Publication: Revising the Land Law to Enable Sustainable Development in Vietnam: Summary of Priority Policy Recommendations Drawn form World Bank Studies
Date
2012-09
ISSN
Published
2012-09
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
Vietnam's rapid and sustained
economic growth and poverty reduction in the last two
decades benefitted from the policy and legal reforms
embodied in the Land Laws of 1987, 1993 and 2003 and
subsequent related legal acts. This note outlines reforms
related to four main themes. The first relates to the needed
reform for agriculture land use to create opportunity to
enhance effectiveness of land use as well as to secure
farmers' rights in land use. Prolonging the duration of
agricultural land tenure would give land users greater
incentives to invest and care for the land. Raising the land
holding ceiling and allowing greater land accumulation would
facilitate greater economies of scale, and extending the
rights of agricultural land users to alter the land use
purpose will further improve efficiency. This scope for more
flexible land use will become increasingly important in the
context of climate change, with farmers needing to make a
range of adjustments based upon expected weather patterns
and the associated risks. The second set of priority reforms
is to create transparent and equitable land acquisition and
compensation by the State. Limiting the use of compulsory
land acquisition only to cases for the public's benefit
would similarly give land users more fairness and more
confidence in their rights related to land. By relying
predominantly on voluntary land conversions, there would
also be a stronger sense of equity in those cases when land
users actually do lose their land. Changing the focus of
land compensation pricing (in cases of compulsory land
acquisition), and introducing innovations such as benefit
sharing, land pooling and land readjustment are also
essential for generating a sense of fairness. Creating an
efficient grievance redress mechanism at the investment
project level would reduce complaints, speed up project
implementation and facilitate social stability. A third set
of priority reforms is that the land law should offer the
opportunity to reaffirm and strengthen the land use rights
of vulnerable groups, such as women, the poor and ethnic
minority communities. Land management oversight can be made
more efficient by amending the land management
decentralization and building monitoring and evaluation
systems. Expanding the coverage of Land Use Rights
Certificates (LURCs) and ensuring the rights and benefits of
the land users would further help improve efficiency and
fairness. Finally, the fourth set of priority reforms is
aimed at making the governance system more effective and
accountable. Developing a more flexible and effective land
planning management system, and improving transparency of
land and anti-corruption in land management are all needed
to take Vietnam's land governance system closer to that
worthy of a middle income country.
Citation
“World Bank. 2012. Revising the Land Law to Enable Sustainable Development in Vietnam: Summary of Priority Policy Recommendations Drawn form World Bank Studies. © World Bank, Hanoi. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26777 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”