Vanuatu Review of National Land Legislation, Policy and ... - AusAID

4. REVIEW OF THE LAND POLICY AND LEGISLATIONThe first point to note is that, after the early enunciation of land policy at the time ofindependence, no further attempt was made to spell out emerging policy. And oncethe basic land legislation was in place by 1983, most reforms after that time wereonly adjustments to that basic machinery. Such changes in policy which did takeplace were mainly by a weakening of the principles laid down at independence, andinstead of policy development there was policy decline. The 20 resolutions adoptedby the National Land Summit in October 2006 reveal serious public concern overthe increasing rate of land alienation, ineffective regulation of land dealings andGovernment failure to protect the public interest, unfair dealings, lack of publicawareness of property rights, and abuse of the laws.The main findings and conclusions about Vanuatu’s land policy and legislation, as ithas been applied over the last 27 years, are the following –1. Interim arrangements. What were originally intended as “interim”arrangements have remained in place, without being improved or replaced.This applies particularly to the arrangements for negotiation of leases, whichwere originally designed for use only with “alienators” – ie, those personswho were occupying lands alienated during the colonial era, whose titleswere abolished at independence. Today, basically the same arrangementsare being used exclusively for the negotiation of leases over customary landwhich has never been alienated before. The result is general dissatisfaction.According to a recent report –the custom owners must put up with “lack of access to the leased land,the extreme difficulties of regaining land once leased, multigenerationalleases with a 75 year term, and the ability of lessees tosubdivide leased land”; andprivate sector developers report that “100% of leased rural land hashad problems associated with land ownership”. 19The legal requirements, forms and procedures need a major overhaul, toadapt them to use for customary land which has never been alienated. Amodel for how they might be adapted is provided by the Forestry Act of 2001.In making provision for timber rights agreements (in Part 4 Division 2), theprocedure for negotiation of leases was adopted, but also modified toovercome its weaknesses.2. The Minister’s powers. A particular example of the problem in paragraph 1 isthe Minister’s power to enter into leases on behalf of custom owners. Thispower was clearly intended to be used only in cases where there wereunresolved disputes over alienated land. Instead, the power has been usedextensively by successive Ministers to take the place of custom owners, andenter into lease agreements into which the custom owners have had no input.Research shows that 22% of the rural leases entered into on Efate up to19 “Implementation of the Customary Land Tribunal Act”, February 2005, NZAID.18