Land consolidation in Ukraine was the key issue in the framework of the XI International LANDNET Workshop

    A major event for the land infrastructure and geodesic community of Eastern Europe and Central Asia - the XI International LANDNET Workshop - was held last week in Tallinn, Estonia. 123 experts from 28 countries of Europe and Asia gathered on the Baltic Sea coast. The main topic of the workshop was “Land consolidation as an essential instrument for the implementation of large infrastructure and sustainable land use”.

     LANDNET is sponsored by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and brings together experts from different countries. Usually, experts participating in the workshop represent government organizations, private sector, universities and research institutes, etc.
    The objectives of the XI International LANDNET Workshop were to: provide an overview of land consolidation as an essential instrument for the implementation of large-scale infrastructure and sustainable land use; discuss application of land consolidation in the context of the Rail Baltic project; explore and demonstrate various digital tools related to land consolidation/governance; discuss common interests and cooperation with international networks on land governance.

     It should be noted that the issue of land consolidation in Ukraine was given close attention. One of the sessions was devoted specifically to the development of land consolidation in our state. Representatives of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography & Cadastre and Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine gave their expert opinions on this issue. Dean of the Faculty of Land Management, Taras Ievsiukov, represented Ukrainian educational institutions and provided his expert assessment of land consolidation in Ukraine. Taras Ievsiukov together with Andrii Martyn, Head of the Land-Use Planning Department, presented the report on the current status and expert's estimation of the land-use system as a main mechanism of land consolidation in Ukraine. Summing up, Taras Ievsiukov stressed the need for a radical reform of the legislation on land management; the concept of “land plot” should also change: it should not be considered as an immutable object with “eternal” boundaries, which are set once and for all. It must be a "flexible" object. Changes in the essential characteristics of a land plot (location, area, composition of land, purpose) should occur without any changes in titles of ownership or use and the introduction of changes in the register of real estate rights); at the legislative level, rules should be defined for resolving “conflicts” during land management, as well as requirements for enforcing it in individual cases. In conclusion, he noted that a country could have unsurpassed legislation on consolidation, an ideal real estate cadastre, modern GIS solutions, but if there are no professionals who are prepared to implement land consolidation projects in specific communities responsibly and competently, everything else will be in vain.

     In general, more than 30 plenary speeches were held during the workshop, as well as various seminars and discussions. Moreover, the LANDNET management team was elected for the next two years.

Olexander Shevchenko,
Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Land Management