Land policy aims to achieve certain objectives relating to the security and distribution of land rights, land use and land management, and access to land, including the forms of tenure under which it is held. A land-use policy is essentially an expression of the government's perception of the direction to be taken on major issues related to land use and the proposed allocation of the national land resources over a fixed period of time. It has a production and a conservation component. A sound national land-use policy is effectively part of the enabling environment and should cover all uses of land. To achieve the policy objective of sustainable production and conservation of natural resources, governments should pursue strategies which actively promote forms of land use which are both attractive to the people and sustainable in terms of their impacts on land resources. By developing the national land-use policies through a participatory, integrated and iterative process, there is a much greater likelihood of achieving this.
In 1992, Agenda 21 recognized the need for integrated planning and management of land resources, stating that it should be a decision making process that "facilitates the allocation of land to the uses that provide the greatest sustainable benefits" (Agenda 21, paragraph 10.5). Land use planning is even more crucial today, with growing pressures from climate change, urbanization and biofuels. Much high potential land is being lost to settlements; land which previously grew food crops is being planted with feedstocks for biofuels rather than food; climate change is limiting arable cropping in drylands, reducing productivity of rangelands and increasing sea levels, creating problems in coastal areas.
In 1997, the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD), in a special session convened to assess progress towards sustainable development (Earth Summit + 5), reiterated the needs and recommended that, at the international level, priority should go to developing and disseminating a new approach to land resources conservation and development. It specified that this approach should create social, economic and legal conditions that encourage sustainable development, meet the information needs of governments and land users, and involve all relevant institutions. This is in accordance with FAO's responsibility as Task Manager for Chapter 10 of Agenda 21, which resulted from UNCED. During the recent sessions of CSD, a major attention was placed on Agricultural land, CSD-16 (2008) which focused on technical review and CSD -17 (2009) which focused on policy implications.
Every year 19.5 million hectares of agricultural land is converted to spreading urban centres and industrial developments, often forcing farmers onto shrinking and more marginal lands. The uncontrolled expansion of human settlements constitutes a challenge for sustainable land planning and management. Particularly the concentration of people and cities in coastal areas increases the demand for limited land resources. Coastal areas are among the most crowded regions in the world. Demands on land resources and the risks to sustainability are likely to intensify.
Population growth, economic development and urbanization are driving demands for food, water, energy and raw materials; the continued shift in human diet from cereal to animal products, requiring a higher input in land and water resources, and the recent move towards biofuels add to the demand for farm production, all of this with implications for land uses.
As for any form of agriculture, expanded biofuel production may threaten land and water resources as well as biodiversity, and appropriate policy measures are required to minimize possible negative effects. The impacts will vary across feedstocks and locations and will depend on cultivation practices and whether new land is converted for production of biofuel feedstocks or other crops are displaced by biofuels. Expanded demand for agricultural commodities will exacerbate pressures on the natural resource base, especially if the demand is met through area expansion. On the other hand, the use of perennial feedstocks on marginal or degraded lands may offer promise for sustainable biofuel production, but the economic viability of such options may be a constraint at least in the short run.
Land-use (or Land Resources) Planning
Land-use (or Land Resources) Planning is a systematic and iterative procedure carried out in order to create an enabling environment for sustainable development of land resources which meets people’s needs and demands. It assesses the physical, socio-economic, institutional and legal potentials and constraints with respect to an optimal and sustainable use of land resources, and empowers people to make decisions about how to allocate those resources.
These are matched through a multiple goal analysis and assessment of the intrinsic value of the various environmental and natural resources of the land unit. The result is an indication of a preferred future land use, or combination of uses. Through a negotiation process with all stakeholders, the outcome is improved, agreed decisions on the concrete allocation of land for specific uses (or non-uses) through legal and administrative measures, which will lead eventually to implementation of the plan.
Land-use planning at the national level
Land-use planning can be applied at three broad levels: national, district and local. These are not necessarily sequential but correspond to the levels of government at which decisions about land use are taken. Different kinds of decision are taken at each level, where the methods of planning and kinds of plan also differ. However, at each level there is need for a land-use strategy, policies that indicate planning priorities, projects that tackle these priorities and operational planning to get the work done. The greater the interaction between the three levels of planning, the better. The flow of information should be in both directions . At each successive level of planning, the degree of detail needed increases, and so too should the direct participation of the local people.
At the national level, planning is concerned with national goals and the allocation of resources. In many cases, national land-use planning does not involve the actual allocation of land for different uses, but the establishment of priorities for district-level projects.
A national land-use plan may cover:
• land-use policy: balancing the competing demands for land among different sectors of the economy food production, export crops, tourism, wildlife conservation, housing and public amenities, roads, industry;
• national development plans and budget: project identification and the allocation of resources for development;
• coordination of sectoral agencies involved in land use;
• legislation on such subjects as land tenure, forest clearance and water rights. National goals are complex while policy decisions, legislation and fiscal measures affect many people and wide areas. Decision-makers cannot possibly be specialists in all facets of land use, so the planners' responsibility is to present the relevant information in terms that the decision-makers can both comprehend and act on.
Planning at these different levels needs information at different scales and levels of generalization. Much of this information may be found on maps. The most suitable map scale for national planning is one by which the whole country fits on to one map sheet, which may call for a scale from 1:5 million to 1:1 million or larger. District planning requires details to be mapped at about 1:50000, although some information may be summarized at smaller scales, down to 1:250000. For local planning, maps of between 1:20000 and 1:5000 are best. Reproductions of air photographs can be used as base maps at the local level, since field workers and experience show that local people can recognize where they are on the photos.
Land-use planning at the district level
District level refers not necessarily to administrative districts but also to land areas that fall between national and local levels. Development projects are often at this level, where planning first comes to grips with the diversity of the land and its suitability to meet project goals. When planning is initiated nationally, national priorities have to be translated into local plans. Conflicts between national and local interests will have to be resolved.
The kinds of issues tackled at this stage include:
• the siting of developments such as new settlements, forest plantations and irrigation schemes;
• the need for improved infrastructure such as water supply, roads and marketing facilities;
• the development of management guidelines for improved kinds of land use on each type of land.
Land-use planning at the local level
The local planning unit may be the village, a group of villages or a small water catchment. At this level, it is easiest to fit the plan to the people, making use of local people's knowledge and contributions. Where planning is initiated at the district level, the programme of work to implement changes in land use or management has to be carried out locally. Alternatively, this may be the first level of planning, with its priorities drawn up by the local people. Local-level planning is about getting things done on particular areas of land - what shall be done where and when, and who will be responsible.
| Bottom-up planning is initiated at the local level and involves active participation by the local community. The experience and local knowledge of the land users and local technical staff are mobilized to identify development priorities and to draw up and implement plans. |
| The advantages are: • local targets, local management and local benefits. People will be more enthusiastic about a plan seen as their own, and they will be more willing to participate in its implementation and monitoring; • more popular awareness of land-use problems and opportunities; • plans can pay close attention to local constraints, whether these are related to natural resources or socio-economic problems; The disadvantages are that: |
Local people are usually those best informed of local conditions, resources and problems. However, individuals can rarely negotiate on equal terms with the organized structures of government and the private sector with which they interact. The formation of local resource management groups (LRMGs) empowers stakeholders and brings them together to coordinate and address mutually important land resource issues. When there is local “ownership”, their creativity, initiative and enthusiasm will contribute greatly to the overall outcome. Ownership translates to responsibility on the part of stakeholders and in some cases voluntary contribution of resources
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