28 March 2014: Participants at an Expert Group Meeting on Land Indicators, organized by the Global Land Indicator Initiative (GLII), agreed on a Communiqué on land indicators. The Communiqué proposes a land target and two indicators for inclusion in the post-2015 development agenda.

The target proposes to “increase by x%” the number of women and men who have secure tenure of land, property and natural resources that support their well-being and livelihoods. The indicators propose to monitor progress towards this target by measuring the percentage increase in the number of women and the number of men.

The Communiqué emphasizes the importance of secure tenure in rural and urban areas for poverty eradication, sustainable agriculture and food security, economic growth and equality. It further underscores the cross-cutting nature of land, highlighting that strengthening land tenure rights can help to achieve development objectives related to biodiversity, climate, ecosystems, sustainable cities, peace and rule of law.

The meeting aimed to advance the process of elaborating land indicators and targets in the context of the post-2015 development agenda. It took place on the sidelines of the 15th annual Conference on Land and Poverty, hosted by the World Bank, which convened on 24-27 March 2014, in Washington, DC, US, under the theme ‘Integrating Land Governance into the Post-2015 Agenda.’

The GLII is a process among the global land community to propose feasible, technically sound and globally comparable targets and indicators. [IISD RS Sources] [GLII Website]