Panel Releases New Advisory Report on Land, and Hosts a Panel Discussion at its 30-year Anniversary Event

As part of its 30-year commemoration event, the Inspection Panel on April 6, 2023 hosted a panel discussion on the development lessons from the accountability mechanisms, where Panel Member Mark Goldsmith, introduced the latest publication of the Panel’s Lessons Learned series - Land at the Center of Inclusive and Sustainable Development.

The discussion was moderated by Inspection Panel Chairperson Ramanie Kunanayagam. Panelists included Inspection Panel Member Mark Goldsmith; Julia Gallu, Senior Environmental/Social Advisory Specialist, Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman Office; Carla Garcia Zendejas, Senior Attorney, Center for International Environmental Law; and Balakrishnan Rajagopal, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing Professor of Law and Development, Department of Urban Studies & Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

The discussion coincided with the publication of the eighth report in the Inspection Panel’s Emerging Lessons Series titled: Land at the Center of Inclusive and Sustainable Development. The report consists of two volumes: Volume 1: Land Administration and Management; and Volume 2: Resource Property Rights in Forested Areas. 

Volume 1 focuses on Panel investigations of land administration and management projects, and explores some of the challenges of land tenure security, regularization, and titling and discusses the importance of assessing the context in which such activities are undertaken, and the challenges of stakeholder engagement associated with them. 

Volume 2 focuses on resource property rights in forested areas and discusses relevant aspects of Panel investigations, which illustrate the need to assess adequately both the community forest property rights and the value of associated provisioning ecosystem services.

The report can be accessed by clicking here (Volume 1; Volume 2).