MDPI Online, Open Access Journals

In a new paper, written with a colleague from the Danish Institute for Human Rights, TMG researchers Anna Kramer and Frederike Klümper, and TMG Managing Director Alexander Müller, make a case for adopting human rights-based monitoring approaches that strengthen the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests (VGGT), and ultimately support responsible land governance.

After the political change in Nepal of 1951, leapfrog land policy improvements have been recorded, however, the land reform initiatives have been short of full success. Despite a land administration system based on cadaster and land registries in place, 25% of the arable land with an estimated 10 million spatial units on the ground are informally occupied and are off-register. Recently, a strong political will has emerged to ensure land rights for all.