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The Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) contributes to the
implementation of pro poor land policies to achieve
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May 21st, 2012

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Facts
EGM on Tools for Legal Integration & Provision of Environmental Improvements in Informal Settlements

The Expert Group Meeting (EGM) is organised by the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) and the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN).

The EGM will contribute to the development of guidelines and tools within the concept of the paradigm of Land Management model, for the legal integration and the environmental upgrading of unplanned urban development within three countries in Europe, namely Greece, Albania and Croatia.

The meeting will take place in Athens 27-28 November 2008 at the Technical Chamber of Greece, Karageorgi Servias 4, Syntagma square, Athens, Greece.

The EGM should also contribute towards:-

  1. The definition of the emerging new informal or unplanned development within the European region/ relevant research.
  2. The identification of the reasons leading to informal or unplanned development within Europe, types, extent of the problem, examples / relevant research.
  3. Learning lessons from the past, regarding control methods, privatization of land and legalization policies and legislation to improve security of tenure but also to improve access to ownership of land, to credit, and access to the relevant legislation among the urban poor and low / middle income households, and to support the economy of the urban poor.
  4. The identification of the economic impact due to problems created in real estate markets through informal or illegal construction. Identification of the need to register illegal constructions. Identification of the need to integrate and bring illegal constructions, neighborhoods and cities within Europe up to acceptable standards.
  5. Identification of the need for harmonization of relevant policies.
  6. The identification of the social and environmental impact.
  7. The organization of specific annual Workshops. Organization of experts in group meetings in cooperation with FIG.
  8. The development of guidelines/ tools to support improvements related to legal integration and environmental upgrading in areas with informal or unplanned development, within the land management paradigm.
  9. The development of additional tools for good governance, land administration and land management to eliminate the phenomenon of unplanned development in the future, aiming to: (a) harmonization of tools within the European market, (b) strengthen the capacity of both public and private sectors, (c) Strengthen and make more transparent government regulatory and inspection systems.

The findings should contribute towards presentations at UN-HABITAT, FIG and World Bank events, as well as the annual meetings of groups of experts in Europe in follow up activities. One of the outputs of the study should be a publication, which should be disseminated on the GLTN website as well as by FIG and UN-HABITAT. The activities should contribute to:-

  1. The management of knowledge being carried out in such a way that it leads to improved tenure security for the citizens of Member States, particularly for women.
  2. More appropriate regulatory/legal frameworks in selected countries for the urban poor.
  3. Pro-poor tools that can be used by selected countries and their professionals and legal aid networks.
  4. Continuous update of Global Trends in terms of land.
  5. The development of Best Practices, to assist countries implement the MDGs.
  6. Knowledge transfer to policy makers, consultants, partners and associates.

The focus of the activities will be to generate information and approaches which will provide information and recommendations in regard to a number of key issues namely:-

  1. What are the size and the type of the emerging unplanned urban development within selected case areas in Europe? What are the causes and the impacts (social, environmental, economic)? What are the needs? Selected areas will be Greece, Albania, Croatia.
  2. How can land tenure, legality of real estate market, provision of infrastructure and environmental upgrade be improved in urban poor and low income European unplanned urban areas?
  3. What are the appropriate changes in regulations? Is legalization a possible tool? What can be legalized and how? What are the benefits and the risks and how can those risks be minimized (legal regulations, technical means, financial motives)? What are the additional measures? Is it fair to apply penalties and charge fees? (e.g., how should penalties, and fees be assessed?) What constructions cannot be legalized?
  4. Are there any realistic policies and procedures for a parallel environmental integration of informal settlements in the above areas? How can this be coordinated with the legalization process? Are there any good practice examples in Europe so far?
  5. What spatial data infrastructure should support the legal and environmental integration of emerging informal/ unplanned settlements? What additional actions may improve harmonization within the European region? What low-cost approaches may be helpful?
  6. What are the global trends in terms of coordination of land administration, planning, and development permitting? What are the key aspects in order to maximize the multipurpose character of the cadastre (structures, procedures, technical issues, fiscal issues)?
  7. What best practices may assist good governance in land development? How can the “dead capital” be unblocked in an efficient way? How can access to ownership rights to land be improved for the urban poor? How can access to credit and to the “land-related” legislation be made possible for the urban poor?
  8. What are the appropriate procedures for improving the awareness among policy makers, consultants, governments, business, credit/ funding organizations, ‘occupiers” of illegal real estates, minorities, and other real estate market participants?
  9. How can the urban poor participate in the planning procedures, in the legalization, in the urban upgrading and infrastructure improvement procedures in areas with informal settlements? What does such participation really mean?
  10. Are such guidelines also valuable for other places around the world?