LANDac, International Land Governance Conference 2016, 30 June–1 July, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Abstract

The Dutch Land Academy (the Netherlands Academy on Land Governance for Equitable and Sustainable Development - LANDac) organised its annual conference on Land Governance in the Context of Urbanisation and Climate Change: Linking the Rural and Urban' on 30 June-1 July 2016. A hundred and sixty participants - who presented studies originating from 33 countries - attended the conference and discussed papers in twenty thematic sessions. Additionally, the conference had keynotes, panel discussions and special sessions (documentary viewing, film project preview, societally oriented events and a subsequent PhD summer school). With its conference theme - linking the rural and the urban - LANDac changes orientation from a purely rural focus towards inclusion of the urban landscape. LANDac previously focused on land grabbing, rural development and agricultural business, but now, as Annelies Zoomers (chair of LANDac, Utrecht University) explained in the welcome session, urbanisation seems inevitable in the context of land governance. She emphasised the sudden urbanisation of rural areas when land use is rezoned to urban, and vice versa when political mood changes, creating uncertainty for communities on the fringe. She also addressed the exclusive nature of cities, pushing out those who cannot keep up with mobilisation, digitalisation and rising costs of living, subsequently creating (more) inequality. The conference aimed to identify dynamics of urban-rural linkages to establish the LANDac research agenda for the upcoming years.KeynotesDuring the conference several keynotes were given. George Payne (housing and urban development consultant in the UK) opened with a keynote entitled 'Land governance in interesting times!'. He focused on peri-urban areas and pragmatic solutions to land tenure. According to Payne, rules are too complicated and change too often according to rezoning as rural or urban. Traditional (customary) law and statutory law meet in these areas, creating a non-understandable legal plurality. He encouraged governments to invest in (and promote) different tenure options, 'as land ownership is fine by some, but a burden for young, elderly and poor'.The next set of keynotes addressed the state of affairs in land governance in several countries and continents. Joao Carrilho (former vice-minister of agriculture, government of Mozambique) focused on Mozambique and Africa in general, Roberto Rocco (TUDelft) focused on Brazil and Latin America, and Malovika Pawar (Indian Administrative Service, Utrecht University) focused on India and Asia. The brief pitches of each of the speakers provided the opportunity to get acquainted with the different contexts and set the scene for the remainder of the conference. In all the pitches the interrelatedness and interdependency of rural and urban landscapes was at the forefront, either to 'find new paradigms to adapt to a new world of compressed spacetime' (Carrilho), to 'bridge the social-spatial divide in the face of capitalism' (Rocco), or to 'acquire farmland fairly and with just compensation' (Pawar).On the second day, Theo de Jager (Pan-African Farmers' Organisation, South African Confederation of Agricultural Unions) and Jean du Plessis (UN-Habitat) each gave a policyoriented keynote speech. De Jager took a stance for small towns in South Africa, a link between urban (large cities) and rural areas. Small towns are hubs in the agricultural value chain and create communities, but to keep the value chain, volume is needed. As such, 'we should abandon the romanticising of smallholder farming ... and create communities fit for the world market'. Du Plessis focused on the Sustainable Development Goals to promote land tenure. He focused on land rights and human rights, thereby emphasising flexibility towards tenure deeds. He gave the example of Cairo, where people have tenure rights and land deeds, but keep their electricity bills as proof of their right to stay. …