Inclusive And Climate Responsive Land Use Planning for Sustainable Urban Development
23 October 2023, Suwon City,
Republic of Korea.
UN-Habitat Nepal in collaboration with the Department of Environment and Resources Research, Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) and Korea Land and Geospatial InformatiX Corporation (LX) jointly organized a parallel session on ‘Inclusive and Climate Responsive Land Use Planning for Sustainable Urban Development’ at the Eighth Asia-Pacific Urban Forum (APUF-8) on 23rd October 2023 at Suwon Convention Center, Republic of Korea. The session was organized under the project “A safety Net of innovative land tenure solutions for near-landless sharecroppers and for a greener rural Nepal” funded by Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MAFRA), Republic of Korea. The session was organized to gain understanding on issues and approaches of land reform and management emphasizing inclusivity, innovation, and climate resilience.
The session was moderated by Ms. Pragya Pradhan, Habitat Programme Manager, UN-Habitat, Nepal. Detailed presentation from Mr. Jagat Deuja, Ex-Expert Member of the Land Issue Resolving Commission, Nepal provided insights on ‘Policies and Strategies on Land Governance for Sustainable Development in Nepal’ and from Dr. An Hyunjin, Research Fellow at Department of Environment and Resources Research, Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI), Republic of Korea presented on ‘Costa Rica’s Silvopastoral System and Land Reform: Sustainable Development through Integrated Land Management’.
Interesting panel discussions further highlighted the issues of ‘Land Governance and Urban Development in Nepal’ by Mr. Prakash Aryal, Under Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Nepal and ‘Innovation and Land Governance in Korea’ by Mr. Hyunsuk Kim, Senior Manager, Korea Land and Geospatial InformatiX Corporation (LX), Republic of Korea. Mr. Bruno Dercon, Regional Representative of UN-Habitat Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific underscored the importance of the innovative collaboration that brings together experts from Korea and Nepal to delve into the complex issue of land governance, and further in project implementation in Nepal to address the root cause of extreme poverty through building stronger nexus between land tenure, livelihood, land use and urban development. The event was concluded with closing remarks emphasizing the relation between land tenure, land use and climate change delivered by Mr. Jonghyo Nam, Chief Technical Advisor-Climate Change, UN-Habitat, Vietnam.
Speakers highlighted key issues on land reform intervention, national policies and guidelines ensuring land tenure security and demonstrated notable innovations of Land Information Management System in Korea and Silvopastoral System in Costa Rica with their applicability to developing nations. The importance of participatory climate and tenure responsive land use planning under a long-term vision of inclusive land management and sustainable urban development was emphasized. Moving forward, experts highlighted policy consistency as a crucial factor to encourage innovations alongside the necessity for systemic approach of policy reform coupled with technical support, capacity building to strengthen land governance.
