State of Land Information in Senegal
September 2022
C-T. Bayer, M. de los Santos, S. Tall, L. Toure and K. Booth (Land Portal)
This State of Land Information (SOLI) report from the Land Portal assesses the state of land data in Senegal against principles of land data openness, land information availability and accessibility, and overall good land governance. The report is one of a series produced by the Land Portal, featuring in-depth analysis of country level land information and making recommendations for targeted interventions to improve compliance with international open data standards. The report identifies the various public sector sources of land data and information in Senegal and notes that laws and policies are widely available online. Senegal’s commitment since 2018 to the Open Government Partnership is lauded. However there is an almost total lack of land data publicly available or accessible online or offline, due to implementation issues. Only the state is authorised to request the registration of immoveable property or to allow access to records. The Directorate of Taxes and Domains is responsible for title registration, and records are held by numerous private surveyors and by the Department of the Conservation of Property and Land Rights. Land use data is the responsibility of the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture, and the National Agency for Statistics and Demography hosts a range of land development data and a cartographic website, but information is only available electronically. The report examines the availability of land data and information they provide according to six key land data categories. Senegal’s legal framework for data governance and for opening up information is reviewed, and Senegal’s international and national commitments to access to information and its instruments for data and information governance are examined to assess for transparency about the purpose for collecting, storing and disseminating information. The report concludes with an evaluation of the openness of land data and information in Senegal by assessing it against 10 international best practice criteria. Very little of the country’s land data was available online or otherwise accessible at the time the report was prepared, although various new initiatives in support of open data are noted. The report concludes that, overall, the open land data ecosystem in Senegal is very limited, but with multiple opportunities for improvement.