorporates appropriate numbers of external contracted staff or volunteers to
support sub-national offices in the technical work
• Provides clear working steps with administrative responsibilities and good work
organization
• Makes use of the most appropriate and tested modern technologies for surveying
and data management
• Provides for a clear target group orientation
• Follows the principles of cost-efficiency
• Provides for a countrywide applicability in view of existing mandates,
responsibilities and management capacities.

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Concept of Systematic Land Registration (cont.)
15-Jun-16 Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR
• The concept includes several packages:
• Capacity development
• Awareness raising
• Modern survey technology and cadastral database
application
• Standard workflows
• Cost-efficient approach with perspective of
sustainable funding mechanism for nationwide
application

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Concept of Systematic Land Registration (cont.)
15-Jun-16 Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR
• Capacity Development:
• Setup and training of master trainers, backstoppers and
database administration at national and provincial levels
• Training of district field teams on (i) adjudication and work
processes; (ii) use of modern surveying technology, software
and database application; (iii) communication skills
• Training of village authorities and district Lao Women’s Union
• Lessons learnt workshops and exchanges of experiences
among teams implementing in different locations
• Engaging academies for long term capacity development

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Concept of Systematic Land Registration (cont.)
15-Jun-16 Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR
• Awareness raising:
• Training on communication skills for the district land office
and the local Lao Women’s Union
• Awareness raising session before the systematic land
registration takes place in the village.
• Separate women’s meeting which is facilitated by the local
Lao Women’s Union
• Other awareness raising tools such as: Community Legal
Education (CLE) and educational video spots

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Technology Package
Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR15-Jun-16

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Lao LandReg Window
15-Jun-16 Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR

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Work Organisation,
Workflow and Responsibilities of SLR Teams
Phase 1: Preparation of the field work, inc. training, equipment, workplan, budget
Phase 2: Communication for systematic land registration and titling (CSLT): preparation of
CSLT toolbox, materials; village meeting; women’s meeting; sub-CSLT
Phase 3: Implementation of surveying and adjudication activities
Phase 4: Data entry in cadastral database
Phase 5: Conclusion of land use rights
Phase 6: Public display
Phase 7: Verification and issuing of land titles
Phase 8: Monitoring and quality control
Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR15-Jun-16

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Sustainable Funding Mechanism for
Countrywide Roll-Out of Systematic Land Registration
Source of Revenue Estimated Amount
in billion LAK/year
Remarks
Land Survey Fees (100% for
MoNRE) and Land Title Fees
(currently 100% to national budget;
should be returned entirely to
MoNRE)
2.6
10% of annual Land Tax 8.5 As much as possible, land tax
should in future be collected
through direct tax invoicing system
based on Lao LandReg data
10% of subsequent land registration
fees (1% registration fee) + 5%
income tax on transfers (for Min. of
Finance)
3.5
TOTAL 14.6 This amount would be sufficient
to fund the SLR activities and
would grow in line with the
expansion.
Revenue available for land registration under the sustainable funding system
Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR15-Jun-16

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Outputs through GIZ Support
GIZ program Timeframe Land plots
registered
Land titles
issued
LMRED+
NUIRDP
2011-2014 9,327 6,235
LMDP 2015-2016 6,013 3,310
Total 15,340 9,445
15-Jun-16 Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR

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Land Titles: (from left to right)
(i) Private land; (ii) Collective land; (iii) State land
Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR

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Some milestones for the future
15-Jun-16
1. Official adoption of Concept of Systematic Land Registration
2. Adoption of the National Land Policy (possibly end of 2016)
• Clear recognition of customary land rights
• Clear definition of communal lands
3. Systematic capacity development of technical staff
4. Roll-out of Lao LandREG in all provinces
5. Roll out of the SLR concept in all (rural) provinces

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Thank you for your attention!
Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR

22. Page 226/15/2016
As a federal enterprise, GIZ supports the German
Government in achieving its objectives in the field
of international cooperation for sustainable
development.
Published by
Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Registered offices, Bonn and Eschborn, Germany
“Land Management and Decentralized Planning”
(LMDP)
c/o Lao-German House, Watnak Nyai Rd., House
247, Unit 19 Thaphalanxay Village, Sisattanak
District, Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR
T: +856 21 313716
E: Dietmar.Herbon@giz.de
I www.giz.de/laos; LMDP
Responsible
Dr. Dietmar Herbon
Author(s)
Viladeth Sisoulath, Julian Derbidge
Photo credits
© GettyImages, GIZ
Layout
© GIZ
Moving forward with formalizing land tenure in Lao PDR