You are on page 1of 4

SDG Goal 1:

METADATA
Target 1.4:
By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal
rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land
and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and
financial services, including microfinance.
Proposed Indicator 1.4.2: Proportion of women, men, indigenous people and local communities with secure tenure
rights to individually or communally held land, property and natural resources.
Relevance:
Type of Indicator: Outcome indicator
Feasibility: Administrative data is available in all of the countries and is collectible annually, universally, can be
replicated, and at relatively low cost. The collection of data is possible through the collaboration of international
institutions (UN-Habitat, UNEP, IFAD, UNFAO, The World Bank, and WRI) through the conducting of surveys every
3-5 years, and have the methodology and networks required and the capacity to undertake this work.
Methodology:
Percentage of women and men with secure tenure rights to individually or communally held land, property and
natural resources.
Disaggregation:
This indicator can be disaggregated spatially (inc. urban/rural) and by the age and sex, socio-economic profiles, and
groups of people/communities (indigenous, local communities).
Definitions
The following definitions are proposed.
Land Tenure
Land tenure can be described as a bundle of rights that individuals and communities have with regard to land, which
may include the rights to occupy, to use, to develop, to inherit, and to transfer land. Some of these rights will be held
by individuals, some by groups, and others by political entities. This bundle of rights can be broken up, rearranged
and passed on to others. The following is the typology
Secure tenure rights or tenure security
Tenure security is the right of individuals and groups to effective protection by the state against evictions, i.e. under
international law, the permanent or temporary removal against their will of individuals, families and/communities from
the home and/or the land they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate form of legal or other
protection. Security of tenure can then be defined as an agreement between an individual or group about land and
residential property, which is governed and regulated by a legal and administrative framework. A person or
household can be said to have secure tenure when they are protected from involuntary removal from their land or
residence by the state, except in exceptional circumstances, and then only by means of a known and agreed legal
procedure, which must itself be objective, equally applicable, contestable and independent.
Perceived tenure security refers to an individuals experience of his/her tenure situation or their estimated
probability that their land rights will not be lost as a result of eviction by the state, land owner or other authority, or
because of other factors that may cause involuntary relocation or curtail their use of the land, such as threats of land
conflicts.
1

Characterizing tenure status is based on four sets of interrelated parameters:


1. Primary tenure rights on land
2. Land tenure (rights of occupants on the land)
3. Occupancy status (of the dwelling unit)
4. Type of development
Legal tenure security refers to the legal status of tenure and its protection backed up by state authority.
De facto tenure security is based on the actual control of property, regardless of the legal status in which it is held. It
can best be defined by the elements that compose it or contribute to it, such as the length of time of occupation, its
socially accepted legitimacy and the level and cohesion of community organization.
UNFAO (2003) defines Communally held land is where rights to use resources are held by a community. It refers to
situations where rights to use resources are held and controlled by a community. While these rights may include
communal rights to pastures and forests, they may also include exclusive private rights to agricultural land and
residential plots.
Local Communities
A group of individuals belonging to the same community residing within or in the same vicinity of a particular parcel,
property or natural resource. The community members are co-owners that share exclusive rights and duties, and
benefits contribute to the community development.
Indigenous land rights
Indigenous land rights are rights specific to a particular ethnic group, having evolved through interaction of culture
and environment and overseen by authorities whose legitimacy is based on occupation and spiritual ties to the
locality.
Community land rights
Community land rights are collective rights of land ownership, access or use held or exercised in common by
members of a community. A community may be designated as a village-based or more geographically dispersed
community, or a clan or a lineage.
Collective rights
A situation where holders of land rights are clearly defined as a group and have the right to exclude others from the
enjoyment of those land rights. Collective ownership of a natural resource refers to a situation where the holders of
rights to a given natural resource are clearly defined as a collective group, and where they have the right to exclude
third parties from the enjoyment of those rights.
Common property
Common property refers to situations in which entitled beneficiaries hold specified rights in common to specific areas
of land, land-based natural resources or other types of property.
Property / private property
Property signifies dominion or right of use, control and disposition, which one may lawfully exercise over things,
objects or land.
Property rights
Property rights refer to a bundle of rights to use, control, and transfer assets, including land. These include the rights
to occupy, enjoy and use; to restrict others from entry or use; to dispose, buy or inherit; to develop or improve; to
cultivate; to sublet; to realize financial benefits; and to access services in association with land.

Open access resources


Resources including land to which everyone has unrestricted access and that are not considered to be the
property of anyone.
Method of computation
=(The number of people ( women and men) with documented evidence of secure tenure rights to individually or
communally held land, property and natural resources divided by the total number of adult population surveyed)
x100.
= (The number of households or local communities with documented evidence of secure tenure rights to individually
or communally held land, property and natural resources divided by the total number of households or communities
surveyed) x 100.
Unit:
%
Data Sources:
There are four data sources that are complementary:
Data can be computed from (i) administrative data from national land agencies, (ii) global or regional opinion polls will
provide data on perceptions and (iii) Household Surveys. (iv)The Land Mark tool will provide information for
Indigenous peoples
Scope:
Globally comparable. Can be reported by all (developing) countries.
Frequency:
The monitoring of the indicator can be repeated at regular intervals of 3 - 5 years.
Quantifiable Derivatives:
Quantifiable Derivatives:
Proportion of households with documented rights to land
Proportion of households who perceive their rights to land are secure
Proportion of households with legally documented rights to land
Proportion of women with legally documented rights to land
Proportion of women who perceive their rights to land are secure
Proportion of men with legally documented rights to land
Proportion of men who perceive their rights are secure
Proportion of local communities with legally documented rights to land
Proportion of local communities who perceive their rights to land are secure
Proportion of indigenous peoples with legally documented rights to land
Proportion of indigenous peoples who perceive their rights are secure
Limitations:
Considering that secure tenure over land and natural resources is an essential driver for change towards
sustainability, it is imperative that Goals 1, 2, and 5, which have explicit reference to ownership, land and
other resources, include indicators to measure this driver of change. A coalition of institutions, including
experts from UNEP, UN-Habitat and IFAD, have offered language and meta data, although recognizing that
baselines are currently not available for some of the indicators. Nevertheless, such indicators should be in
the SDG package so that more research and development can be spurred on and make the SDGs relevant
to people's lives.
3

Security of Tenure Although the methodology is now developed for Household surveys, this is not yet
tested.
The Administrative data although available in all countries, it is still paper based in most of the developing
countries. Data quality will therefore be improved over time as computerization increasingly takes route.

Bibliographic References:

Food and Agriculture Organization (2012). Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of
Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security. Available at:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2801e/i2801e.pdf

Food and Agriculture Organization (2004). Land Reform, Land Settlement and Cooperatives. Ref: FAO
Corporate Documents Repository. Indigenous Peoples rights to lands, territories and resources: selected
international and domestic legal considerations. Available at:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5407t/y5407t0g.htm

Food and Agriculture Organization (2003). Multilingual Thesaurus of Land Tenure, English Version. Rome: FAO.
Available at:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/x2038e/x2038e00.htm

UN-Habitat, Global Land Tool Network (2008). Secure land rights for all. Nairobi. Available at:
http://unhabitat.org/books/secure-land-rights-for-all/

UN-Habitat (2006). Setting up a Global Monitoring System on Secure Tenure. Nairobi.

UN-Habitat (2014)Options For Global Reporting On GLTN/GLII Land Indicators In The Context Of The
Sustainable Development Goals

URL References:

Policy Connections:

Relevant SDG targets / indicators:

You might also like