In recent years, definitions have moved towards using planning in a more advisory capacity, as a mechanism to support the decisions of the land user in attaining his or her objectives. Planning has also come to be viewed as one step in land resources management.
The FAO Guidelines for Land-use Planning (FAO, 1993) defined land-use planning as:
Land-use planning is the systematic assessment of land and water potential, alternatives for land use and economic and social conditions in order to select and adopt the best land-use options. Its purpose is to select and put into practice those land uses that will best meet the needs of the people while safeguarding resources for the future. The driving force in planning is the need for change, the need for improved management or the need for a quite different pattern of land use dictated by changing circumstances.
Agenda 21, the result of the UN Conference for Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. Biological diversity, and the post-Rio conventions such as those dealing with biodiversity and desertification, have called for a more integrated approach to planning and management of land resources. They emphasize the need for active involvement and participation of stakeholders, particularly at the local level, in decisions on land use and management. In this context, land-use planning is regarded as a mechanism for decision support rather than a technical evaluation procedure, and is closer in concept to the definition in Box 1.
The means of supporting farmers and rural communities who make their living from utilization of natural resources, so that their standard of living increases sustainably, i.e. without creating conflicts between the different types of land uses and land users and without diminishing the resource base in the future. Source: LUP News, Ministry of Agriculture, Thimphu, April 1993, Vol. 1, No. 1. |
In line with the foregoing, planning of land resources is now defined as follows:
DEFINITIONS |
Land-use (or Land Resources) Planning is a systematic and iterative procedure carried out in order to create an enabling environment for sustainable development of land resources which meets people's needs and demands. It assesses the physical, socio-economic, institutional and legal potentials and constraints with respect to an optimal and sustainable use of land resources, and empowers people to make decisions about how to allocate those resources. |
People in rural areas are continually faced with the difficulty in practice of achieving the multiple goals of "increased production", "raised living standards", "resource conservation" and "food self-sufficiency". Worldwide many development projects related to land resources have failed. Many more are only partially successful. Sustained benefits of such projects are often relatively small in relation to inputs by government or donors.
Development programmes are essentially a response to perceived problems or symptoms of problems and development opportunities. Although it is recognized that much can be learned from successful projects, some of the most common lessons learned from less successful development programmes are given in Box 2.
BOX 2: Some Reasons for Less than Succesful Outcomes of Previous Rural Development Programmes |
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The ultimate objective of assistance in planning and management of land resources must be to strengthen relevant local institutions to the point where they are fully capable of addressing and solving the problems of the country. However, at present, most technical assistance in the area of land-use planning or land management, and most project documents, place emphasis on technical solutions. External experts may assume a dominant role in problem identification and in programme implementation. If local staff are not trained in the application of the technical methods, and not fully involved in their development, there is no sense of intellectual ownership and systems are not used or maintained after the end of the project.
Apart from these drawbacks, such projects rarely address the larger institutional issues at government and grass-roots level. Unless these are successfully resolved no land-use methodology, even if perfect in theory, can ever be successfully put into practice.
Conventional land-use planning has frequently failed to produce a substantial improvement in land management, or to satisfy the priority objectives of the land users. As a result, rural development programmes have had mixed success in meeting production and conservation aims. In calling for an integrated approach to the planning and management of land resources, Chapter 10 of Agenda 21 identifies the following specific needs:
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An improved approach is necessary to meet these needs. It must take into account the problems listed in Box 2, and must ensure:
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References |
Buthan. LUP News, Ministry of Agriculture, Thimphu, April 1993, Vol. 1, No. 1. FAO. 1993. Guidelines for Land-use Planning. FAO Development Series 1. Rome. UNCED, 1993. Agenda 21: Programme of Action for Sustainable Development. United Nations, New York |
Further Recommended Literature |
FAO/UNEP. 1996. Our Land Our Future. A New Approach to Land Use Planning and Management. FAO/UNEP, Rome. FAO/UNEP. 1997. Negotiating a Sustainable Future for Land. Structural and Institutional Guidelines for Land Resources Management in the 21st Century. FAO/UNEP, Rome. GTZ. 1995. Land Use Planning. Methods, Strategies, Tools. GTZ, Eschborn. Kutter, A., Nachtergaele, F.O. and Verheye, W.H. 1997. The new approach to land use planning and management and its application in Sierra Leone. ITC Journal 1197 - 3/4. Enschede. Verheye, W., Brinkman, R. and Sims, D.A. 1997. Elements of a different approach to land development. The Land. 1(2): 143-152. |