22 April 2014: The Global Donor Working Group on Land has released an update to their policy brief, titled ‘Land in a post-2015 framework.’ The update, ‘Policy brief No. 10: Land target and indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),’ reflects the latest developments on a proposed land target and indicators, and stresses the responsible governance of tenure of land and natural resources as essential for achieving poverty eradication and sustainable development.

The brief recommends and reiterates that, “The post-2015 agenda should include a target and related indicators on secure rights to land, property, and other assets that explicitly include women’s rights.”

The brief also supports a target and indicators proposed by the Global Land Tool Network’s (GLTN) Global Land Indicator Initiative (GLII), which are consistent with the ‘Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests’ and the ‘Framework and Guidelines for Land Policy in Africa.’

The proposed target is: “increase by XX% the number of women and the number of men who have secure tenure of land, property and natural resources that support their well-being and livelihoods.” The proposed indicators supporting the target aim to measure the percentage of women and men with legally recognized and documented tenure and the percentage who perceive their tenure as secure.

In the brief, the Working Group also welcomes the 19 focus areas proposed by the Open Working Group (OWG) on SDGs. It recommends including targets and indicators on secure rights to land, property and other assets under the focus areas on poverty eradication or sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition as well as the gender equality and women’s empowerment focus area. [Publication: Land Target and Indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals] [Working Group Website] [Working Group Publications Website] [IISD Guest Article by Iris Krebber] [IISD RS Story on GLII Communiqué on Land Indicators] [IISD RS Story on Brief]