Measuring Land Rights for a Sustainable Future

September 2015
UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (Kaitlin Y Cordes & Jeffrey D Sachs)

Examines recent progress on developing indicators to measure land rights as part of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2016. Argues that the current proposed indicators are too narrow and that a more appropriate indicator, which has achieved a high level of consensus, should be adopted by the UN. This would directly measure the land rights of women and men as well as indigenous peoples and local communities. It would also cover a range of land, property and natural resources rather than simply agricultural land and would focus on secure rights rather than ownership.