Year of publication 2009

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Pages 71 p.

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Author Land and Water Division

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Publisher FAO ;

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Product type Book (series)

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Category FAO journal

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ISBN 978-92-5-006300-3

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Edition 1

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Synopsis (short abstract) Almost all societies acknowledge the concept of state or public landownership in which property rights are vested in a public body on a national, regional or community level. State and public land tenure arrangements define rules for the distribution, use and protection of publicly vested lands. State lands may be used to deliver public services. Authorities or customary rulers may act as custodians of common property resources or of environmentally or culturally sensitive sites on beh alf of society. Many forms of public tenure arrangements have been introduced. They commonly differ from private arrangements by limiting access, use and alienation of public lands. Despite the growing recognition of the importance of state lands and their proper management, public land and property assets are generally weakly managed. Considered as “free” and available, state lands are commonly encroached upon, overutilized and acquired for personal gain. Undefined tenure arrangemen ts and poor recording of land rights contribute to the poor and ineffective management of public lands, providing fertile ground for corrupt practices. The situation is made more serious by weak governance, which is common in land administration institutions. There are no simple solutions for improvement. However, progress has been made by improving transparency, consistency, impartiality and equity in land administration institutions and by enhancing their technical competences and clarifying their management objectives, i.e. by improving the governance of state and public lands.

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Language Trilingual

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