
28 March 2019: The Government Spokesperson, the Honorable Minister Mr Gokul Prasad Baskota, has announced the new National Land Policy 2019 as approved by the Government of Nepal. This is an enormous step forward for Nepal on land policy. It is also a credit to GLTN and all its Partners for their hard work.
As the Joint Secretary and Spokesperson from the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Government of Nepal, Mr Janak Raj Joshi said, “It is a great achievement and is considered to be a milestone to address the long-awaited problems such as recognition of informal tenure and equitable access to land for landless, small holders and informal settlers in the Nepalese society. This policy will support to achieve the national goal of sustainable development through good land governance”.
The Land policy represents several years of hard work and extensive consultations with experts, community people and other stakeholders. There was much anticipation when the Minister of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, the Honorable Ms Padma Kumari Aryal, submitted the draft land policy to the Nepalese Cabinet of Ministers for approval, followed by relief and excitement when the Cabinet approved the new Land Policy. Nepal’s National Land Policy comes at a time of recovery and reconstruction. The country is implementing a federal governance restructuring programme and recovering from a decade long armed conflict (1996-2006). Parts of Nepal are still struggling to recover and re-build after the devastating 2015 earthquake, which affected millions of Nepalese citizens and destroyed nearly one million homes. Using the 2015 Constitution to strengthen development and ensure that consideration is given to key global and regional frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGTs) and the New Urban Agenda (NUA), the National Land Policy is considered a strong step forward for Nepal on good land governance. First, it is intended to directly address the issue of land administration and land management reforms under six major and key pillar objectives: