Land Distribution and Tenure in Colombia

Robert Caryle Beyer

doi:10.2307/164976

Land Distribution and Tenure in Colombia

Journal of Inter-American Studies ◽

10.2307/164976 ◽

1961 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 281-290

Author(s):

Robert Caryle Beyer

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

Land Tenure ◽

Land Reform ◽

Agrarian Reform ◽

Land Distribution ◽

Fidel Castro ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

Made In

Before Fidel Castro entered Habana, one heard very little about land reform as the number one problem of Cuba. In 1950, the World Bank in its prodigious 1051-page study of the Cuban economy gave only four pages to the problem of land distribution and land tenure, and among the hundreds of recommendations made in this report, those that referred to agrarian reform were very few, general, and cautious.

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SMALL LANDOWNERS AND LAND DISTRIBUTION IN IRAN, 1962–71

International Journal of Middle East Studies ◽

10.1017/s0020743800021073 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 123-153 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mohammad Gholi Majd

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

World Bank ◽

Land Reform ◽

Private Property ◽

Political Stability ◽

The Philippines ◽

Land Distribution ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

Number Of Individuals

During the Cold War years following World War II, the U.S. government and international agencies such as the World Bank and FAO strongly advocated and pushed for land reform (distribution) in countries under U.S. influence. Examples of American-sponsored land reforms included the land-distribution programs in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, South Vietnam, Iran, the Philippines, and El Salvador. Land reform in practice consisted of giving the ownership of land to the cultivating tenants and sharecroppers. By giving land to the tenants, it was believed that a communist revolution or takeover could be avoided. The modern theoretical basis for land reform can be found in the writings of such Marxist scholars as Alain de Janvry, the non-Marxist writers Albert Berry and William Cline, and the World Bank economists Hans Binswanger and Miranda Elgins.1 Marxist writers had stressed the political aspects of “anti-feudal” reforms. Such reforms were said to promote political stability as well as strengthen capitalism. How the abrogation of private-property rights was supposed to “strengthen” capitalism was not really explained. Non-Marxist writers concentrated on increased efficiency and increased output that was expected from land redistribution. Berry and Cline showed that in labor-surplus underdeveloped dual economies with a bi-modal farm structure (where large commercial and small subsistence farms existed side by side), a land reform that redistributed land from large farms to small farms increased agricultural production and rural welfare, and brought about economic growth and development. In addition, land reform was seen to result in greater social equity (taking land from wealthy landowners and giving it to poor farmers). It was an article of faith among the proponents of land reform that “the hated class of absentee landlords” did not fulfill any useful socio-economic function, at least none that could not be performed equally well by some government agency. They also believed that sharecropping and tenancy did not fulfill any useful social and economic functions. It was implicitly assumed in the theoretical writings that the rights of a small number of individuals were to be sacrificed for the benefit of the many. In none of the theoretical literature was the possibility of expropriating a large number of individuals advocated or even considered.

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Protecting access to land for indigenous and non-indigenous communities: A new page for the World Bank?

Leiden Journal of International Law ◽

10.1017/s0922156519000232 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 32 (3) ◽

pp. 501-516

Author(s):

Margherita Brunori

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

World Bank ◽

Land Tenure ◽

Indigenous Communities ◽

Equitable Access ◽

The World Bank ◽

Social Standards ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

International Instruments

AbstractThe World Bank has reviewed its environmental and social policies at a moment of intense production of international instruments dealing with land tenure, all of which take the form of soft law. This endeavour is motivated by the progressive acknowledgement of the importance of secure and equitable access to land for the realization of human rights and food security. The latest contribution of the World Bank to this debate is of great significance. This article aims to unveil the effects that the new Environmental and Social Framework is likely to generate in this context. It analyses the protection of access to land and security of tenure contained in the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Standards in light of the developments occurring at the international level. To this end, the article reviews the changes to the standards in the context of the social impacts when a lending project affects land holders or users directly or indirectly; addresses the mechanisms for protecting, compensating and improving livelihood opportunities for those affected by the projects; and comments on the safeguarding of indigenous peoples’ lands. The article finds that the World Bank, by incorporating some of these emerging standards, has confirmed the relevance of emerging principles and guidelines on land, even if they are contained in non-binding instruments. On a critical note, the article recognizes the refusal of the World Bank to adopt the underlying discourse and fully embrace human rights achievements in the context of land issues.

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Applying the FFP Approach to Wider Land Management Functions

Land ◽

10.3390/land10070723 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 723

Author(s):

Kathrine Kelm ◽

Sarah Antos ◽

Robin McLaren

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

Land Management ◽

Land Tenure ◽

Data Capture ◽

Geospatial Data ◽

Land Administration ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

Management Functions

The initial focus of implementing the Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration (FFPLA) methodology was to address the significant, global security of tenure divide. We argue that this land tenure methodology is proving successful in scaling up the provision of security of tenure for developing countries. The increasing adoption of the FFPLA methodology has also opened opportunities and provided flexibility for the innovative use of emerging technologies to accelerate the global roll out of security of tenure, such as the use of autonomous drones and machine learning techniques applied to image analysis. Despite wider adoption of participatory approaches to the recording of land tenure, similar FFP solutions for the other components of land administration services (land value, land use and land development) and land management functions are still evolving. This article therefore explores how the FFP approach can be applied to this wider set of land administration services and land management functions. A case study methodology, using three case studies, is used to determine if the case study approaches meet the FFP criteria. The focus is on the urban environment, drawing mostly from experiences and case studies in the Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience & Land Global Practice of the World Bank. These opportunities for the wider application of the FFP approach and associated principles are being triggered by the innovative use of emerging new data capture technology developments. The paper examines the innovative use of these emerging technologies to identify a common set of data capture techniques and geospatial data that can be shared across a range of urban land administration and management activities. Finally, the paper discusses how individual land projects could be integrated into a more holistic land administration and management program approach and deliver a significant set of socio-economic benefits more quickly. It is found that the FFP approach can be more widely adopted across land administration and land management and in many cases can share a common set of geospatial data. The authors argue that the wider adoption and integration of these new, innovative FFP urban management approaches will require a significant cultural, professional, and institutional change from all stakeholders. Future work will explore more deeply these institutional weaknesses, which will provide a basis for guidance to the World Bank and similar institutions.

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Effectiveness of Sustainable Marine Economy Interventions

10.19088/k4d.2021.128 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Laura Bolton

Keyword(s):

Economic Development ◽

World Bank ◽

Annual Review ◽

Trust Fund ◽

Early Stages ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

Blue Economy ◽

Marine Economy ◽

Made In

Large development intervention programmes termed ‘marine economy’ or ‘blue economy’ are in their early stages and do not yet have results on effectiveness. Reports on the effectiveness of activities which could be considered under the blue economy umbrella were identified although more general reports of success than specific evidence. The World Bank programme, Problue, is a multi-donor trust fund aiming to achieve sustainable economic development in healthy oceans. The latest annual review of the programme lists achievements in terms of number of activities, proposals accepted, and beneficiaries. Effectiveness outcomes were not yet available. Progress has been made in developing frameworks and tools to assist governments to develop roadmaps. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is undertaking a large number of activities in support of sustainable ocean economies which are also in early stages.

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