The report “Land Governance in the Middle East: Regional Perspectives for Improved Land Administration and Access to Housing” was developed by UN‑Habitat and the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN), in partnership with the Urban Training and Studies Institute (UTI) and with financial support from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of the Federal Republic of Germany, to respond to the growing recognition that land governance is central to sustainable development, adequate housing, poverty reduction, gender equality, climate resilience, and recovery in crisis settings. By addressing critical gaps in land‑related data and fragmented understandings of land governance, the report represents one of the first systematic efforts to establish a common analytical framework for the Arab region.
The report is structured into three interconnected parts. Part 1 examines the regional context, emerging trends and evidence in land governance, including land administration frameworks and their implications for tenure security, poverty reduction, women’s land rights, climate challenges and displacement. Part 2 assesses land sector capacities across the five core functions of land administration: land tenure, land use, land development, land value and land dispute resolution, and reviews the current learning and training offer related to land governance in the region. Part 3 presents national land governance profiles for eleven Middle Eastern countries: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
The analysis is based on a rigorous multi‑method approach. National background papers for the eleven countries were developed by experienced national consultants through comprehensive desk reviews, structured interviews with key informants and standardized questionnaires developed by UN‑Habitat, GLTN and UTI. These assessments were complemented by five qualitative country reports (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria), as well as a regional mapping of land governance education and training opportunities across the broader Arab region.
Across the five core land administration functions, the report highlights the systemic challenges facing land governance in the Middle East. It shows how weak land administration systems, unclear property registration and titling processes, limited municipal capacities, corruption and unequal access to land, particularly for women, refugees and other vulnerable groups, undermine access to adequate housing and basic services and contribute to social and economic exclusion. The findings point to common regional patterns, including rising urban land values that constrain affordable housing supply; weak enforcement of land use plans; inequitable land development practices; limited transparency and digitization of land value data; and complex, often inaccessible land dispute resolution mechanisms operating within legally plural systems. The report also identifies gaps in training and learning.
At the same time, the report establishes a baseline for dialogue and action. By consolidating evidence and identifying shared challenges and opportunities, it offers a foundation for advancing fit‑for‑purpose land administration, improving access to housing, addressing informality, strengthening tenure security and building more resilient and inclusive land governance systems across the region.
Поделиться