Land and Natural Disasters Guidance From Practitioners

8/8/2019 Land and Natural Disasters Guidance From Practitioners

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Land and Natural Disasters

Guidance for Practitioners

GLOBALLANDTOOLNETWORK


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Land and Natural Disasters: Guidance for Practitioners

Copyright United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABI A ), 2010

HS: 1254/09

ISBN: 978-92-1-132236-1

Disclaimer

Te designations employed and the presentation o material in this in ormation product do not imply the expressiono any opinion whatsoever on the part o the Food and Agriculture Organization o the United Nations (FAO) noro the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABI A ) concerning the legal or developmentstatus o any country, territory, city or area or o its authorities, or concerning the delimitation o its rontiers orboundaries. Te mention o speci c companies or products o manu acturers, whether or not these have beenpatented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO and UN-HABI A in pre erenceto others o a similar nature that are not mentioned.

United Nations Human Sett lements Programme (UN-HABI A )P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi 00100, Kenya

el: +254 20 762 3120Fax: +254 20 762 3477

www.unhabitat.org

All photos by UN-HABI A staf. Photo page 91 courtesy o Te imes-Picayune Newspaper, New Orleans,

USA.

Design and lay-out by Robert Wagner


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La n d a n d N at u r al D isa st e r s

Gu i d a n c e f o r Pr a c t i t i o n e r s


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AcknowledgmentsIn 2005, ollowing the Humanitarian Response Review, the Humanitarian Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)endorsed a Humanitarian Cluster Approach System to improve responses to complex emergencies, post con ict situationsand natural disasters (http://www.humanitarianre orm.org/humanitarianre orm). Te Humanitarian Clusters have beenasked to develop ramework responses to common issues a ter emergency situations. Tese common issues include land -an area identi ed by the Humanitarian Response Review as a major gap in humanitarian responses.

In 2007 UN-HABI A was requested by the Global Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery (CWGER) to prepareguidelines or addressing land issues a ter natura l disasters. Te proposal was unded through the IASC HumanitarianGlobal Cluster/Global Capacity Building Appeal. Additional nancial support was provided through the Global Land

ool Network, acilitated by UN-HABI A (http://www.gltn.net). UN-HABI A and the UN Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO) have collaborated to prepare these Guidelines.

Tese Guidelines owe a debt to many individuals. Te contents and process were designed and developed under theguidance and supervision o Szilard Fricska, with support rom Esteban Leon and M. Guglielma da Passano (UN-HABI A ). Clarissa Augustinus (UN-HABI A ) also provided valuable insights and guidance. Te process started

with the commissioning o speci c case studies listed below:Country/Region ype o disaster Year AuthorsPakistan/South Asia Earthquake 2005 Robert Home, Nilo er QaziIndonesia/Asia-Paci c sunami 2004 Daniel Fitzpatrick, Jaap ZevenbergenGrenada/Central America Hurricane Ivan 2004 Grenville Barnes, Jerry Riverstone

Honduras/Central America Hurricane Mitch 1998 Grenville Barnes, Jerry RiverstoneMozambique/Southern A rica Recurrent oods 2000-2005 Simon Nor olk, Paul de WitGujarat, India/South Asia Earthquake 2001 ony BurnsUSA/North America Hurricane Katrina 2005 David Stan eld

Daniel Fitzpatrick (Australian National University) prepared the main dra t with the in ormation rom the cases andother global experiences laying strong oundations or this work. An early dra t was discussed and reviewed with partners

rom di erent UN agencies and land pro essionals during an expert group meeting organized with the support o Richardrenchard (FAO) in Geneva in 2008. Te Guidelines also underwent a series o substantial revisions in 2008 and 2009

by Daniel Fitzpatrick, Rhodri Williams and the UN-HABI A team. Sectoral experts provided additional inputs: JonUnruh, who reviewed an early dra t; Roberto Ottolenghi who provided inputs on Planning; Jean-Christophe Adrian andMaggie Stephenson who provided inputs to the Shelter section; Jaap Zevenbergen who revised the land administrationsection; and Adriana Herrera (FAO) who provided inputs on agriculture and rural l ivelihoods.


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Guidance for Pract itioner s

Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................61.1 Why land issues are important ........................................................................................... 61.2 What these Guidelines do .................................................................................................. 71.3 Who should use these Guidelines ....................................................................................... 71.4 When to use these guidelines ............................................................................................. 81.5 How to use these guidelines ............................................................................................... 81.6 Early recovery land issues ................................................................................................... 9

Chapter 2 Understanding land issues a ter natural disasters ................................................... 102.1 Post-disaster contexts ....................................................................................................... 102.2 Land, vulnerability and resilience in natural disasters ...................................................... 122.3 Land and vulnerability to natural disasters ....................................................................... 14

2.4 Disaster impacts: destruction, displacement, death ........................................................... 172.5 Land and resilience a ter a natural disaster ....................................................................... 20

Chapter 3 Land and the initial humanitarian response .......................................................... 243.1 Land assessments .............................................................................................................243.2 Planning or relie and recovery ........................................................................................363.3 Land response coordination ............................................................................................ 423.4 Land advocacy ................................................................................................................. 46

Chapter 4 Land and key humanitarian sectors ......................................................................... 504.1 Land and emergency shelter ............................................................................................. 504.2 Land and human rights protection ................................................................................... 594.3 Land, agriculture and rural livelihoods ............................................................................ 70

Chapter 5 Land as a cross-cutting issue .................................................................................... 765.1 Security o land tenure ..................................................................................................... 765.2 Land and the landless ...................................................................................................... 845.3 Restoring and improving land administration systems ..................................................... 895.4 Land use and settlement planning ....................................................................................965.5 Access to land or relocation and in rastructure .............................................................. 108

Chapter 6 Operations timeline: who does what when ............................................................ 1156.1 Emergency response: the rst 5 days ...............................................................................1166.2 Building early recovery: the rst 6 weeks ........................................................................1176.3 Ensuring early recovery: the rst 6 months .................................................................... 1206.4 owards sustainable and resilient settlements: the rst 2 years ........................................ 124

Chapter 7 Monitoring and evaluation .................................................................................... 1277.1 Why invest in monitoring and evaluation ...................................................................... 1277.2 Developing a monitoring and evaluation system ............................................................ 1287.3 Potential indicators or land-related interventions .......................................................... 129


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Chapter 8 Conclusion and recommendations ........................................................................ 1328.1 Government and civil society ......................................................................................... 1328.2 Global humanitarian system .......................................................................................... 132

Glossary o key land concepts and terms ....................................................................................... 134Resources ............................................................................................................................... 136

List o Tables

able 1. Indicative list o potential land stakeholders ....................................................................... 13able 2. Five land-related characteristics o disaster vulnerability ..................................................... 16able 3. Summary o potential disaster impacts on land and human relationships with land ........... 19

able 4. Key principles or land responses that promote disaster resilience ....................................... 21able 5. Key humanitarian processes a ter a disaster ........................................................................ 25able 6. Summarising the assessment process in relation to land issues a ter natural disasters .......... 35able 7. Summary o land and key humanitarian sectors ................................................................. 50able 8. Summary o key land and emergency shelter issues .................................................................59able 9. Summary o key cross-cutting land issues........................................................................... 76able 10. Summary o key land administration measures a ter a natural disaster ............................. 96able 11. Te rst 5 days: key activities and actors ..........................................................................116able 12. Te rst 6 weeks: key activities and actors .......................................................................117able 13. Te rst 6 months: key activities and actors ....................................................................121able 14. Te rst 2 years: key activities and actors ........................................................................ 124able 15. Monitoring ramework ................................................................................................... 130

List o Figures

Figure 1. Understanding post-disaster land issues through vulnerability and resilience analysis ........12Figure 2. How land system vulnerability can create human disasters ................................................14Figure 3. Disaster impacts and resultant land issues ..........................................................................17Figure 4. Strengthening land system resilience a ter natural disasters ...............................................20Figure 5. imeline o land assessments a ter a natural disaster ..........................................................26Figure 6. Planning land responses through humanitarian action ......................................................36Figure 7. imeline o land response co-ordination ............................................................................43Figure 8. Te relationship between land and shelter a ter a disaster ..................................................51Figure 10. Land issues and responses ................................................................................................73Figure 11. ime and sequencing tenure security measures a ter a natural disaster .............................78Figure 12. Access to land or the landless .........................................................................................86Figure 13. Access to land or relocation a ter a natural disaster .......................................................108Figure 14. Phases and steps in addressing land issues a ter a natural disaster .............................................115


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List o Boxes

Box 1. Rapid-onset natural disasters .................................................................................................8

Box 2. De nitions o vulnerability and resilience.............................................................................12Box 3. What i assessments relating to land are not undertaken? .....................................................25Box 4.Surveying displaced persons in tsunami-a ected Indonesia ...................................31Box 5. Hazard mapping in Pakistan ................................................................................................32Box 6. Flash appeals in tsunami- a ected Indonesia and earthquake-a ected Peru ..........................37Box 7. Four strategies to get land on the recovery agenda .................................................................38Box 8. Sectoral land programming in tsunami-a ected Aceh, Indonesia .........................................42Box 9. Coordinating land responses in Pakistan .............................................................................. 45Box 10. Advocacy on land and relocation in tsunami-a ected Sri Lanka .........................................46

Box 11. People-centred advocacy or land tenure rights in Nepal .....................................................47Box 12. Advocacy or tenants and extralegal occupiers in tsunami-a ected Indonesia .....................49Box 13. Emergency and transitional shelter de ned ....................................................................... 51Box 14. When should early recovery actors support government programs to restore land rights? ....64Box 15. Mobile teams or personal identity veri cation in Pakistan ................................................67Box 16. Inheritance o rights to land a ter hurricane Katrina .........................................................68Box 17. Relaxing inheritance requirements in Louisiana ..................................................................69Box 18. Land tenure and vulnerable agricultural systems in Grenada a ter hurricane Ivan ...............71Box 19. Land and rural vulnerability in Myanmar a ter cyclone Nargis ...........................................72Box 20. Community-generated tenure documentation in tsunami-a ected Indonesia ....................80Box 21. Post-disaster land regularization in Bhuj, India ...................................................................82Box 22. Bhuj, India: urban tenants the residual caseload ..............................................................84Box 23. enants and in ormal and extra-legal landholders: explanation o terms ............................85Box 24. Direct house reconstruction grants to tenants in Pakistan ..................................................86Box 25. Small rental property repair program in Louisiana .............................................................87Box 26. Multi- amily rental apartments in Louisiana ......................................................................87Box 27. Integrated planning or sustainable management o land resources .................................. 101

Box 28. Rural land use planning in Mozambique .........................................................................102Box 29. Community planning a ter oods in Mozambique .......................................................... 103Box 30. Land swaps in hurricane-a ected Grenada .......................................................................104Box 31. Return and the urban ootprint o New Orleans ...............................................................105Box 32. Bhuj, India: Legal instruments or post-disaster land readjustment ...................................106Box 33. Relocation without employment in Honduras .................................................................. 110Box 34. Human rights standards related to relocation ....................................................................111Box 35. Relocation on communal land in Mozambique ................................................................ 112Box 36. Te rural landless policy in earthquake-a ected Pakistan ................................................. 114


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Chapter 1 Introduction

Te main purpose o the Guidelines is to provide a holistic approachto addressing land issues rom the immediate a termath o a natural

disaster through early recovery and reconstruction phases. It is targetedat humanitarians and land pro essionals, as well as Governmentofcials. Te Guidelines take an inter-disciplinary approach to land,one that also brings together emergency relie and early recovery perspectives.

Tis Section provides an introduction to why land issuesare important in the context o natural disasters. It alsooutlines the structure o the Guidelines, who should use theGuidelines, and how and when the Guidelines should be used.It concludes with a table summarizing the issues covered and

where urther in ormation can be ound in the Guidelines.It should be emphasized that the Guidelines have been developedas a modular product, including in ormation regarding importantprocesses, critical land issues, re erences to relevant tools, and guidanceon who should do what when. Users are encouraged to read throughthis Section to learn where they can nd the in ormation they seek.

1.1 Why land issues are impor tant A disaster is the consequence o a natural hazard (e.g. volcanic eruption,earthquake, landslide, tsunami) which moves rom potential into anactive phase, and has an impact on human vulnerabilities. Humanvulnerability, exacerbated by the lack o prevention and preparednessor lack o appropriate emergency management response systems, leadsto human, structural, and nancial losses. Te resulting loss dependson the capacity o the a ected population to support or resist thehazard, that is, their resilience.

Good land use and planning are essential or the prevention o disasters. In addition, land is undamental to the recovery romdisasters. It provides a site or shelter, a resource or livelihoods and aplace to access services and in rastructure. Tere ore, land issues - suchas security o tenure, land use, land access and land administration- are important to key humanitarian sectors a ter a disaster. Tesesectors include:

Shelter . People need access to land or all orms o shelter: emergency,transitional and permanent. In ormation about land is necessary orshelter actors to provide assistance in the right place or the rightpeople. Planning or land use is necessary to build disaster resilienthuman settlements.

Protection. Rights to land are integral to the human rights o allindividuals a ected by humanitarian operations and critical to theprotection o vulnerable groups, including women, children and the

Good land use is

critical or disaster prevention and

early recovery.


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1.3 Who should use these Guidelines

Tese guidelines are directed at relie and recovery actors respondingto natural disasters, o ten through the global humanitarian clustersystem approach. Te audience includes:

UN humanitarian and development agencies;

Housing, land and property (HLP), shelter and other relevantocal points or di erent humanitarian sectors;

National and international land pro essionals;

Te Red Cross/Red Crescent Movements;

International and national NGOs;

Bilateral donors and multilateral nancial institutions;

National and local governments;

A ected communities and grassroots organizations.

1.4 When to use these guidelinesTese guidelines are designed or use a ter a rapid onset naturaldisaster (see Box 1). Tey are not directly concerned with:

Contingency planning or preparedness or disaster;

Slow-onset disasters such as drought; or

Land issues in the context o armed con icts (please see, orexample, UN-HABI A (2010) Quick Guide to Land andCon ict).

1.5 How t o use these guidelinesTe Guidelines are organised in eight parts.

Part 1 introduces the methodology, approach and structure.Part 2 establishes the ramework or analysing land issues a terdisasters.Part 3 reviews key procedural issues related to post-disaster land(assessment, planning, coordination and advocacy).Part 4 and Part 5 deal with issues related to speci c interventions.Part 6 establishes a time-line or intervention.Part 7 provides guidance or the monitoring and evaluation o landinterventions.Part 8 concludes with nal recommendations to key stakeholders.Tese Guidelines include more than 30 boxes ocussing on speci ccase studies and di erent tools or addressing land issues a terdisasters. In these Guidelines, a tool is a practical method to achievea de ned objective in a particular context.

Te Guidelines are produced in a modular ormat that allows readersto select areas in which they are most interested, as summarized inthe table below.

Tese guidelines are designed or use a ter a rapid onset

natural disaster.

Box 1. Rapid-onsetnatural disastersA natural disaster is de ned asa serious disruption triggeredby a natural hazard causinghuman, material, economic or

environmental losses, whichexceed the ability o thosea ected to cope. A rapid onsetnatural disaster is de ned as adisaster that is triggered by aninstantaneous shock. The impacto this disaster may un old overthe medium- or long-term. Anearthquake is a prime example.

Source:. ISDR Secretariat publica-tion, Living with Risk: A Global Review o Disaster ReductionInitiatives.


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Section Content

Part 2 - UnderstandingLand Issues a ter NaturalDisasters

A Framework or readers to understand and analyse land issues across a range o disaster and countrycontexts. The ramework is also use ul or developing programming responses.

Part 3 - Land and the Initial

Humanitarian Response

Guidance on land and our key humanitarian process issues: assessment, planning, coordination and

advocacy. These humanitarian processes are essential mechanisms or including land issues in early recovrameworks.

Part 4 - Land and KeyHumanitarian Sectors

Guidance on land and three important humanitarian sectors: emergency shelter, human rights protection,and agriculture and rural livelihoods. These sectors are the most likely to have signi cant issues relating toland. There is no separate Section on land and early recovery because early recovery considerations underpthe entire guidelines.

Part 5 Land as a Cross-cutting issue

Guidance on ve important cross-cutting issues (security o tenure, the landless, land administration, landuse planning and access to land or relocation and in rastructure). These issues can impact humanitarianaction across a variety o sectors or clusters.

Part 6 Operations

Timeline

Provides an overview o Who does What When during di erent stages o humanitarian response:

emergency response; early recovery and reconstruction.Part 7 Monitoring andEvaluation

Provides guidance to the development o a monitoring and evaluation system, including a selection o potential indicators.

Part 8 Conclusion &Recommendations

Final recommendations or di erent actors and stakeholders in the humanitarian response process.

1.6 Early recovery land issues

From a humanitarian perspective, the ollowing table providesan overview o what humanitarian sectors are covered in theseGuidelines.

Sector or issue Section o Guidelines

Shelter 4.1, 5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5

Protection 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.5

Agriculture 4.3, 5.1, 5.4

Livelihoods 4.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.4, 5.5

Water and Sanitation 5.4

Camp Management andCoordination

4.1

Customary Systems 4.2.4, 4.3.4, 5.1.2

Gender 4.2.3, 4.2.5, 4.2.6, 4.3.5, 5.1.2, 5.1.3, 5.3.4, 5.3.5, 5.3.6

Children 4.2.6

Disaster Risk Reduction 5.2, 5.4, 5.5

Natural Resource Management 4.3, 5.5

Monitoring and Evaluation 8.2, 8.3


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Chapter 2 Understanding landissues after natural disasters

Chapter 2 outlines a ramework or understanding land issues andresponses a ter natural disasters based on concepts o vulnerability and resilience in land governance systems. It provides a basis oranalysing land issues across a range o di erent disaster and landsystem contexts and developing appropriate responses at di erentstages o disaster relie and recovery.

2.1 Post-disaster contextsPost-disaster contexts create extremely dynamic and uid circum-

stances, relationships between people, resources and institutions. Inpost-disaster situations, intense periods o social rearrangement canoccur, and legitimacy, authority, and rules are much more uid andopen than perhaps at other times. While such situations present chal-lenges such as low predictability, on the other hand they can alsoprovide a window o opportunity or implementing positive changes.Care must be taken, however, to ensure that good intentions aregrounded in Do no harm principles or humanitarian action.

Tese guidelines take as a starting point the need to understand landtenure systems and to support livelihood strategies. Equally importantis the need to support the capacity o Government institutions torecover and re-establish themselves. By building on existing capacitiesand opportunities instead o ocusing on weaknesses, this approachcan acilitate constructive analysis o and responses to changes in landand natural resources access in post-disaster situations.

Crisis situations orce a ected persons to adapt their livelihoodstrategies to a new context. Te adoption o new income generatingactivities, non-traditional roles and work patterns a ects entirecommunities, and may present particular challenges or women.Government institutions will also be a ected by natural disasters butmay be able to re-establish themselves quickly due to the typically localized e ects o natural disasters (as opposed to, or example,con ict-a ected contexts). Indeed, once the immediate relie work o the emergency phase is over, there may even be new opportunitiesto support systemic institutional re orms through the ground gainedduring early recovery programming.

It is worthwhile to brie y consider the similarities and di erencesbetween post-disaster and post-con ict contexts. Both presentopportunities or development due to their uidity, however, severalimportant di erences should be noted. In particular:

Windows o opportunity . While natural disasters can coincide witharmed con icts, those that occur in the absence o war tend to be

Tese guidelines take as a starting point the

need to understand land tenure systems

and livelihood strategies.


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associated with less politicized and socially divisive circumstances.Tere is also less risk either o deliberate destruction o land records,or land grabbing. Duplicate land records, or example, may exist ina more secure location. Tere is also likely to be more governmentcapacity and political will to respond to disasters (althoughgovernments may still be reluctant to support secure land rights or

poor and vulnerable groups). Humanitarian interventions can andshould build on existing capacity.

Damage or destruction o land . Natural disasters such as earthquakes,landslides and ooding can result in a signi cant loss o land. Addressingthe needs o those who have lost land in such circumstances is o tena distinct imperative o post-disaster land programming. Te needto nd new land, undertake risk assessments, or clari y ownership o remaining land can o ten delay recovery and contributes to residualcaseloads o people without access to land a ter a disaster.

Secondary occupation and legal adjudication mechanisms.Te suddenonset nature o many natural disasters and their typically relatively localized impact reduces, but does not eliminate, the risk thatabandoned land or housing will be occupied by persons other thanthe pre-displacement owner (i.e. secondary occupiers). For mostlandowners, the primary land issue will be tenure security or those

who have already returned rather than legal adjudication or restitutionmechanisms to allow them to return. Conversely, those who willrequire adjudication or restitution are more likely to be withoutadequate and recognized land rights be ore the disaster, includingtenants, in ormal landholders and women.

Government buildings destroyed by the earthquake in Haiti source: Alain Grimard, UN-HABI


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2.2 Land, vulnerability and resilience innatural disaster sNatural hazards such as oods, earthquakes or hurricanes do notnecessarily produce disastrous e ects. A natural hazard becomesdisastrous when human systems ail to cope with its social, economicand physical impacts. While some natural hazards will become moresevere as a result o global climate change, the root causes o a disasterremain underlying vulnerability and lack o resilience in humansystems.

Te impacts o natural disasters on men, women and their communitiesdepend in large part on earlier development choices and the extentto which capacities to reduce and mitigate known risks have beencreated and sustained. Human causes o disaster vulnerability canbe classi ed according to a geographic scale (see, or example, UK House o Commons Committee on International Development(2006) Humanitarian Response to Natural Disasters).

Global : anthropogenic climate change, population movements, anddemographic change.

National and regional : poor governance, civil war, landlessnessand tenure insecurity, economic policies, epidemic disease andurbanisation.

Community and local : unsustainable land use, chronic hunger, poorly constructed buildings and poor urban planning

Tese causes o disaster vulnerability relate to land use, planning andtenure in a number o respects. Te impact o natural disasters on landand human land use is shaped by the nature o vulnerability withina particular land governance context. Addressing land issues a ter anatural disaster can promote disaster resilience by providing (1) secureaccess and rights to land, especially land or shelter and livelihoods;and (2) e ective land use and settlement planning, particularly so asto build back better and sa er a ter a disaster. Te interaction betweenvulnerability, disaster and resilience may be illustrated in simple termsby the ollowing diagram.

Land responsesaffect resilience

after naturaldisasters

Natural disastersimpact on land andhuman relationships

with land

Land systemscreate vulnerability

to disasters

Figure 1. Understanding post-disaster land issues through vulnerability and resilience analysis

Box 2. De nitions o vulnerability and resil-ienceVulnerability: The characteristicsand circumstances o acommunity, system or assetthat make it susceptible to thedamaging e ects o a hazard.Vulnerability includes thelikelihood o disproportionateimpacts on certain social groups,including women, children andthe poor. Vulnerability may arise

rom physical characteristics(such as age, sex, etc.), but itcan also arise rom economic,social, political and culturalprocesses. Conditions such asextreme poverty, ood or landtenure insecurity are o ten linkedwith vulnerability since theyreduce an individuals abilityto cope with or respond to anunexpected shock, especiallywhen he or she has no othersource o livelihood.

Resilience: The ability o asystem, community or societyexposed to hazards to resist,absorb, accommodate to andrecover rom the e ects o a

hazard in a timely and e cientmanner, including through thepreservation and restorationo its essential basic structuresand unctions. A households orcommunitys livelihood strategydetermines its ability to copewith risks that arise rom shocks,both economic and natural, andtheir comparative vulnerabilityto hazardous events.

Adapted rom UN International

Strategy or Disaster Reduction, Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction (2009), http://www.unisdr.org/eng/library/lib-terminology-eng.htm.


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Tis interaction o vulnerability, disaster and response needs to beunderstood in a dynamic sense. It requires analysis o :

Pre-disaster land tenure, land administration and land governancesystems, including the interaction o their component parts, andthe way in which they ostered disaster vulnerability (or resilience)

or human land users.Te e ects o the disaster on land systems, both in terms o quantitative damage to land and human land use and qualitativetrans ormation o land system actors and incentives.New orms o interaction among component parts and humanusers o land systems a ter a disaster, and the way in which theseinteractions promote recovery and resilience to uture disasters.

Tis system-oriented analysis directs attention to a range o actorsoutside the ormal land administration system. able 1summarizes

the actors involved in a land governance system.

Table 1. Indicative list of potential land stakeholders

Public Sector Private Sector Civil Society

PoliticiansMilitary (where appropriate)Disaster Management institutions(existing and specially created)

Line Ministries: Land, Housing,Justice, Forestry, Agriculture,Planning, FinanceLocal Government

Land developers ( ormal/in ormal)Estate agents ( ormal/in ormal)Lawyers, notariesSurveyors, Planners, engineers, other pro essional

groups/societiesConstruction industryBankers, nanciersChamber o CommerceSmall holders/ armer groups

Civil society organisations (including NGOsand community-based organisations)Universities, research institutes, technicalinstitutes

Religious and aith-based organisationsMedia organisations

Traditional Authorities Households/Individuals International Development Partners

Traditional Chie s, elders, councilsIn ormal settlement leadersCon ict resolution mechanismsIn uential persons (religious, etc)

Individuals disaggregated according to age, genderand social and economic classi cationsHouseholds, groups and communities, whetherorganized on ethnic, religious or other basis

Bene ciaries o land related programmesPeople a ected by land management decisionsLand owners and leaseholdersIn ormal landholdersRe ugees and internally displaced people

UN Specialized AgenciesWorld BankIFADBilateral agencies

Private FoundationsInternational NGOs/ Charities


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2.3 Land and vulnerability to naturaldisastersLow capacity to access and use resources and vulnerability to naturalhazards are closely linked and mutually rein orcing. Marginalizedgroups are usually more vulnerable to hazards because they enjoy

ewer options to diversi y their livelihood sources or because they live in more hazardous locations. Increasing the sustainability o landsystems will result in lower damages in case o a natural disaster,more stable access to resources, lower vulnerability and shorterrecovery time. Figure 2 below summarizes how the vulnerability o land systems can a ect the impact o natural disasters.

Figure 2. How land system vulnerability can create human disasters

2 .3 .1 Pred i c to r s o f l and sys t em vu lne rab il i t y

While there is considerable variety across systems or governing land worldwide, a number o characteristics o poor land governance arecommonly observed and can help to identi y vulnerability to naturaldisasters. Tey may be summarized as ollows.

Unsustainable land use . In many developing countries, choiceso housing location and building materials are restricted. Poorsettlements tend to be located on steep hillsides, ood plains, watercatchments or seismically unstable areas. Natural protections such as

orests and mangrove swamps may be destroyed or damaged throughunsustainable resource exploitation. Poverty, hunger and settlementon hazardous land are induced by the exhaustion o water sources,soil ertility and natural resources.

Poor urban planning . City boundaries in developing countriesrarely correspond with actual settlement patterns. Zoning bye-laws,building codes and construction standards tend to be una ordableand unrealistic rom the perspective o the poor. In ormal settlementstend to proli erate on hazardous land without access to basic servicesand in rastructure or the bene t o disaster risk reduction planning.

Land use plans tend to be incomplete, out-o -date and uncoordinated with land administration systems across di erent institutions andlevels o government.

Unsustainable land use Poor urban planning Landlessness Weak land administration

and governance Land related

discrimination

Destroyed or submerged

settlements Displacement and lost

access to land Deaths Land conflict and

uncertainty

Natural hazard Land system vulnerability Human disaster


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Landlessness . In development settings, many people either own landthat is insufcient or agricultural livelihoods or have no access toland at all. Unequal land distribution patterns typically prevail, o tendue to a history o social con ict over land. Holders o secondary rights (e.g. tenants, sharecroppers, pastoralists, etc.) to lease, use oroccupy land are not sufciently protected against eviction, or are

excluded rom land in ormation systems.Weak land administration. Key land actors typically lack both technicalskills and incentives or efcient, transparent and accountable landmanagement and may not serve the needs o all members o thepopulation. Responsibilities or land tend to be ragmented betweenvarious ministries and agencies, blocking coordinated approaches.Signi cant amounts o land are not covered by land in ormationsystems; indeed, globally, only some thirty percent o land is ormally registered. Data on registered parcels may be poorly recorded, limitedto urban or other high-value areas or may simply be out-o -date.Te boundaries between di erent types o land, including landclaimed by the state, may not be surveyed or de ned with sufcientprecision. Land-related disputes tend to proli erate and, in contextscharacterized by legal and institutional pluralism, orum shopping(claimants pursuing grievances in multiple decision-making orums)may be common.

Displaced population in Pakistan after the earthquake source: Maggie Stephenson, UN-HABIT

Globally, only some thirty percent o land is ormally

registered.


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Land-related discrimination. Many landholders rights are deemedillegal or unrecognized despite being based on systems withconsiderable social or traditional legitimacy. Tese systems may bebased on customary, religious or in ormal practice. Tere is o tena weak interaction between statutory and customary laws andadjudication mechanisms, with statutory systems bearing little relation

to the social practices o poor landholders or the landless. Rules oradjudicating rights to land may be unclear, and subject to excessivediscretion by key land decision-makers. Vulnerable groups such as

women, children and minority groups may ace discrimination onthe basis o property, including barriers to accessing, inheriting anden orcing rights to land.

Table 2. Five land-related characteristics of disastervulnerability

Characteristic Nature o disaster vulnerability

Unsustainable landuse

Land degradationSevere erosion/landslides or landslipsFlooding/inundationMarginal or unsa e settlements

Poor urban planning Unsa e settlementsInappropriate and/or una ordable zoning, building codes,standardsWeak Institutional capacity

Landlessness Lack o access to shelter solutions

Lost livelihoodsSocial con ict

Weak landadministration

Incomplete/lost/ raudulent/out-o -date land dataInsecurity o land tenureWeak or inefcient land dispute resolution mechanismsWeak institutional capacity

Land-relateddiscrimination

Insufcient access to land services and institutions o justiceInsecurity o land tenureLack o access to landEviction, land grabbing

Tese vulnerability characteristics tend to be the product o deep-seated historical patterns and national and local power relationships.

While international actors can use these indicators to identi y vulnerability to natural disasters, a high degree o local expertise isneeded to understand how and why this vulnerability developed, andhow it can best be addressed so as to promote sustainable recovery and resilience a ter disaster.


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2.4 Disaster impacts: dest ruction,displacement, deathDi erent types o disasters have di erent e ects on land and landtenure. Hydro-meteorological hazards such as oods and tsunamismay leave large amounts o land uninhabitable through long-terminundation. Seismic events may destroy land through land slips,leaving other areas too unstable or sa e habitation. High windevents have relatively little physical impact on land, but displace largenumbers o people and destroy much o their housing.

In addition to the physical impacts, the social and economic impactso disasters are also o ten catastrophic. Natural disasters can ragment

amily structures and orce new roles and responsibilities on remainingindividuals. Perceived scarcity o usable land can create insecurity andcon ict within and between communities. Disasters may economically isolate communities, restricting their access to markets and requiringthem to diversi y their income-generating activities. Natural disastersdisproportionately a ect vulnerable groups such as women, children,youth, the elderly and disabled people by undermining traditionalassistance and support systems and coping strategies. Te impactso natural disasters on a ected communities depend in large parton prior development choices and the extent to which capacities toreduce and mitigate known risks have been created and sustained.

As summarized in Figure 3 below, all natural disasters have thepotential to produce common land issues in terms o (1) destruction,(2) displacement, and (3) deaths.

Destruction Displacement Deaths

Access to safe land Security of land tenure Restitution of land rights Inheritance of land

Disastervulnerability

Disastervulnerability

Natural hazard Disaster impacts Land issues

Figure 3. Disaster impacts and resultant land issues

2 .4 .1 Degree o f de s t r uc t i on

Land issues can emerge a ter natural disasters as a result o loss ordamage to land, housing, in rastructure and land records:

Land . A key variable a ter a disaster is the extent o physicaldestruction o and damage to land. Te need to nd new land orhousing and livelihoods relates proportionally to the amount o landlost, submerged or otherwise rendered uninhabitable.

Housing . Actors building temporary housing or reconstructingdamaged or destroyed homes need reliable in ormation about pre-disaster land ownership and boundaries. Otherwise, housing providersmay create con ict and uncertainty by building in inappropriate

Natural disasters can increase land-related insecurity and con icts.


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locations or ineligible people, exhausting natural resources in thearea, or ailing to consult the local population.

In rastructure . Damage or destruction to in rastructure can createlandowner demands or compensation when decisions are made torebuild in new locations. Building or replacing in rastructure alsorequires strategic land use planning to ensure that all settlementshave adequate access to utilities and services.

Land and related records . Loss o or damage to land records -including personal identity records - may delay recovery, and lead todiscrimination against vulnerable groups. Disaster victims need toestablish their legal identity, as well as the nature o their land rightsand the boundaries o their property in order to achieve durableshelter solutions, and secure their rights to land.

2 .4 .2 Ex t en t o f d i sp l acemen t

Displacement occurs when victims o disaster leave their homesin order to avoid the e ects o disaster. Displacement-related landissues tend to increase in severity in accordance with the distancepeople are displaced rom their homes, the duration o their absenceand the degree o tenure security they have prior to or a ter displacement.

Shelter . Emergency shelter in the context o displacement or relocationmay give rise to urther risks in situations where sites are poorly plannedor located, when local communities are not sufciently consulted, or

when emergency shelter becomes long-term in nature without theinhabitants being granted secure rights to land and associated naturalresources.

Protection. Displacement presents a risk that land and property le t behind may be lost or a variety o reasons, including lostdocumentation, lack o access to state institutions, or land grabbing by neighbors, commercial interests, or government actors. Displacementcompounds the vulnerability o women and children, who may loseaccess to land should male amily members die or be separated romthem. Displaced landless groups may become destitute without any

prospect or sustainable return.Livelihoods . Displacement inhibits the pursuit o land and naturalresource-based livelihoods, and may require the adoption o new livelihood activities. In communities where land is the main asset,hazard vulnerability is strongly in uenced by actors such as thechoice o the crops to grow or the manu acturing and service sectors.(See or example, A. Kreimer, M. Arnold, Managing Disaster Risk in Emerging Economies, World Bank, 2000).

2 .4 .3 Death s

Land inheritance and documentation issues may become points o dispute a ter a natural disaster, in particular where such documents

Loss o identity documents or land

records can delay recovery.


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have been lost or damaged, or where ofcial records never existedor have not been regularly updated. Such issues tend to emerge inproportion to mortality rates a ter a disaster.

Deaths o amily members - particularly male heads o household - may raise particular problems in disaster settings. For example, withoutlegal evidence o death (e.g. physical remains), it may be difcultto legally prove death and obtain a death certi cate, preventing thedetermination o who is entitled to ownership or use o land. Inother cases, inheritance may be determined according to customary or traditional practice that may adversely impact the housing, landand property rights o women, orphans, disabled persons or othervulnerable groups.

Land inheritance issues may require responses rom the ollowinghumanitarian sectors:

Shelter . It is important to link inheritance with land administration,particularly or the purposes o housing reconstruction. Tose whoinherit rights to land may miss out on housing assistance i they cannot present legal evidence o their rights.

Protection. Inheritance is the primary mechanism by which widowsand orphans obtain access to land a ter disasters. However, womenand children may ace heightened obstacles to claiming inheritedland rights in post-disaster settings, increasing their vulnerability.

Livelihoods : Land is closely associated with the livelihoods o boththe urban and rural poor. Without secure access to land, women and

vulnerable groups livelihoods strategies may be severely constrainedor undermined.

In summary, the severity o disaster impacts such as destruction,displacement and death is shaped by underlying vulnerability relatedto weak land governance. able 3 below summarizes the potentialimpacts o land issues due to destruction, displacement and death.

Table 3. Summary of potential disaster impacts onland and human relationships with land

Disaster impacts Areas a ected Associated land issuesDestruction Land

HousingIn rastructureLand records

New suitable land or shelter, livelihoods and in rastructureTenure security or house reconstructionLand and property disputesHazardous land, risk reduction.

Displacement ShelterProtectionLivelihoods

Site selection, planning and managementSecure access to land or vulnerable groupsSecure access to land or livelihoodsHousing, land and property rights o displaced persons

Deaths ShelterProtection

Secure access to land or durable shelter solutionsSecure access and rights to land or widows and orphansDegraded Government response capacity


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2.5 Land and resilience aft er a natur aldisasterLand tenure systems are dynamic, changing over time to meet theneeds o society, and vary rom place to place - even within thesame country - according to socio-economic, political, cultural andinstitutional contexts.In a post-disaster context, land is crucial to housing reconstruction,

ood security and recovery o production systems. However, the valueo land can also be degraded through the e ects o over-exploitation,abandonment, disputes, isolation rom markets, destruction o in rastructure and occupation by high concentrations o displacedpersons. In both rural and urban areas, disasters can be exploited toevict tenants and grab land.

While such negative changes may eventually be overcome or redressed,

the resilience o the land tenure system will signi cantly impact early recovery and reconstruction e orts. Securing the equal rights o both women and men to land is essential or post-disaster recovery, socialequity and economic growth. However, power ul groups may conspireto undermine the land rights and security o tenure o vulnerablegroups in order to advance their own interests. Tese risks must beaddressed as part o the recovery and reconstruction phases.

Figure 4. Strengthening land system resilience a ter natural disasters

2.5 .1 Key Pr inc ip les underp inning land sys temres i l i ence

Tese guidelines will outline steps to address vulnerability andpromote resilience in a land governance system based on the ollowingkey principles:

Build on community-based initiatives . Understanding and supportingcommunity response strategies is critical to improving resilience inthe long-term, particularly where they serve to strengthen land rightsdocumentation and land use planning, and can be integrated into the

broader land governance system.ake a exible tenure approach. Promoting a range o tenure options,

including short-term use rights, can reduce the risk o eviction and

Support community initiatives Flexible tenure approach Strategic planning approach Focus on vulnerable groups Pro- oor land administration

Disaster risk reduction

Earlyrecover

Natural disaster Resilience Natural hazard


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promote recovery. Flexible hierarchies o evidence can ensure thatpeople without legal documentation are not excluded rom shelter,livelihoods or other assistance programs.

Adopt strategic and exible planning, land-use and construction policies .Flexible land use planning standards can acilitate reconstructionaimed at building back better and mitigating the risk o uturedisasters. Housing standards should aim to reduce the risk o hazardsby building on existing skills and practice, rather than promotinguna ordable or inappropriate techniques and materials.

Focus on vulnerable groups . Secure rights and access to land are crucialor the vulnerable groups most a ected by a disaster, including

renters, in ormal landholders, widows and orphans. At the same timeit should be recognized that vulnerable groups o ten depend on lessvulnerable groups or access and use o land, and that exclusive ocuson vulnerable groups can be perceived as threatening to those less

vulnerable, creating incentives or them to limit access and use rights.Mutually bene cial arrangements that promote access to land withoutarbitrarily destabilizing ownership relations should be promoted.

ake a pro-poor approach to land administration. Land administrationsystems should be pro-poor; they should not require levels o education, wealth, in uence and technical capacity beyond the reacho poor individuals or Government capacity.

Table 4. Key principles for land responses thatpromote disaster resilience

Principle underlying landresponse

E ects on disaster resilience

Build on community initiatives Builds on local risk reduction strategiesLeverages local knowledgeBuilds local capacityEncourages sustainable resourcemanagement

Take a exible tenure approach Strengthens security o land tenureImproves access to shelter and livelihoods

Adopt strategic and exible planning,land use and construction policies

Improved access in in ormal settlementsHazard resistant and sustainable buildingreconstructionImproved disaster risk reduction

Take a pro-poor approach to landadministration

Strengthens security o land tenureStrengthens local land institutionsAllows inclusive land management andplanning

Focus on vulnerable groups Minimises landlessnessStrengthens livelihoods


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2.5 .2 Cons t ra in t s on land sys tem res i l i ence

Mechanisms to address vulnerability and promote disaster resilience,as outlined above, can be perceived as threatening by governmentagencies or vested interests rom the pro essional, commercial orother sectors. Tey also require a high degree o cooperation and

coordination among key stakeholders, including community,government and humanitarian actors, at a number o levels.

In all land systems, some actors stand to bene t rom extendingcontrol over land and natural resources, o ten to the detriment o poor and vulnerable groups. In this context, vulnerable groups willtypically require the support o government and humanitarian actorsin order to secure their rights. Finally, high barriers to coordinationare inherent to all land governance systems due to the presence o a

wide range o stakeholders with disparate institutional incentives.

2.5 .3 Des igning m easures for l and syst em r es i l ience

Programming to promote disaster resilience must address institutionalobstacles through mechanisms or structures including:

Early emphasis on strengthening the capacity o both governmentstructures (national and local) and traditional institutions.- Ensure land records are up-to-date and backed-up

- Adopt city-wide approaches to land-use and spatial planning.- Apply multi-hazard risk reduction policies.

A greater ocus on response through communities, grassrootsorganizations and civil society, particularly where there iscompetition and ragmentation among government agencies.

A greater ocus on advocacy, awareness-raising and outreach toensure that communities and individuals are enabled to makein ormed choices.More leadership by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator/ResidentCoordinator, humanitarian cluster or sector leads, and housing,land and property ocal points where there is competition and

ragmented responses by international actors.

Tese design mechanisms are elaborated in these Guidelines. Tere isno guarantee that they will be entirely success ul. Deep-seated landissues do not readily lend themselves to solutions, though disastersmay create windows o opportunity or positive change. Addressingland issues through appropriate design mechanisms that improve thequality o land governance will help to acilitate early recovery a ter adisaster and improve resilience to uture disasters.

Deep-seated land issues do not readily

lend themselves tosolutions, though

disasters may create windows o

opportunity or positive change.


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Further reading

Brown, O and Craw ord, A (2006) Addressing Land Ownership a ter Natural Disasters , International Institute or Sustainable Development, Winnipeg,Manitoba.

FAO, (2004) Post Con ict Land enure, Using a Sustainable Livelihoods Approach, tp:// tp. ao.org/docrep/ ao/008/j5415e/j5415e00.pd

FAO, (2005) Access to Rural Land and Land Administration a ter Violent Con icts , tp:// tp. ao.org/docrep/ ao/008/y9354e/y9354e00.pd

FAO, Julian Quan with Nat Dyer, (2008) Climate Change and Land enure ,tp:// tp. ao.org/docrep/ ao/011/aj332e/aj332e00.pd

UN-HABI A (2007), A Post-Con ict Land Administration andPeacebuilding Handbook, Vol. 1: Countries with Land Records.

Disaster aftermath in Indonesia source: UN-HABITAT


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Chapter 3 Land and the init ialhumanitarian response

Te initial humanitarian relie phase is typically characterized by con usion, as stakeholders attempt to understand the scope, scale andspatial distribution o the disasters impacts. While more power ulsections o the a ected population may be able to navigate this chaoticenvironment to secure their rights and restore their livelihoods,vulnerable communities will struggle to rebuild their lives.

Tis Section sets out policy steps and options relating to ourimportant process issues arising during the initial humanitarianresponse: assessment, planning, coordination, and advocacy. Teseprocesses are essential to ensure that peoples land related priorities and land issues more broadly are incorporated in humanitarian andearly recovery rameworks. Tey are summarized in able 5 below.

3.1 Land assessm ent sTe post-disaster response is usually initiated through a serieso assessments to determine the scope, scale and distribution o adisasters impacts. Tis Section describes our key types o assessmentrelated to land that are important to identi y time-critical barriers toearly recovery:

Rapid land assessment

Needs assessment

Loss and damage assessment; and

Land availability and risk assessment

Access and assessment in difficult circumstances - northern Pakistan. source: Maggie Stephenson, UN-HABITAT


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Emergency relief: the first 5 days Rapid land assessment

Building early recovery: the first 6 weeks Land needs assessment Land loss and damage assessment

Ensuring early recovery: the first 6 months Land availability and risk assessment

Natural disaster

Figure 5. imeline o land assessments a ter a natural disaster

3.1.1 Rapid land assessm ent

Numerous urgent issues will compete or humanitarian attentionin the immediate a termath o a natural disaster. In this context,humanitarian actors need tools to assess rapidly whether (and

which) land issues will be relevant to emergency relie operations.Te ollowing paragraphs describe practical policy steps and options

or undertaking a rapid land assessment as part o emergency relie operations.

When to undertake a rapid land assessment

Rapid land assessments should take place immediately a ter thedeclaration o a disaster or emergency. In most cases, there is no time

or any ormal questionnaire or survey method; rather, in ormationis gathered directly rom key in ormants and stakeholders. Teseassessments should not inter ere with the primary emergency relie objective o saving lives. Tey should be completed within vedays o a declaration o disaster or emergency, in order to eed intoemergency requests or humanitarian unding, and particularly UNFlash Appeals, which must be ormulated within ve to seven days o declaration o an emergency or disaster.

For the global humanitarian system, rapid land assessments may berevised within six weeks as part o the inter-agency needs assessment


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much in ormation as possible relating to needs is collected as soonas possible, particularly during the brie window o opportunity orreliable data to avoid the risk o ineligible local or national actorsmanipulating land data in order to access or manage humanitarianentitlements.

Who should undertake a land needs assessment Land needs assessments should be led by the relevant governmentagency or department, with assistance i possible rom specializedUN agencies and the IASC Country eam, under the coordinationo the UN Humanitarian Coordinator/Resident Coordinator. Tey should involve the participation o at least one international and onenational land expert.

In some cases, needs assessments relating to land may be undertakenseparately by humanitarian clusters or working groups involved in

sectors such as protection, shelter, livelihoods or agriculture. Needsassessments may also be undertaken by a ected communities orcommunity-based organizations. All such assessments should,at a minimum, include the template questions set out in theseguidelines.

What in ormation is required or the needs assessment?

It will not be possible to include numerous detailed questions relatingto land in a multi-sectoral needs assessment. Te basic objective isto assess needs related to sa e and secure access to land or shelterand livelihoods, particularly in relation to groups vulnerable tolandlessness a ter a disaster.

Tis in ormation will require quantitative and qualitative datacollection techniques. Some priority questions or inclusion inquantitative surveys o a ected households a ter a disaster are listedbelow. Care must be taken in ormulating speci c questions to avoid(i) creating insecurity o tenure where none may have existed; (ii)raising expectations that may not be met; (iii) avoiding biasing theanswers o respondents. Key questions relate to the ollowing:

enure status . What type o land right or claim do you have, e.g.ownership, lease, occupation? How are you using your land, e.g. orshelter, livelihood, rental income, etc.Land records . Do you have land rights documentation or otherevidence o your rights? Were such documents lost or destroyed inthe disaster? Do you know the names o your immediate neighbors?Lost land ( or displaced persons). Are you unable to return to yourland, or example, because is it destroyed, submerged or otherwisetoo hazardous or habitation? Do you have land elsewhere? Is it usableand i so, how is it being used?

Desire or return( or displaced persons). How have you secured yourland rights in your absence? What are your intentions or recovery?

Will you return to your land, and, i so, under what circumstances?

Assessments should not create insecurity o tenure where none exists, nor

raise expectations that will not be met.


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Will you stay with a amily member or neighbor?Women and Vulnerable Groups:Does the community or amily includeany widows or orphans? Who has taken responsibility or them?

Te survey data should be disaggregated by sex and age and shouldbe used to estimate:

Relocation requirements . Te numbers o people potentially requiringrelocation because their land is destroyed, submerged or otherwiseuninhabitable as a result o the disaster.Landlessness risks . Te number o tenants and in ormal land occupiers

without access to land a ter the disaster.Documentation requirements . Te number o landholders who may require new orms o land documentation, identity documents, deathcerti cates or inheritance or land documents.Risks or Women and Vulnerable Groups . Te relative numbers o

women, including widows, who may be in vulnerable categories,such as renters, in ormal occupiers, and persons without landdocumentation, or without access to land at all. Care ul record shouldalso be made o orphaned children.Livelihood options : needs and livelihood strategies that may requiresupport.

Qualitative data collection techniques should be used to identi y elements o disaster vulnerability in the land system. Such processesare essential both to early recovery a ter a disaster, and to strengthenresilience to uture disasters.

Qualitative data in multi-sectoral needs assessments should becollected through participatory techniques, including separate groupso women. Questions or qualitative analysis include:

Unsustainable land use . Did poor land-use contribute to the disaster,e.g. through construction on hillsides or water catchment areas,settlements on oodplains or near ault lines, or destruction o orestsor mangroves?Poor urban planning . Did settlement planning - or the ailure to plan- exacerbate or ail to mitigate the e ects o disaster, e.g. throughexclusion o in ormal settlements rom risk reduction planning,

or ailure to allow or evacuation routes or other risk reductiontechniques? Are existing urban plans out-o -date or inconsistent withactual practice?Landlessness . Are there signi cant numbers o renters or in ormallandholders in the a ected region? Is there a history o landlessness?Weak land administration. Are land records incomplete or out-o -date? Is there evidence o raud or tampering? What typologies o land disputes exist? Have land-related disputes been common? How are such disputes resolved?Land related discrimination. Do land laws and institutions discriminate

against women, children and the landless, e.g. by restricting theability o widows or orphans to exercise rights to property inheritedrom deceased male relatives?

O cial land data

should always be cross-checked against other sources

o in ormation.


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Where in ormation can be ound or needs assessments

Needs data relating to land can come rom the same sources as datagenerated in the rapid land assessment. A land needs assessmentshould also include

Quantitative data rom government agencies and household

surveys.Qualitative data rom ocus groups, including meetings withstakeholders, community group meetings, walkabout observationsand in ormal individual interviews.

Qualitative data collection should adopt participatory methodologiesto include the views o those most at risk, including women, children,indigenous groups, the disabled, the landless and holders o secondary rights to land and housing. Tese groups should be interviewed andtheir views assessed separately, including through local institutionsor civil society groups that are already working on the ground andthere ore will be best able to access and collect relevant in ormation.Ofcial land data should always be cross-checked against othersources o in ormation.

How to use Needs Assessments

Needs assessments are important tools or providing inputs toearly recovery planning and resource mobilisation. Tey can beused to update initial in ormation rom the rapid assessment,

enabling humanitarian actors to adjust priorities and locations asnew in ormation is generated. Needs assessment data can also helpestablish baselines to acilitate the monitoring and evaluation o landrelated interventions.

For international humanitarian actors a land needs assessment should be:

Integrated with the Needs Analysis Framework (NAF) andEarly Recovery Programmes developed with HumanitarianCoordinators, Early Recovery Advisors and IASC Country

eams;

Coordinated with the UN Ofce or the Coordination o

Humanitarian A airs (OCHA);Integrated into the Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP),

which is typically the basis or humanitarian response in a givencountry or region.

3.1 .3 Land dam age and loss assessm ent s

Damage and loss assessments calculate damage to land and systems

o land administration, providing preliminary baseline data oremergency relie and early recovery planning. Tey may be conductedseparately, or together with other assessments relating to needs andland availability.

Box 4.Surveyingdisplaced persons intsunami-a ected IndonesiaA ter the 2004 tsunami disaster,the NGO Garansi and theIndonesian Bureau o Statisticssurveyed 347,775 displacedpersons in the a ected provinceso Aceh and Nias. The surveyincluded questions relating to:marital status; return status; landrights status; land condition; andland documentation.

This survey generated age andgender disaggregated data onland issues that was essentialto subsequent advocacy andprogramming e orts. However,

the survey took place in late2005, a ter the preparation o theMaster Plan or Rehabilitationand Recovery. Hence the MasterPlan itsel did not adequatelyidenti y groups vulnerableto landlessness a ter thedisaster - including in particularrenters, squatters, widows andthose whose land had beensubmerged. By 2006, thesevulnerable groups constitutedsubstantial residual caseloads

in the temporary living centersknown as the barracks. Speci cpolicies targeted at theseresidual caseloads in orderto decommission the barracks were not developed untilmid-2006

Source: Fitzpatrick, D. andZevenbergen, J., Addressing Land Issues a ter Natural Disasters: ACase-Study o Tsunami-A ected Aceh, Indonesia , www.gltn.net.


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When to undertake a land damage and loss assessment

A loss and damage assessment should be undertaken within six weekso declaration o a disaster or emergency. It may be divided intopreliminary and nal assessments.

Who should undertake a damage and loss assessment A loss and damage assessment relating to land should be incorporatedinto general damage and loss assessments. E orts have been made inorder to have Land issues covered as part o the Post-Disaster Needs

Assessment (PDNA), which is a UN-World Bank and EC initiative.Tis initiative envisages close collaboration with government agenciesand IASC Country eams in a ected countries.

What in ormation should be in a damage and loss assessment?

A damage and loss assessment relating to land is concerned with threebasic questions.

How much land has been a ected by the disaster? What is thenature o physical damage to a ected land? How many landparcels have been damaged by the disaster? What percentage o disaster-a ected land may be hazardous?

What types o land documents have been lost or damaged? Whatare the prospects or recovery o damaged documents? Is there aback-up o records available elsewhere?

What damage has been done to the capacity and in rastructure or

land administration? What is the damage to land administrationbuildings and equipment? How many sta have died or beeninjured?

Box 5. Hazard mapping in PakistanIn post-earthquake negotiations, the World Banks loan agreement with the Government o Pakistan included acondition that an assessment be conducted o the extent o hazardous land in both rural and urban areas. Thishazard risk mapping was to identi y areas susceptible to uture earthquakes, landslides and rock- alls, mud-fows,and erosion subsidence. It would lead to localized re-sitting o structures, or special treatment o oundations. Butthere was no ormal de nition o the categories and classi cations o hazards, and disagreement over how theseshould be ormulated. Full hazard risk mapping would require specialist consultant teams o seismologists andgeotechnical engineers, working over large land areas under di cult conditions. In the event, relatively little hazardrisk mapping was undertaken immediately a ter the earthquake, particularly in rural areas, and many people are stillliving on clearly hazardous land. In some places, entire communities could be at risk o landslips. The situation was

urther complicated by the act that much o the a ected area was hazard-prone, making practical policy optionsdi cult to identi y. Overall, the lack o reliable in ormation concerning hazardous land remained a signi cantbarrier to managing reconstruction. Valuable geotechnical assessments have been undertaken in particular areas,

or instance Muza arabad, and in one remote rural area by experts consultants (classi ying our risk categoriesor housing), but resources and capacity or this immense task, with major implications or uture reconstruction

strategy, were limited.

Robert Home and Nilo er A ridi Qazi, (2008) Case Study o Pakistan Earthquake, http://www.gltn.net/en/e-library


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Where in ormation may be ound or damage and loss assessment

Damage and loss assessments tend to rely on existing data sourcesrather than dedicated surveys or interviews. Te data sources caninclude in ormation rom line ministry assessments, relie and recovery agencies on the ground, satellite imagery and aerial photography, and

pre-disaster survey data. Government data may be difcult to obtainin the disaster a termath. Various sources o satellite imagery canalso assist in identi ying physical damage to land through satelliteimagery.

How to use Damage and Loss Assessment in ormation

Damage and loss assessment in ormation needs to be care ully analyzed in order to identi y cases in which existing in rastructure,services and construction techniques may not be appropriate or

uture livelihoods or human settlements needs. Such in rastructure

may be poorly located or no longer appropriate or the needs. In othercases, such as land administration systems, or example, the originalsystems may have been inappropriate or inadequate or local needs limited coverage, biased in avour o male property owners, incapableo recording customary land rights, nancially and technologically unsustainable and care ul consideration must be given to uturere orms. Finally, the costs o relie and early recovery projects may also require adjustment based on such policy considerations.

3.1 .4 Ot her assessm ent t oo ls : Land ava i lab i l i ty andr i sk mapp ing

A land availability survey is meant to identi y suitable land oremergency shelter, durable shelter and/or relocation. Identi ying landavailability requires close coordination between a ected communities

A land availability survey is meant toidenti y suitable land or emergency shelter, durable

shelter and/or relocation.

A pastor gives a service outside his church destroyed in the earthquake, Leogane, Haiti. source: Alain Grimard, UN


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and early recovery actors, including local government agencies. It caninvolve an audit o public or state land.

Section 4.1 on Land and Emergency Shelter provides guidance ondetermining land availability or emergency or transitional shelter.Section 5.5 on Access to Land or Relocation and In rastructureprovides urther guidance on determining land availability orrelocation and in rastructure and estimating the amount o landrequired or relocation a ter natural disasters.

Risk mapping involves surveys by community actors or experts onthe vulnerability o sites or shelter and livelihood activities to naturalhazards. Te tools o risk mapping can include community-basedtechniques, aerial photos, satellite imagery, Geographical In ormationSystems (GIS) and historical records.

Remote sensing is a process o deriving in ormation about land and water rom a distance, usually rom a satellite or through aerialimaging techniques. Remote sensing can be used to monitor theprogress o some types o natural disasters, particularly dynamicprocesses such as oods, res and lava ows. Remote sensing can alsobe used to provide regular updates on land inundation, which canassist in estimating the amount o land required or relocation.

When correlated with Geographical In ormation Systems (GIS) data(see below), remote sensing can contribute to situation reports, ongoingestimates o the expansion o disaster impacts, and predictions o actual disaster impacts. A ter a disaster, remote sensing combined

with GIS data can be used to calculate actual disaster losses, and topredict the impact o uture disasters.

Geographical In ormation Systems are a mechanism or geographicdata management, including data related to water, transport, landcover, demographics and socio-economic indicators. GIS data canbe combined with remote sensing to predict, monitor and calculatedisaster impacts. Soil and agro-ecological data have particularvalue or identi ying ood-prone areas. GIS data is o less valuea ter earthquakes, where hazard mapping requires on-the-groundgeotechnical surveys by expert teams.

Weather warning systems . Weather warning systems can include disasteralerts, weather hazard impact assessments, drought predictions andassessments o the progress o wet seasons or cyclone seasons.

Community-based risk mapping . Hazard mapping a ter an earthquakecan utilize RADIUS (Risk Assessment ools or Diagnosis o Urban

Areas against Seismic Disasters), a community-based risk mappingtool that does not utilize GIS or satellite imagery. A simpli edRADIUS methodology underpins the global Risk Mapping andShelter Response Planning activity employed by UN-HABI A andthe Global Risk Identi cation Program (GRIP) o UNDP.


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Land tool alert! Map Action (2009) Field Guide toHumanitarian Mapping . www.mapaction.org/

Land tool alert! UNOSA Humanitarian Rapid Mapping Service : www.unitar.org\unosat.

Land tool alert! Singhroy, V et al. (1998)Landslide Characterisation in Canada Using Inter erometric SAR and Combined SAR and M Images , Advances in Space Research, Vol 23, Issue 3, p465, Zhang, J et al (2002)Floor Disaster Monitoring and Evaluationin China, Global Environment Change Part B: EnvironmentalHazards, Vol 4, Issues 2-3

Land tool alert! RADIUS tools www.gripweb.org.

In summary, able 6 below provides an overview o the di erent as-sessment tools, the issues they examine and the objectives or their use.v

Table 6. Summarising t he assessment process inrelation to land issues after natural disasters

Further reading

UN-HABI A (2007), An Immediate Measures Land Management Evaluation ool or Emergency through to Reconstruction Post Con ict Situations , www.gltn.net

UN-HABI A (2009), Local Estimate o Needs on Shelter and Settlements (LENSS) oolkit, www.disasterassessment.org

UN-WB-EC (2009), Post Disaster Needs Assessment Framework (PDNA/ RF) oolkit

Type o assessment Key issues or assessment Key objectives o assessment

Rapid The disasters land-related impactsUrgent humanitarian requirements or land.

Time-critical risks to early recovery rom vulnerability inthe land governance system.

Identi y urgent land requirements or emergency relie .Identi y time-critical land issues that may delay in early

recovery.

Needs Loss and availability o land or shelter and livelihoods.Overall risks to early recovery rom vulnerability in theland governance system.

Provide inputs into strategic planning on land and disasterrecovery.Update the initial identi cation and prioritisation o landissues in the rapid land .assessment.Provide baseline data to allow monitoring and evaluation o land programs.

Damage and ltoss The nature and extent o damage to (1) land, (2) landdocuments and (3) land administration

Calculate damage to land and systems o landadministration and cost to restore to original condition.

Land Availabilityand Risk Mapping

Availability o sites or shelter and livelihoods.Vulnerability to natural hazards o sites or shelter andlivelihoods.

Building back better and sa er a ter a disaster.


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3.2 Planning for relief and recoveryTis Section provides policy steps and options or planning landresponses a ter a natural disaster, rom contingency planning,through Flash Appeals (FAs), Consolidated Appeals (CAPs) and ExitPlanning (see Figure 6 below). Such responses are important or early

recovery because they:Facilitate sequencing activities in circumstances o competingpriorities and limited time and institutional capacity;Identi y critical areas or capacity development and institutionalstrengthening;Improve coordination among stakeholders, including governmentagencies;Establish benchmarks and indicators or monitoring andevaluation o early recovery programs;

Support evidence-based policy advocacy; and

Create a credible ramework or resource mobilization.

Figure 6. Planning land responses through humanitarian action

Flash appeals 6 month horizon Sectoral land programs (e.g. shelter,

protection, agriculture) Cross-cutting land programs (e.g. tenure

security, land for landless, land useplanning

Revised / Consolidated appeals Beyond 6 months Sectoral land programs Cross-cutting land programs (e.g. tenure

security, land for landless, land useplanning

Exit planning Capacity-building for better land governance Transfer of land responsibilities and

information products

Contingency planning National disaster plans Common Humanitarian Action Plan [CHAP]

Naturaldisaster


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3 .2 .1 W hen t o p l an ea r ly r ecovery l and r e sponses

Planning early recovery responses to land issues should beginimmediately a ter a disaster, or at the latest upon completion o therapid land assessment. Early planning is essential because land issuescan be a time-critical barrier to early recovery, particularly in relation to:

Security o tenure as necessary to acilitate housingreconstruction;

Access to land or livelihoods, in rastructure and, wherenecessary, relocation; andImproved land use and settlement planning or prospectivehazard risk reduction.

Planning responses to land issues should draw on pre-disastercontingency planning, including national hazard reduction plans andany relevant UN plans such as the Common Humanitarian Action

Plan or the region or area. Planning should:ake place within and across humanitarian sectors;

ake into account the mechanisms o humanitarian unding;

Build upon existing institutions at the community, local andnational levels; andSupport peoples own response and recovery strategies.

Box 6. Flash appeals and UNDP/UN-HABITAT land programming in tsunami- a ectedIndonesia and earthquake-a ected PeruIn tsunami-a ected Indonesia, UNDP received a large amount o Flash Appeal unding or its Emergency Recoveryand Transitional Reconstruction (ERTR) program. The ERTR program included shelter, livelihoods and governancecomponents. The shelter component was quick to bring in a consultant with land expertise, who initiated UNDPprograms ocused on inheritance, relocation and tenure security or reconstruction. In conjunction with the UNRecovery Coordinator, UNDP also played a key role in advocating the housing, land and proper ty rights o rentersand in ormal land occupiers in tsunami-a ected Indonesia.

In earthquake-a ected Peru, UNDP and UN-HABITAT received joint Flash Appeal unding to provide technicalassistance to the Peruvian authorities on policy development and recovery in the housing sector; to prepare

assessments o damage and criteria or rehabilitation o settlements; to develop settlement plans; to developguidance on tenure rights; and to train masons in seismically sa e techniques. Outputs o the project includedthe development o manuals on anti-seismic building techniques, land-use planning and land tenure rights aswell as updated risk mapping o the a ected areas. Approximately seven out o ten people a ected did not havelegal documentation or their properties hampering the Governments attempts to compensate those whoseproperties were lost or damaged. UN-HABITATs work on this project was vital in assisting both the governmentand a ected communities to realize peoples rights to their land, as well as to support gender equality in a contextwhere previously only a man could be named as th

Land and Natural Disasters Guidance From Practitioners

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