Posted December 2000
Final report
Reliable land tenure systems are a necessary foundation for stable social relations among the citizens of any society. The issue is not merely providing tenure security, but also one of providing users with the capacity of using their land tenure rights or facilitating access to land resources in ways that enhance sustainability, rural development and equitable access to productive resources. The need for drawing on the carefully built up knowledge of how to recognise, record and transact peoples' property rights in land has probably never been more immediately pressing. The collapse of the centrally planned economies and the ongoing integration of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries into the international economy mean that entire land information systems have to be reorganised in as short a time as possible. Not only will these systems have to be adapted to a new economic and political system, but they will have to be adaptable to the constant change that is the hallmark of the market oriented economy. CEE Member Nations are in the process of creating services needed to stimulate active market participation, on the one hand, while promoting interventions for protecting property rights through a modern land information system that eliminates the continued fragmentation into ethnic and associated rivalries, on the other.
The "Bertinoro Initiative" was started by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Italy to assist transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe in their development of effective land tenure and land administration systems. This initiative reflects the current concerns of the programme of FAO's Land Tenure Service. Member Nations are increasingly turning to land tenure and administration improvements to ensure fair, transparent and secure access to the land by those who want to engage in agricultural pursuits. This is part of FAO's overall concern for food security, on the one hand, and its concern for poverty alleviation, on the other. The modern land tenure system is also called upon to redress those cases where existing land tenure arrangements do not support sustainable land uses.
The Bertinoro Initiative emphasises the need for public and private sector co-operation in the development of national land tenure and administration systems in Central and Eastern Europe. The 1997 Bertinoro Seminar focussed on Northeast Europe and in 1998 it addressed the Black Sea countries. In 1999, the Bertinoro Initiative was directed towards Southeast Europe and was broadened to include the Cervia Land Tenure School as well as the 1999 Bertinoro Seminar. The objective was to identify the institutional innovations and developments needed to ensure the peaceful enjoyment of property in the countries of the region and the roles to be played by land tenure experts in the private and public sectors.
FAO recognises the importance of supporting the development of well-functioning land tenure and administration systems in countries in transition. The Bertinoro Initiative has become a valuable forum for facilitating the open and frank analysis of issues necessary for the formulation of concrete proposals to improve land tenure and administration.
Santiago Funes
Director, Rural Development Division, FAO
The Bertinoro Initiative 1999
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