Promoting peace in Colombia by clarifying land ownership issues

Context

Regional inequalities in Colombia have been exacerbated by the armed conflict between Colombia’s revolutionary forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC), paramilitary groups, cartels and the Government. For more than 50 years, a central issue of conflict has been land distribution, which is one of the origins of ongoing violent confrontations in Colombia. In addition, unclear and insufficiently documented land ownership is also a major factor in the continued deforestation and environmental destruction.

Only 36 per cent of rural households have a registered land title, and 28 per cent of Colombia’s land area is unassigned. The 2016 peace agreement between the Government and FARC therefore aims to implement land reform. This is intended to improve living and working conditions for rural populations and return stolen land. This should benefit farmers, their communities and the different ethnic groups in particularly.

In order to achieve land reform, current ownership and the condition of the land have to be clarified. These therefore need to be recorded with the help of the local population in what is known as a multipurpose cadaster.

Objective

The local communities in the El Dorado municipality are actively involved in implementing the multipurpose cadaster.

Approach

The project is focusing on two priority areas.

• Firstly, it is giving the organisations compiling the multipurpose cadaster the skills they need to produce conflict-sensitive context analyses. This will provide a better basis to enable the local population to get actively involved in the process.
• Secondly, it is testing implementation of the cadaster in the El Dorado municipality with the aim of rolling out the methods that prove successful across the country at a later date. The project collates the experience gained in the test phase and makes the information available to all the actors involved.

To achieve this, Germany is providing a financial and technical supplement to the loan from the World Bank (USD 100 million).

Last update: August 2023