1

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of

Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security

Case Study – Albania

Fatbardh Sallaku

FAO Local Consultant

Tirana, Albania December 4, 2015

Issues to talk about…

Why we are concern about the Land administration

General view of Albanian Agriculture

Land Tenure types

Pilot cases in LC

Forestry and Fishery situation

Legal Framework

Institutional Framework

Policy Recommendations

General Guiding Principles

2

Sfidat ekonomike

•Food Safety (10 miliard ne 2050)

•Price variability

•Economic Cirsis

What are the challenges for agriculture…?

Commission Communication ‘The CAP towards 2020’

Challenges

Economic

Environment

Territorial

Environmental Challenges •GHG emissions •Soil depletion •Water/air quality •Habitats and biodiversity Territorial challenges •Vitality of rural areas •Diversity of EU agriculture

1970

RURAL

63%

URBAN

37%

2000 2030

RURAL

53%

URBAN

47%

RURAL

40%

URBAN

60%

Urban population growth

Total world population : 6.5 billion

2007: Total urban population: 3.3 billion

Total slum dwellers: 1.1 billion

3

Kibera, Nairobi, 250 ha, 1 mill+ people

Informal development

Unplanned settlements and areas

where housing is not in

compliance with current planning

and building regulations

(unauthorized housing).

In Albania the illegal developments contain up to 25% of the population and 40% of the built-up area of major cities in which they are located.

Inadequate planning & building control systems.

Implications of social and economic institutions in society.

Bad governance

4

People, human rights, engagement and dignity

Politics, land policies and good governance

Places, shelter, land rights, and natural resources

Power, decentralisation and empowerment

Land Governance...It is all about:

and

Source: Land Administration (Peter Dale and John McLaughlin)

Cadastral parcel and ownership information

5

Understanding the Land Management Paradigm

Land Management includes all activities associated with the management of

land and natural resources that are required to fulfill political objectives and

achieve sustainable development.

LAS provide the infrastructure for implementation of land polices

and land management strategies in support of sustainable development.

Land Tenure: the allocation and security of rights in lands; the legal surveys of boundaries; the transfer of property through sale or

lease; and the management; adjudication of disputes regarding rights and boundaries.

Land Value: the assessment of the value of land and properties; the gathering of revenues through taxation; and the management

and adjudication of land valuation and taxation disputes.

Land-Use: the control of land-use through adoption of planning policies and land-use regulations at various levels; the enforcement

of land-use regulations; and the management and adjudication of land-use conflicts.

Land Development: the building of new infrastructure; the implementation of construction planning; and the change of land-use

through planning permission and granting of permits.

6

Formal and informal land markets

Formal land markets

• Formal public processes

• Public access

• Public registration

• Security of tenure

• Valuation and taxation

• Institutional credit

• Complex commodities

• Building and land use controls

•

Informal land markets

• No rules apparent or local rules apply

• Informal processes – no transparency for strangers

• Tenure security normally do not apply

• No official valuation but values may be high

• No land use control

• Formal land markets generate economic wealth

• Informal land markets fail to generate sufficient national wealth to fund

government

• Land administration systems supports formalisation of land markets

Country Profile

3.8 million inhabitants

50 % Rural Population

Total surface 28 000 km2

24 % Agricultural Land

The lowest amount of agricultural land per capita (0.2-0.3 hectares) in the region

18.3 % share of agriculture in GDP

7

General overview of Agriculture

• Agriculture remains the largest employer in Albania.

• About 52 percent of employed people are engaged in the agricultural sector, amounting to about 500 529 full time jobs (INSTAT, 2013).

• In 2012 the agricultural sector (agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing) accounted for 18.3% of total GDP.

• More women than men are employed in the agricultural sector, although there are still only 21 527 female farm holders compared with 329 389 male farm holders (2012), which marks a slight change compared to 2007.

• The share of female farm holders was 6.5 percent in 2012 as compared to 5.5 percent in 2007.

Situation with land fund after the land reform

Land category Ha %

1 Total area 2 875 000 100

2 Forest, pasture, forest land, etc 2 179 000 76

3 Arable land 696 000 24

According to slope

4.1 Flat (0-5%) 300 000

4.2 Hilly (5.1-25%) 337 000

4.3 Mountain (over 25%) 159 000

8

Land utilization

• The area of utilized agricultural land has increased by more than 20 000 ha since 2007, consisting mainly of new plantations.

• Almost 15 000 ha of new trees were planted, including fruits (3 193 Ha), olives (8 565 Ha) and vineyards (1 135 Ha) through the support schemes during 2007-2012.

• 75% of the total agricultural land is being utilized

• The number of farms/agricultural households has decreased by 4 percent in comparison to 2007 (350 916 farms in 2012).

LAND

Community

People Individuals and

Community

Land

Tenure

INTERESTS

Rights

Limitations

Obligations

What is land tenure?

Land tenure is an institution, i.e. rules invented by societies to regulate behavior.

How property rights to land are to be allocated within societies.

In simple terms, land tenure systems determine who can use what resources for how long and under

what conditions

Land Tenure

in Albania

9

• Under Albania‘s Civil Code, land may be privately owned or owned by the state.

• Land that is privately owned may be freely bought, sold or leased, and landowners have the right to exclusive possession and use of the land.

• Although all family members are deemed to be owners of family land, the representative owner generally has sole right to decide on land transactions, has the final decision on how land should be used and represents the family‘s property interests in the public sphere.

• The state owns about 27,000 hectares of agricultural land;

• State land can be leased to private individuals and communities and authority to manage and use the land devolved to local governments.

• State agricultural land can be leased for periods of up to 10 years for most crops; up to 30 years for livestock and up to 99 years for tourism development, fruit trees, and high forest.

Land Tenure Types in Albania

General overview of Land Tenure

Land Privatization: • Has started at 1991 and finished at 2008;

• There are 445000 agricultural families which have benefited from the reform

• The average holding size 1.2 hectares;

• Very fragmented (2-8 parcels)

- 80% of total agricultural land belong to private owners - 20% of the total is state property

-About 20 000 ha are for ex-owner compensation; -110 000 ha, are refused from agricultural families to take in their ownership because: low natural fertility; not irrigated and far away from the urban centers; (This surface is in the administration of local government can be lease out to physical persons (Albanian or foreign)

- The first registration has been completed in 2392 rural cadastral zones out of

2920 total zones or ( 82%).

10

General Policies Related to Land and Agriculture

Ministry of Agriculture has developed and endorsed the Inter-sectoral Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (ISARD) in accordance with the framework of the Europe 2020 strategy focused on the 3 following strategic directions: • Rural development interventions; • National interventions related to income support to

farmers, development of rural infrastructure and ensuring equal opportunities;

• Institutional development, regulation and enforcement.

Measures of Implementation related to Land Issues

• Bring all formal agricultural holdings and the agro-processing operators in full compliance with EU standards by 2020;

• Support development of agricultural land market and introduction of modern of rural land spatial planning;

• Increase the average farm size to at least 2.5 ha in 2020; and increase average farm size of commercial farms to 3.5 ha;

• Enhance the value chain organization through the establishment of 100 producer groups and associations and similar types of cooperation among farmers in 2020;

Further activities are planned to increase the institutional capacities of the MARDWA through the development of the Integrated Administrative and Control System (IACS) to meet EU requirements, as follows:

• Establishment of the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS);

• Establishment of a complete farm register;

• Further development of procedures to implement rural development measures.

11

Measures of Implementation related to land issues

• A land consolidation project has been implemented with support from FAO with the main objective of drafting a National Strategy on land consolidation. The strategy has been prepared and is awaiting endorsement from the Government;

• In order to support the cooperation between farmers to enhance the use

of agricultural land, the Law on Agricultural Cooperation was adopted in 2012, which introduced the legal framework for establishing agricultural cooperatives. In this context the advisory services carried out a large informational campaign and provided supporting materials to farmers to facilitate the establishment of cooperatives.

• The government with the support from the WB is implementing a

Irrigation Water Resources and Irrigation Project which will develop improved policies and procedures in water management in Albania.

Land Consolidation Project in Albania

During 2010-2013, a project titled: Support to the Preparation of a National Land Consolidation Strategy and a Land Consolidation Pilot Project TCP/ALB/3301 is implemented in Albania.

Project main outputs:

• Pilot activities in three villages Land re-parceling through voluntary exchanges, selling, buying and leasing

between individual owners in order to create amalgamated parcels

• Developing a National LC Strategy

12

Pilot Comune where the project is implemented

Project Approach

First Phase: (Need Assessment Analyses).

Plan 1: provide the real

situation regarding the

ownership, preparation of

ownership maps

Plan 2: Mobility Map

(provides information

regarding the landowners

wishes, selling, buying,

lease, exchanges)

Re- allowment Plan and transaction

registration

Interview

Plan 1

Plan 2

Registration

13

Land Ownership Situation (Plan 1)

Land Mobility Map

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LAND MOBILITY MAPOwner ship situation befor the project

Subregional Office for Central and Eastern Europe

Food and Agriculture Organization

Land Consolidation Pi lot Project, TC P/ALB/330108 - 07 - 2011

MG

1:13 000

Cerme Vogel, Cerme Siperme, Cerme Proshke

1068 Budapest, Hungary

Drawn by:

Benczu r utca 34

Scale:

E-mail: fao-seur@fao.org

Date:

Teleph one: +36 1 461 2000

LAND MOBILITY MAP

- land parcels for exchange

- land parcels for sale

- state property

LEGEND

- land parcels for lease

14

Pilot Project Results

Desired

Undesired

749 farmer in total

656 farmers interviewd

120 land parcels for selling

320 land parcels exchanges

Errores during the registration process

Heritages problems

Persons not present

Very high transactions cost

Mistakes in gerelaties (names)

Very low number of

transactions accomplished

Pending Transactions

5% of cases

registered

Feb 2012

60% of farmers willing to

participate in the project

(Feb-Aprill 2011)

Main Types of Problems

Errors or inaccuracies in the registration A large number of cases has reported errors or inaccuracies in the registration of personal information in the ownership documentation.

Heritage cases The reason for problems related to heritage is that the owner in the land register is deceased without a new owner- often heir of the former owner is registered. The main reasons being that, families want to save the costs for registration and also ignorance of registration procedures.

Mistakes during registration process Another typical trend constitutes cases when there is incompliance between the data registered by IPRO on the registered surface of the land plot and the factual on site situation. There is a high number of cases where discrepancies between the factual situation of land plots and records registered in the IPRO, disputes of border properties,

“Simple” mistakes and errors in land registration and title documents.

Simple problems identified during interviews with landowners (e.g. different spelling of owners name in register and on title documents or wrong cadastral number). Such kind of problems will be solved within transaction registration procedure.

15

Data from pilot villages

Nr Problems Cerme

SIPERME

Cerme

PROSHKE

Cerme

VOGEL

TOTAL % Solutions

1 Wrong name/Surname/

father’ name 6 8 10 24 15.1 Correction

2 Inheritance 10 15 20 45 40 inheritance certificate

3 Persons not present 31 30 35 96 44.4 Power of attorney

4 Property separation 27 19 33 79 36.5 Topographer

5 Unregister property 6 6 8 20 12.1 Registration

9 Land more than in land

title (AMTP)

30 31 49 110 50.9 Evaluation in land

commission

10 Long and very complicated procedures of registration

11 High cost of transaction (until 30000 lek/transaction

Current legal framework • Constitution of Albania, Adopted on 1998 , including provisions guaranteeing immovable property rights.

• Law No. 7501 of July 19, 1991, “On Land”, under which agricultural lands were divided among those

working them.

• Law No. 7698 of April 15, 1993,“On Restitution and Compensation to Former Property Owners” was the

basis for further privatization. Mid-1990s Civil law reform, particularly under the Civil Code of 1994, provided a legal framework for private property transactions.

• Law No. 7843 of July 13, 1994, “On the Immovable Property Registry System”.

• Law No. 9404 of October 29, 2004, “On Legalization and Urban Planning of Informal Zones” attempts to regularize illegal buildings based on a self-declaration process managed by local authorities.

• Law No. 9235 of July 29, 2004, “On Restitution and Compensation of Property” replaces the 1993 law and introduces compensation at current market value.

• Law No. 9482 of April 3, 2006,“On Legalization, Urban Planning and Integration of Illegal constructions” replaces the 2004 law and attempts to regularize illegal settlement and buildings constructed before May 2006, subject to a self-declaration process managed by the central Agency for the Legalization, Urban Planning, and Integration of Informal Areas/Constructions (ALUIZNI).

• Law No.10119 of April 23, 2009, “On Territorial Planning” introduces modern concepts of urban planning and control. The secondary regulations were adopted in June 2011.

• Law No. 33/2012 “For the registration of immovable properties.”

• Law No: 55/2012 “For some additions and changes in the Law No: 9235, date 29.7.2004 on the Restitution and Compensation of Property, changed”

• Law No: 7698 (1993) on Restitution and Compensation of Properties to Former Owners , which was revised most recently in 2004, allows pre-1945 landowners to claim non-agricultural land and agricultural land up to 100 hectares.

16

Current Institutional Framework Land Management • Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration (MARDWA)

• Ministry of Urban Development

• Local Municipalities

• Ministry of Finance

Land Administration • Ministry of Justice

• The Immovable Property Registration System (IPRS), which initiated systematic land title registration in the 1990‘s. ).

• Ministry of Agriculture

• The Agency for the Legalization, Urbanization and Integration of Informal Areas/Construction (ALUIZNI) which is responsible for managing the formalization of rights to urban and peri-urban land, and the integration of informal settlements into urban planning and development (ALUIZI 2011).

• The Ministry of Interior manages decentralization of authority over land use and management to local government and supervises the State Commission for Inventory and Transfer of Public Properties and the Inter-Ministerial National Committee on Decentralization

• Territorial Adjustment Committees (TAC) (operating at national, regional and local levels) have authority over land for housing, trade, industry and services within village boundaries.

• All cities are required to have a General Adjustment Plan prepared by the national TAC, which sets the ―yellow line designating urban centers for a 15-year period.

Overview of Forestry Sector

• Until in the year 1990, all the forestry and pastures were under the state property.

• In 2012, forests and other wooded land covered 1 237 000 ha, or 43 percent of Albania’s land area and pastures covered 505 290 ha.

• The total area under the Local government property in the year 2013 was 487.944 ha or 46,9 % of the total area.

• The contribution of forestry to the country's economy has remained small.

• Non-wood forest products and services are an important source of income in rural Albania;

• Deforestation is considered a major environmental problem in Albania. Forested areas have decreased in recent decades due to deforestation, either for fuel-wood or for increasing areas of arable land. Overall, forests have registered a decline of about 10 percentage points in the last 50 years.

• Decentralization of forestry management through transferring ownership of about 50 percent of forestry and pasture areas to local governments has created opportunities for protection of natural resources, income generation, poverty reduction and improvement of living standard/quality in rural areas. However, depletion of resources and erosion problems still represent a challenge.

17

Forestry Policy

• Albania began transferring use and management rights to local governments in 1996.

• Local government bodies are responsible for: drafting forest management plans; establishing the technical and administrative bodies to conduct forest inventories; and create plans to fund investment in forests.

• Use rights are granted for 10-year, renewable terms and require a management plan that is entered into between the Forest Directorate and the commune.

• Families can be granted use rights to certain areas, as agreed to between the Forest Directorate and the commune/municipality and between the commune and forest user.

• Use rights do not include the right to sell timber and none of the legislation explicitly grants communes the right to sell forest products, leaving the issue for negotiation with the forest department.

Forestry Policy

The Forestry Strategy approved in 2005, determine the main objectives for the forestry development for the upcoming 25 years as follows:

(i) sustainable governance of the forestry;

(ii) protection, conservation and the improvement of the biological diversity of the forestry;

(iii) the protection of the function and social-economical function and the provisions of benefits for the society;

(iv) promotion of individual and collective initiatives for the forestation of the abandoned land.

The main strategic principles are focused on the following:

(i) sustainable governance and management of forestry resources,

(ii) the separation of benefits and utilities generated from the forestry and

(iii) improvement of the recovery and the ecological integrity of the forestry.

18

Current Legal Framework

• Constitution of Albania, Adopted on 1998

• Law No. 7623, date 13.10.1992 “For Forestry and policy of forestry services”.

• Law No. 7838, date 30.6.1994 “For some changes in the Law No. 7623, date 13.10.1992 “For Forestry and policy of forestry services”.

• Law No. 9385, date 4.5.2005 “For Forestry and Forestry services”.

• Law No. 15/2012 “For some changes in the Law No. 9385, date 4.5.2005 “For Forestry and Forestry Services"

• Law No. 8752, date 26.3.2001 “For establishment of the Administration structures for soil protection”.

• Law No.36-2013 “For a change in the Law No. 9385, date 4.5.2005 “For Forestry and forestry services”

Current Institutional Framework The forestry sector has passed through two phases of organization: 1990-2006 and from

2006 year to date.

1990-2006 period • In the year 1989, the forestry sector was removed by the Ministry of Agriculture and transferred

under the General Directory of Forestry and Pasture.

2006-2014 period • From January 2006, the General Directory of Forestry is merged as an independent sector and the

forestry administration is removed to the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Water Administration (today Ministry of Environment). The forestry sector is represented by the General Directory of Forestry and Pasture, Directory of Natural Conservation Policies and from the Sector of Forestry Policy.

• In January 2014, the controlling structure, the Forestry Policy become a part of State Inspectorate of Environment, Forestry and Water, public central Institution under the Ministry of Environment, organized in 12 regional branches in Qark Level.

• For the first time the controlling function are separated by the management structures of the forestry sector.

Other institutions Involved • National Environmental Agency

• The National Agency for Protected Areas (management of nature reserves, national parks, protected landscapes)

19

Fishery Sector

• National statistics for 2012 indicate that agriculture contributes 18.3 % of GDP of which 0.2% (of total GDP) is the contribution from the fisheries sector.

• If the contribution of the fisheries sector is correct, this would value the sector at €20.2 million.

• This is likely to be an underestimate of fishing’s contribution as different reports values the productive sector alone (fisheries plus aquaculture) at €27 million.

• The sector’s contribution is more likely to be in the region of 0.4-0.5% of total GDP, but with much of this value entering the informal economy.

• Recent fleet register data from September 2014 shows that there are 553 licensed fishing vessels with 38.5% of these in Durres, 34.4% in Vlore, 13.7% in Sarande and 11.6% in Shengjin.

• A positive recent development is the establishment and maintenance of a national fleet register. (software prepared by FAO).

Fishery

• The MoA is responsible for implementation of the Law ‘On Fisheries’ (Law No. 64 dated 31.05.2012 as amended by Law No. 129 dated 27.12.2012 and Law No. 29 dated 24.02.2013).

• The objective of this law is the management of fishing activity and to ensure protection of marine and inland water species, by promoting sustainable development of fishing activities.

• There are four key DCMs of relevance to the marine fisheries sector and a number of DCMs applicable to the inland fisheries sector currently in force, as well as one key implementing regulation.

• There are a number of legislative EU approximation issues with regard to the fisheries law that require attention within this strategy.

• There is a draft law ‘On Aquaculture’ that is not yet in force. This was sent to the responsible ministry (MEFWA) for public consultation in August 2012 but it remains unclear when this will be enacted.

• The primary food safety law is the ‘Law on Food’, as amended by law No. 9863 of 28/01/2008 (latest amendment January 2014).

Current Legal Framework Fishery

20

• Governance of the sector has had a complicated history over the past 15 years, with several changes in the institutional ‘home’ of the sector’s administration since 2000.

• Limitations to the effective governance of the sector remains’ what is arguably the most serious weakness within the sector and institutional reform is considered very important.

• After 2013 the administration of the sector, plus the fisheries inspection services, moved from the MEFWA back to the Ministry of Agriculture

• There is no coherent fisheries administration structure in place since late 2012

• There is no fisheries enforcement capacity. A cadre of 22 inspectors, based within the Directorate of Fisheries & Aquaculture Services (so outside of the main institutional framework of the MoA) only act as monitors (collecting data), are disproportionally distributed around the country (with too few based on the coast) and there are not enough of them to provide 24/7 coverage.

• There is currently no single framework or document addressing the policy and planning needs of the sector. With funding from the World Bank PFDP a fisheries sector policy entitled ‘Vision 2015’ was prepared in March 2006, but the MEFWA responsible for the sector did not accept either of these planning documents;

• The sector remains without a coherent policy or strategic plan. The only reference to any fisheries policy and planning tools is in the current Fisheries Law.

• The MoA recently prepared an inter-sectorial strategy for agriculture and rural development in Albania (MoA, 2014), where are articulated some challenges, opportunities and priorities for the sector, there is no mention of fisheries sector development planning.

• There is also the comprehensive Fishery Management Plan and Aquaculture: Blue Action (2011-2013) report prepared by the previous fisheries administration (within the MEFWA).

Fishery Policy and Institutional Framework

General Guiding principles

Recognize and respect all legitimate tenure right holders and their rights Identify, record and respect legitimate tenure right holders and their rights, whether formally

recorded or not; meet the duties associated with tenure rights. A Safeguard legitimate tenure rights against threats and infringements Protect tenure right holders against the arbitrary loss of their tenure rights, including forced

evictions that are inconsistent with their existing obligations under national and international law. B

Promote and facilitate the enjoyment of legitimate tenure rights Take active measures to promote and facilitate the full realization of tenure rights or the

making of transactions with the rights, such as ensuring that services are accessible to all C

Provide access to justice to deal with infringements of legitimate tenure rights Provide effective and accessible means to everyone, through judicial authorities or other

approaches, to resolve disputes over tenure rights; and to provide affordable and prompt

enforcement of outcomes

D

E Prevent tenure disputes, violent conflicts and corruption. Take active measures to prevent tenure disputes from arising and from

escalating into violent conflicts. Prevent corruption in all forms, at all levels.

21

Land Tenure • State agencies such as IPRO, AKKP and ALUIZNI should enhance their coordination to ensure a

fast, well-operating and incontestable property administration system. In the same length of wave should be the cooperation between central and local government.

• Unification of immovable properties database applying the same technical standards and requirements, basing on legal commonly accepted ownership documents compatible to cartographic data is an important process

• The current status of state land should be addressed especially to clarify the legal basis and its uses.

• Elaborate valuation guidelines and promote institute of private valuators • More efficient system of land registration property procedures, reduction of transaction costs,

improve the security of property rights and ensure registration of land users rights;

• Improving women’s access to land and property will not happen by itself; projects and governments must be pro-active in educating women about their rights and educating land agencies about their responsibilities to improve gender outcomes.

• A land tax system should be put into service to clearly defined social objectives and provide a stable, predictable source of revenue that is transparent in the way that it is calculated and collected.

• Increase of women’s land ownership by registering land titles under the name of both spouses.

Legitimate tenure right holders and their rights recognized and respected

Policy Recommendations – VGGT Principle 1

Forestry • Improve and update forests and pastures fund data in line with the national

immovable property registration system and complete the property transfer to the local government units.

• Complete the national inventory of forestry, based on the forestry economies, as well as land cover using modern technologies;

• Establishment of the new cadastre system for the forestry fund, where the actual situation is reflected and updated;

• Preparation and the approval of the new Forestry Law, taking into consideration the new administrative structure

• Identify High Conservation Value Forests and divide the forest fund into different functional categories.

• Identify the best forms of forest ownership and distribution of management responsibilities based on the new administrative organization

• Promote gender initiatives during the forest use and management and help women to deal with the process

Legitimate tenure right holders and their rights recognized and respected

Policy Recommendations – VGGT Principle 1

22

Land Tenure • Establish a framework for land valuation to be used as guidance in the negotiations

process for different activities.

• Strengthen capacity for all agencies and public institutions (IPRO, notaries, tax office, etc.) in the field of land administration and management;

• Elaborate curriculum for university and post-university studies in land valuation including for the certification of purposes

Forestry • Prepare and implement forestry management plans aimed to increase the capacities of

the authorized bodies in order to have a separation of the management function from the inspection function.

• Secure sustainable funding from state budget and the harmonization of this sector with

other sectors especially with the rural development sector.

Fishery • Determining the rules of management and co-management in the fishery sector by

involving fishing communities in decision making

Legitimate tenure rights safeguarded and protected

Policy Recommendations – VGGT Principle 2

Land Tenure

• Elaborate necessary legislative changes for developing spatial planning in

order to create a clear planning framework;

• Support pilot projects in rural spatial planning including both urban and rural areas;

• Support initiatives that promote rural economic stability and improvement of land management implementing land consolidation projects to address the land fragmentation issue;

• Enforce the soil bonity classification system and starting the Agricultural Land Suitability System as a more accurate system;

• Develop strategy for privatization of state agricultural land

Legitimate tenure rights promoted and facilitated

Policy Recommendations – VGGT Principle 3

23

Forestry • Elaborate legislative and institutional reforms based on the new administrative

reform.

• Develop regulations and rules to determine the forest management standards, as well as norms/rules which govern the relations between the forest owners and responsible Institutions for forest management (communities, private sector, State, etc.).

• Capacity building and participatory processes should be further developed in connection with the decentralization process .

Fishery • Alignment of fisheries administration and legislation to current EU practices and

standards to enhance the sustainable contribution of the fisheries and aquaculture sector to the national economy;

• Determine the rules of management and co-management in the fishery sector by involving fishing communities in decision making

Legitimate tenure rights promoted and facilitated

Policy Recommendations – VGGT Principle 3

Land Tenure • Enhance dispute resolution mechanisms for land conflicts by establishing a

formal system of mediation in order to authorize judges to transfer cases from the courts to mediation

• Amend the law to allow IPRO to deal with several discrepancies between the data registered by IPRO on the registered surface of the land plot and the factual on site situation

Forestry • Develop appropriate mechanisms and institutions to help resolve disputes

and build capacity within the judiciary and informal and alternative dispute resolution tribunals on forestry rights

Fishery • Ensure for a free and easy access to dispute resolution for all fishing entities

Legitimate tenure rights provided with access to justice

Policy Recommendations – VGGT Principle 4

24

Land Tenure • Strengthen capacities and increase public awareness on land tenure to prevent

potential conflicts and corruption

Forestry • Strengthen capacities and increase public awareness on forestry tenure to

prevent potential conflicts and corruption

Fishery • Strengthen capacities and increase public awareness on fishery and aquaculture

tenure to prevent potential conflicts and corruption

Legitimate tenure rights prevented from disputes, conflicts and corruption

Policy Recommendations – VGGT Principle 5

OK, that’s it. I hope you enjoyed it and learned

something… _____________________________

© Fatbardh Sallaku

(sallaku@albmail.com)

If you want to go fast, go alone.

If you want to go far, go together. - African

Proverb