Governance Issues Of Land In Cambodia Small

Kolloquium für Geographie und Raumplanung Universität Bayreuth im SS 2007

Governance issues of land and regional land development in a

post communist countryThe example of Cambodia

Jan-Peter Mund(CIM/gtz Integrated Expert, Senior Lecturer)

Royal University of AgriculturePhnom Penh, Cambodia

26.06.2007Integrated Expert: Dr. Jan-Peter Mund Kolloquium für Geographie der Universität Bayreuth 2

Content:

Scope of Land Governance Issues in Cambodia:Recent land issues Historical precedents and land tenure rootsA theoretical approach towards land ownershipRights to access to land Pluralism of legal categories

The Land Sector in Cambodia – A Status Quo Analysis:National land policy – a missing approach Recent trends and dynamics in the Cambodian land sectorDisparities and conflicts about land ownership in rural Cambodia

Discussion – Land Policy Debates:Land title security versus land economic productivityComprehensive land policy and sustainable land management strategyLand policy shift or comprehensive land reform ?


Preface


Scope of Land Governance Issues in Cambodia:

Hypothesis

Land rights are far more than simple legal documents: - economic factors versus social embeddedness -

Good land policy is based on well-documented regional knowledge about the land sector, processes and is actors.

Land titles support land tenure security and improve land markets, especially agrarian land markets which are equated to land sale and purchase.



Land issues in Cambodia



Historical precedents

“Before, all Cambodian land belongs to the king. In fact it belonged to the one who occupied it and cultivated it. It was one consequence of the duties imposed by the throne by Buddhist law. … You (the French) have established private ownership. You have granted large scale concessions. In one stroke, you have created poverty…” (King Norodom, 1900).“I am absolutely resolved to give land …to individual private property, to the villagers who cultivated it, for the well-being and prosperity of the Kingdom.”(King Sisovath, 1904).„The state or cooperatives owns all land; there are no private plots as in China or in the Soviet Union. The constitution…states that the means of production were the collective property of the state. (Ieng Sary, Khmer Rouge Leader Premier, 1977)"Should we not manage land issues in a good manner, we might have to face a farmers' revolution against the Royal Government... We have to try and find a solution in which our farmers make real use of land for the sake of increasing production and their livelihood....“ (Prime Minister Hun Sen, October 18, 2004).



History of land tenure

Before 1900 – All Cambodian land belonged to the King according Buddhist law

1920 - First Cambodia Civil Code including a French land law that recognized private property rights.

1960-1970 - Comprehensive land management, including confirmation of private property rights with land records a cadastral map and land titles.

1970-1975 - Deteriorated land management system, land titling stopped.

1975-1979 - Khmer Rouge Regime, private property rights were abandoned and all cadastral records, including cadastral map and titles, were destroyed.

1979-1989 - State of Cambodia organized collective land ownership as a basis of claiming user rights to agricultural land: residential use rights were allocated on the basis of occupation, while ownership of land still remained in the hands of the state.

1989 – Royal Government re-introduced private property rights: ownership right issued for residential land of a size up to 2000 sq. meters, possession rights for cultivated land less than 5 ha, and concession rights for plantation land greater than 5 ha.

Since 2001(New Land Law): Ownership rights of 1989 were legally recognized and ownership titles can be issued for cultivated land as well, if the requirement of peaceful and uncontested occupation of 5 years is fulfilled.



Theoretical approach

The normative and social embeddedness of land rightsPrinciples: justifying and legitimising logic, “moral land economy”Norms: authoritarian or prescriptiveRights: socially legitimate field of actionPractises: effective access to resources

Social embedded land tenure rights are defined by:Rights + practises Related to community membership Ruled by politico-legal authorities providing norms

The bundle of (agrarian) land rights:Getting income from useChanging by land development and investmentDelegation to leasing, sharecropping, pledging or loanAlienation by commercial or non-commercial transferAdministration by definitions of multiple user rights and restrictions



Variables and Processes

Origin of rights, ownershipand transfer modalities

Settlement history ?Commoditisation ?

Content and status of rightsLegal versus informal ?

Privatisation versus community ?Status of transfer rights ?

Normative regulatory frameworkLegal system ?

Political – legal authorities ?Legal security and law enforcement ?

Individual rights holderIndividual versus community welfare ?

Distribution of transfer rights ?Individualisation ?

ProcessesPrinciples, Conflicts,

Negotiations and Law enforcement

Adapted from: Colin, J.-P. 2004



Rights to access to land

Private ownership on the comeback: 1989, 1992, 2001

Legal framework follows the private ownership principleState land versus private landCentralised land management for economic purposes versus decentralised land administration for titling

Simplistic normative cadastral orientation since 2001From temporary possession to private ownershipLand titling to enlarge tenure securityIndigenous community property rightsLand title distribution for economic growthEconomic concessions versus social land concessions Fiscally charged subsequent land transactions



Pluralism of legal categories

Secure Tenure rights according the Land Law of 2001:

Receipts (formerpossession rights)

Certificates (formertemporary land titles

Land occupationand peaceful landuse since five years

Surveyed andissued land titles

Uncertain landpossession rights,especially forrecently, cleared oroccupied plots

Draft: Cooper,G. & Mund,J.-P.


The Land Sector in Cambodia – A Status Quo Analysis:

A missing national land policy

Legal and political contradictions in the land sector Institutional pluralism and large scale land concentrationLand titling only in rural (rice growing) lowlandsEconomic concessions versus smallholder tenure securitySocial land concessions versus derived tenure rightsFiscal obligations versus non-commoditised land transactionsFormal versus informal and rather opaque land marketsLand management versus natural and historical resource protectionUnclassified and demarcated state public and state private land

Political invisibilities and law enforcementChallenging rather secure derived rightsPrescriptive land management versus patron-client arrangementsInadequate and inefficient conflict resolution mechanism



Recent trends and dynamics

Status Quo AnalysisHigh population density and population growth in rice growing lowland areasContinuous migration of (young) farmers into upland areas and agricultural concession areas as agrarian labor.Intensive agrarian transition into cash crop productionHigh pressure on natural resourcesLarge scale land claims by the administration and by powerful elitesDistribution of land use rights to large scale agro-industrial investorsUncertain decentralised land use planning measuresUncertain land possession rights for recently occupied plotsContinuous political intervention of the state into land regulations



Lowland population density and growth

Around 50% of the Cambodian population is under 25 years oldAnnual rate of population growth declined from 2.49 to 1.81 %/a (1998-2004)75% - 85% of the population is employed in the primary sector (NIS, 2004)65% does simply rice farming (MAFF, 2004)



Rural population in Cambodia

Rural Populationin Cambodia

90% ofCambodia’s poorcitizen lives in rural areas.(World Bank,2005)

84 % of allCambodians stilllive in rural areas.(Nat. Inst. OfStatistics, 2004)



Landlessness in rural in Cambodia

Land equity in selected provinces Siem ReapPeri-urban,

touristic

Kampong ThomRural

lowland

SianoukvillePeri-urban, ecomonic

development, touristic

RatanakiriIndigenous

upland, economic

development eco-tourism

Ø

Land area of 20% of Land Holding Farmersof the lowest size (in % of total area) 4 1 5 5

45

13

7

20

60

Land area of 20% of Land Holding Farmersof the largest size (in % of total area) 57 42 50

3,7

48,5

32,2

16

18,5

Percentage of Land Holding Farmershaving less than 1 ha agrarian land 63 27 26

Percentage of Land Holding Farmershaving 1-2 ha agrarian land 14 30 13

Percentage of Land Holding Farmershaving 2-3 ha agrarian land 10 20 24

30,7Percentage of Land Holding Farmershaving more than 3 ha agrarian land 13 23 27

Data source: Le Mur & Pel 2007



Upland migration dynamics

Figures of Landlessness:15-17% of urban population

3-12% of rural population25-30% of rural population under 25

Accumulation of new villages since 1998



Migration pattern and driving forces

Categories of MigrationRural to urban

Urban to urban

Rural to rural

Chain migration

Forced migration due to evictions

Temporary labor migration

Contract migration into concessions



Large scale land allocations

Concessions types applied in CambodiaForest concessions

Former logging concessions

Economic concessions for agricultural development

Economic concessionsfor Development and Infrastructure

Social land concessions

Fishing concessions

Mining concessions

Military development concessions



Intensive agrarian transition

Decentralised land concession rights

up to 1000 haper person incultivated land

privateownership ofless than 5 ha

Concession Rights in plantation land

plots biggerthan 5 ha and less than

10.000 ha


Cambodian Landapprox.181.035 km²


Land dynamics in Rural Cambodia

Protected AreasNational Park

before 2001

Private Land with Legal Basisand Religious Properties

State Land:Illegally claimed or occupied

Economic Concessions for Forest and Agricultural

Development

Economic Concessions for Development a. Infrastructure

Military concessions

Social Land Concessions(not yet implemented)

Indigenous Land Common Properties (not yet approved)

Fishing concessionsCostal zone areas

Forest land Forest reserve

Forest Concessions Private Land with Legal Basis

and Religious Properties

State Land:Illegally claimed or occupied

Economic Concessions for Forest and Agricultural

Development

Economic Concessions for Development a. Infrastructure

Military concessions

Social Land Concessions (not yet implemented)

Protected AreasNational Park

Indigenous Land Common Properties (not yet approved)

Fishing concessionsCostal zone areas

Forest land Forest reserve

Forest Concessions

2006


Discussion – Land Policy Debates:

Reality of land in Cambodia

Division of Land:Protected Areas as Natural Reserves or National Parks covering: 18% Cultivated lowland occupied by smallholder farmers covering: 14%Cultivated upland occupied by smallholder farmers covering: 4%Large scale concessions in the lowlands covering: 9% Large scale concessions in the uplands covering: 17%Forest and temporarily logging concessions covering: 24%Additional to rivers, lakes and fishing concession

Not yet comprehensively mapped and marked like:State public lands (Infrastructure, Rivers, Lakes, Parks, etc)State private land (Areas of unoccupied land that are not under private ownership and do not fit the definition of State Public Land)Collective Property (religious property, land of indigenous minorities)Private land (legally approved private property)

Secure land titling in 2007:Land titles surveyed and issued in 2007: 700.000 out of 7-9 Mio. expected

Access to Land is under permanently rising threat



Interim summary

Shortage of land in Cambodia ? – The new agrarian questionUp to 30% of Cambodia’s peoples - rural and urban - are being systematically alienated from their lands, homes and livelihoods.Communities are losing lands and access to natural resources caused by economic and demographic pressures.Political and social power as well as market factors dispossess people from their lands.

Driving forces and factors for landlessnessSocial insecurity and rural poverty issues like health care and social lifeOther perceived insecurity issues, i.e., patron-client relationsEconomic opportunism by the country’s elites and their external alliesPluralism in legal principles and institutional arrangements Ambiguous land lawsWeak law enforcement and impunity from legal actionShort-sighted economic development plans driven by individual benefit



The vision of a “good” land policy

Land or secure access to land is next to water one of the most crucial factors for sustainable livelihood in developing countries.

Land is among the important resources in subsistence economic strategies, especially for rural population as well as urban poor.

Land and land tenure security in post conflict as well as post socialistic countries are considered of high priority for political an economic reforms in these countries

International development organizations like World Bank, ADB, gtz and others try to follow a vision of land tenure security with land titling systems in favor for the poor.


Land AdministrationArrangements

ConsistentLegal

Institutions

Sustainable Resource

Management

Transparent Land Information

System


Land policy to land management

Historical, Sociological and Regional Country Background

Comprehensive Land policy

Decentralised Land Administration Decentralised Land Management

Individual and Community Tenure Security



Required land policy debates

Enforcement of law and land conflict resolution mechanisms

Recognised, structured, decentralised and improved land management institutions

Improve the role of communal land management

Different land policy frameworks for lowland and upland management

Enforcement of community rights against large scale concessions

Strengthening legal and transparent land market institutions

Strengthening of derived land rights and focussing on land tenure security rather than legal ownership

Respect the social and community embeddedness of land rights

Land rights are far more than simple legal documents !


Land Policy Debates - Conclusion:

The inevitable Land Reform ?

Access to land in Cambodia is still rather inadequate. More than 60 % of Cambodian land is declared as state land.State land is exclusively managed by single line ministries and subsequent administrative bodies.State land is fairly mapped, demarcated and inadequately managedLarge scale land concessions are distributed rather intransparently20-30% of all land concessions serve for speculative reasonOnly 1800 ha have been released for social land concessions Informal contracted farming on land concessions is abundantSporadic titling of mostly urban land is still dominantUp to 30% of urban poor and rural dweller are landless

A more comprehensive land reform is required with enlarged social land concessions to avoid further land disputes and a high percentage of rural landless people.


Discussion - Land Policy Debates:

Conclusion

Thesis 1: Land rights are far more than simple legal documents:Over more than 12 years, the simplistic legal title oriented land administration and land management policy in Cambodia has neglected the social and communal embeddedness of land tenure systems throughout the country.

Thesis 2: Good land policy is based on well-documented regional knowledge about the land sector, processes and is actors:A comprehensive and administratively binding land policy has not been formulated. Even though many NGO and GO have carried out regional and in depth research studies, the recent processes, actors, driving forces and legal as well as social constructions in the land sector are not fully understood, yet.

Thesis 3: Land titles support land tenure security and improve land markets, especially agrarian land markets which are equated to and sale and purchase:A transparent and fiscally charged land market as with an equation of purchase and sale has not been established, although more than 700.000 land titles were already issued.

Kolloquium für Geographie und Raumplanung Universität Bayreuth im SS 2007

Thank you very much for your kind attention

Jan-Peter Mund (PhD Geographer)(CIM/gtz Integrated Expert, Senior Lecturer)

jpmun03”@yahoo.com

Royal University of AgriculturePhnom Penh, Cambodia

Travel

Governance Issues Of Land In Cambodia Small