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addition to setting clear fee structures that are wellpublicized, reduction of stamp duties, possiblyby replacing them with a land tax to be assessedat the local level, would be desirable. Such a tax,complemented by a capital gains tax if necessary,could encourage productive land use and reduceincentives for speculative land accumulation, thusmaking productivity-enhancing outcomes fromland sales markets more likely. Moreover, adjudicationand dispute settlement can be embeddedin a cost-saving, community-based participatoryprocess. It is cost-effective for the state to investin the capacity of a pool of potential conciliatorsat a community or district level of government. 130For any first-time registration of land rights to havea lasting and pro-poor effect, it needs to be integratedwith systems to maintain registry records upto date in a cost-effective way that is in line withwhat users are able and willing to pay.Modern GPS and Information Technology. Inmany contexts of the developing world, the technicalcosts of titling and land registration havebeen considerably reduced by computerisationand GPS systems. 131 Modern technology can helpto improve transparency and at the same timemake administration more accessible. 132 As thepurpose of land registries is to give public noticeof land ownership and transactions, makingregistry information available publicly on the Internetand promoting Internet access can reducetransaction cost and by allowing independentcross-checks, greatly increase public confidencein them. The transition to an all-digital, internetenabledland registration system is not withoutpitfalls. Corruption can easily increase in theearly phase, because the opportunity for alteringthe records before digitisation is high. The introductionof all-digital and internet-based registrysystems has to be carefully prepared and preemptiveaction to the altering of records taken.Corruption is reduced dramatically once the systemsare operational. 133Financial Self-sustainability. Land administrationinstitutions will be viable in the long term andindependent from political pressure only if theycan sustain their recurrent operations financially,without charging more than the poor are able topay. This in turn is a precondition for all the otherbenefits from land administration to materialise.Separation of Powers of Land Registration andPublic Land Management. Land administration,i.e. all matters relating to land rights should beindependent from the authorities in charge ofstate land management and use. This reduces thepossibility of abusive practices where the state isonly the means through which individuals pursuetheir particular interests and of which the poorare usually the first victims.Increasing Transparency in Public Land Use andPlanningGovernments’ large-scale ownership of land,its ability to impose planning restrictionsand to expropriate without adequate compensationalso contributes to tenure insecurity of thepoor who have no government lobby. 134Define Government’s Land Rights and Duties andEstablish an Inventory of Government Land: Invirtually all countries, the government nominallyowns large amounts of land. However, the extentof such claims and associated rights and obligationsare often not well defined. At worst, thisencourages sell-offs of public assets to the wellconnectedleading to a speculative accumulationof large non-productive land holdings or concessions.Keeping public land at the necessary minimumand defining the responsibilities of differentlevels of government in terms of managing publicland would be a first step that should be followedby a inventorying and registering of state land96