General

The intention of this project is to support the National Land Commission Secretariat in revising the existing land tax rates for both rural and urban areas and proposing a new land tax system with the aim of increasing and decentralizing revenue generation, reducing land speculation, and providing broader and more equitable access to land. This will impact on land use patterns in Bhutan and aims to provide a predictable, inflation-proof and sustainable stream of revenue to support local services, and influence economic activity in desired ways, whilst being affordable and equitable to the taxpayer, and inexpensive to administer.

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The project targets efforts to preserve the largest contiguous tropical forest complex in the world in three countries with areas located within the so-called Guiana Shield (Guyana, Surinam and Brazil). To this end, the project supports comprehensive conservation area management in the Brazilian states of Amapá and Pará. In Guyana and Surinam, inventory analyses are being conducted to quantify carbon, biodiversity and deforestation factors to provide a foundation for developing national REDD demonstration projects.

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The project comprises workshops and activities to increase the awareness of Chinese, Indian and South-African investors involved in extraterritorial (i.e. overseas or outbound) investments. The scope of the study draws upon wider international experience of several BRICS countries. In China, the original target country for this activity, it has proven to be particularly difficult to identify and contact suitable institutions. Efforts to find an appropriate institution will continue, with the help of colleagues in the Trade and Markets Division. In September 2015, the study started in India under a consultancy agreement with Professor Praveen Kumar Jha of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. A first draft was delivered in late December 2015 that is currently under review. The study focusses on the extraterritorial investments of India in African countries (e.g., in Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda). A contract under Letter of Agreement is also underway with the NEPAD Business Foundation in South Africa. The NEPAD Business Foundation provided a detailed work plan for the study. It is expected that they will start the study in 2016. They will also concentrate on investments in African countries.

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Summary: This project under the overall umbrella of the VGGT will serve to develop the capacity of stakeholders to implement improvements to tenure arrangements and thereby promote food security and sustainable development. The project is implemented in 19 countries, namely Malawi, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Mali, Uganda, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire; Myanmar, Nepal, Mongolia, Philippines, Indonesia; Kyrgyzstan; Guatemala, Colombia. Improving transparent, equitable, secure access to and control over land, fisheries and forests and protecting the legitimate tenure rights, whether formal or informal, of millions of poor and insecure people, is a critical part of improving food security. The project contributes to this objective through fostering increased understanding on the VGGT use among CSOs and grass roots organizations to boost their contribution to the multi-stakeholder platforms and other tenure-related ongoing processes at country level and strengthening the partnerships for the wider application and implementation of the VGGT at all levels. The project has produced a capacity development manual for CSOs "Putting the Voluntary Guidelines on Tenure into Practice: A Learning Guide for Civil Society Organizations" written in partnership with FIAN International as coordinating the Land and Territory Working Group of the International Planning Commiteee for Food Sovereignty (IPC).

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To support the establishment of a comprehensive public registry at the Civil Registration Authority for all addresses of private households and businesses in Kosovo, as well as street adresses for 10-15 municipalities, executed together with the Kosovo Cadastre Agency and in partnership with the EU. The overall project objective is in line with reaching EU standards.

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This project is intended to design and run a capacity development package, based upon the FAO Technical Guide on Respecting Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in Land Acquisition, to raise awareness and improve capacities of the Liberian government, the private sector, NGOs, indigenous peoples and local communities to apply FPIC. The activities planned aim to engage in a collaborative way Liberian stakeholders in order to apply the Technical Guide as a tool to develop the capacity of local parties to respect FPIC in the context of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security and the international legal obligations of the Government of Liberia.

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By maintaining and protecting 101,000 ha of rainforest in the provinces of Jambi and South Sumatra, the first areas to be designated for ecosystem restoration in Indonesia, some 15.2 million tonnes of CO2 are to be securely stored over a 30-year period to serve as a model for how inactive production forest licences can be applied to a further 24 million ha of rainforest. The project calls for measures for example to combat the causes of deforestation and forest degradation, restore forest regions, develop an REDD strategy for Indonesia and other areas of rainforest around the globe and integrate biodiversity aspects, as well as to ensure the financial sustainability of the initiative.

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The establishment of a rural cadastre registry contributes to the clarification of property and usage rights for natural ressources. This constitues the legal framework which is necessary for investments in Benin's agriculture sector.

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The project aims to preserve forest ecosystems in the Pacific and thus contribute to climate change mitigation. To this end it is supporting three island states in creating the conditions necessary for par-ticipation in an international financing mechanism for reducing emissions from the forest sector (REDD+). Together with the partners it is developing REDD+ strategies and policies and boosting capabilities in the field of measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) at national level. At local level the project is working with communities and user groups to implement REDD+ pilot projects which directly protect the forest, while at regional level a coherent regional REDD+ policy is being developed. Apart from this the project is establishing a regional REDD+ information and support platform by setting up a virtual network of users and REDD+ specialists, installing a data platform and carrying out training for operating the network.

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The objective of the project is to develop an open source enterprise software application that supports core cadastre and registration functions. The project will provide support for the customization of the initial SOLA software and its implementation in Tonga. The project will establish an open source community of users and developers around the SOLA software and improve sustainability, efficiency and transparency.

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The Environmental Protection Program of Azerbaijan aims to contribute to the preservation of Azerbaijan's biodiversity without reducing the income of poor rural households in the long term.

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The “Capacity Building for Improvement of Land Administration and Procedures in Bosnia and Herzegovina” – CILAP project, is a long term project aimed to build capacity and transfer knowledge with the overall objective to increase the effectiveness and reliability of land administration processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From the beginning CILAP project is planned, described and approved for six (6) years period with the goal to support geodetic authorities in BH during the whole implementation period of Real Estate Registration Project (RERP), funded by World Bank loan. The Project contributes to expected long- term impact: -By efficient land administration contribute to economic and social development, sustainable market and usage of real estates, and BiH accession to EU. The expected impact will be reached if the project main goal is fulfilled, and it is: -Confidence in Geodetic Authorities in BiH strengthened through delivering of efficient services and providing of secure and reliable information to the customers.