Nepal Government adopts a National Land Policy, first time in Nepal

The Council of Ministers approved the National Land Policy on 21 March 2019. The policy formulation process had commenced in 2012 under the leadership of the then Ministry of Land Reform and management. It has the provisions of ensuring proper access and management of land and land resources for the sustainable prosperity of the development of country. The policy realized that the duty of the state to ensure the equitable distribution of the benefits of land and land resources. The general objective of this policy is to bring the economic prosperity of the country with land distribution to marginalize people, the maximum utilization and good governance of the land. The vision of the policy is ‘Sustainable Land Management, Development and Prosperity’. It has six specific objectives- 1) tenure of security 2) access to land to the land-poor farmers 3) land use 4) land taxation, valuation and land market 5) land acquisition 6) strengthening of land administration in Nepal This policy has categorized land tenure into three types i.e. formal, informal and non-formal. It has also clarified that the land celling will be fixed based on the land category. The record of land users and area of land will be kept at all levels i.e. federal, provincial and local of governments. By implementing this policy, the government of Nepal is planning to provide agricultural and housing land for landless and informal settlers for one time. It has also encompassed the provision of women’s access to land promoting joint land ownership. CSRC played a role as a secretariat to formulate the land policy upon request of Ministry in collaboration with National Land Rights Forum (NLRF), Actionaid, Oxfam, Care, DanidaHUGOU, LWF, International Land Coalition (ILC), and Asian NGO Coalition for agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC). CSRC collaborated with Global Land Tool Network (GLTN), and UN-Habitat since 2017 to facilitate the process of finalization of land policy together with Ministry of Land Management, Cooperative and Poverty Alleviation. Federal Parliament Passes the Land Use Act Once the land use classification maps are prepared, land ownership records and certificates should be updated accordingly. When the land is classified for one purpose as per the Act’s provision, cannot be used for another. Nepal Government adopts a National Land Policy, first time in Nepal