Oz-Dev: Mama Graon - Vanuatu Land Program

Land use and land development has been a charged issue in Vanuatu for over a century. Through the 20th century, there was a constant cycle of land booms (and busts), until by 1972 over a third of the country’s land had been alienated for agricultural purposes and land was for the first time subdivided for expatriate residential development. It was this loss of land that first gave rise to a national political consciousness among ni-Vanuatu, and became the mobilising issue for the independence movement. The current pattern of development is potentially highly corrosive of the social order, and could generate serious tensions in the future. Poor management of development ends up harming both the investors and local communities. Yet ni-Vanuatu communities are clearly not inherently opposed to development. Sensitive development of land for tourism, generating jobs and business opportunities for local communities, would be widely welcomed. The National Land Summit (September 2006) was a watershed in the development of the land sector in Vanuatu. Organised by the government on the initiative of the National Council of Chiefs and the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, with broad participation from different social groups and commercial interests, the Summit provided an opportunity for intensive debate on land and development.

Following on from the Summit, the Government of Vanuatu requested Australian and New Zealand assistance to support land reforms in Vanuatu. In July – September 2008, AusAID and NZAID fielded two separate scoping and design missions to Vanuatu to develop their respective land programs. Further discussions with the Government of Vanuatu ensued on how best to provide support in an over consulted sector with limited absorptive capacity.To that end, AusAID and NZAID have agreed to harmonise their development assistance to the land sector in Vanuatu by engaging one Contractor to implement the two designs produced to support the Government of Vanuatu’s request for support. Proposed assistance is in full accord with the Constitution and in keeping with the Vanuatu Government’s Comprehensive Reform Program and Priorities and Action Agenda 2006 – 2011 (PAA). Government coordination of long term reform will be guided by a Land Sector Framework which AusAID and NZAID are guided by. Oversight of the framework will occur through a multi-stakeholder Vanuatu Land Governance Committee.