To address the combined pressures of land disputes, climate change, massive housing backlog and lack of land security, the government must adopt a sustainable land governance policy that would allow for its rational and equitable allocation among competing uses. This was the call by a multisectoral coalition for sustainable land use launched on Feb. 9 at the end of a two-day conference on land governance organized by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). During the conference, several leaders underscored the need to overhaul current land governance policies. This included overlapping mandates of key land agencies, lack of land security and tenure, and massive titling problems involving 11 million parcels of land. “It’s high time to pursue land reforms especially now [in the absence of] a harmonized land agency,” Teh said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer February 13, 2017 17:48 UTC