Azernews.Az

By Vusala Abbasova

The Azerbaijani government hopes to resolve problems related to the control of the use of land, in a bid to increase the amount of land distributed to the nation’s citizens.

Currently, the country provides each citizen with only 0.2 hectares of arable land, which is one of the lowest levels of land distributions per capita.

Also, the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory is viewed as one of the main reasons for the low level of land distribution throughout the country, according to Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Economic Policy Ziyad Samedzadeh, while speaking at an international conference held in Baku on October 29 and entitled, "Development of key registers in land administration in the UNECE region."

He noted that Azerbaijan has suffered from the Armenian occupation since the early 1990s and, as a result, over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, were occupied by Armenia.

The occupation resulted in there being less land to distribute among the population, , with solutions calling for structural reorganizations, along with resolving political aspects, Samedzadeh said.

Only 4.5 million of more than 8.6 million hectares in Azerbaijan are lands used for agriculture, , with irrigated lands reaching 1.3 million hectares. These lands grow 85 percent of the country's crops, though 41.8 percent of the land is exposed to various degrees of erosion because of complex geographical conditions and the impact of environmental pollution.

The index of land distribution describes agricultural land holdings per capita and areas of arable land holdings per capita.

Work in the field of land management is a key factor in reducing poverty and ensuring food security throughout the world, addressing climate change issues and minimizing the risk of natural disasters, said UN deputy secretary general and executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) Christian Fritz Bach.

He made his remarks in his appeal to participants at the international workshop entitled, “Development of key registers in land administration in the UNECE region,” held in Baku.
Conflicts in the ECE region often arise between those who want to cultivate the land and other who want to carry out construction, the message underlined.

That is why it is so important to discuss issues of land administration and land management, the document said. Proper land administration is a key factor for prosperity worldwide, according to the document.

The region of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is one of the most densely populated in the world, the appeal stressed.

Some 75 percent of the population here lives in cities, the document said. Thus, urban expansion is a concern for the region, as it has an impact on land resources and leads to the need to develop mechanisms and instruments to achieve the optimum combination of possibilities for land use based upon available space, costs and benefits, according to the document.

These issues are global in nature and, as with the growth of population, a powerful process of urbanization takes place, along with the dynamics of consumption and climate change, which puts additional pressure and influence on land resources, according to the document.

The message further stated that the recently adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals detail the importance of the management of land resources.

The issues related to land resources affect at least six of these goals, Bach believes.

He underlined that the countries throughout the world now have primary responsibility in supervising and taking appropriate measures at national, regional and global levels to achieve progress in fulfilling these goals.

Further, the work of agencies and organizations dealing with land management play a key role in promoting comprehensive and effective land policies and estate management in UNECE member states, which will also ensures equal access to land resources and reliable land ownership, according to Bach.

In this regard, governments and public institutions should closely cooperate with local and regional authorities, international institutions, representatives of academic circles, charity funds, the private sector and others, according to the message.

Addressing the event, Senior Land Administration Officer – IT at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, Rumyana Tonchovska, said the effective use of modern technologies in the field of land administration is a critical factor, which will be necessary for survival in the future.

The world is not perfect, she noted. With each passing year, many believe the world is developing in the wrong direction: people en masse move from poor villages to big cities, unpredictable climate changes occur, and the public expects even more natural disasters will strike. Further, demand for fuel and food is sharply rising, Tonchovska said.

At the same time, many people are migrating from the Mediterranean region to Europe, creating a crisis and causing disputes between EU member states, she said.

In her opinion, all of these problems are political, social and economic in nature, and are directly related to land and property.

In such crisis situations, improved land administration becomes even more important, Tonchovska added. This is very hard work, especially now, when there is an expectation to see an increasing number of natural disasters, which do not recognize borders between countries, she stressed.

Thus, it is necessary to unite the efforts of all countries to solve this problem, since when disaster strikes, people forget about borders, Tonchovska added.

The international conference dedicated to the role of sectored registries in the management of property was held in Baku on October 29-30.

The event was organized by the State Committee for Property Affairs of Azerbaijan and the United Nations. Participants represented 56 countries, including the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, among others.

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