Managua, February 17, 2010 – The World Bank’s Board of Directors approved an additional US$10 million loan yesterday for the Land Management Project (PRODEP), in order to complement the land management processes started in rural areas of Chinandega, Estelí and part of Madriz departments, now widened to five new municipalities within León department and three new municipalities in Madriz department across the entire country.
This pilot program supports the development of a modern management and technical framework for land management in these regions. Property assessment activities have already been completed in Chinandega and Estelí, and in 70% of Madriz.
PRODEP has achieved categorical results:
- Demarcation of protected areas, 12 of which have already been delimited. Ten land management plans with productive projects within that framework.
- Development of demarcation methodologies with the participation of community inhabitants.
“The contribution made by this initiative represents an historical advance in acknowledging the land rights of Nicaragua’s indigenous people,” said Laura Frigenti, World Bank Director for Central America.
The land registry process, which benefits the indigenous people of the Caribbean, and is currently being undertaken, has properly demarcated, given titles to and registered nine territories measuring 10.373 km2 (4.005 mi2). This broad area benefitted 123 communities totaling 53 thousand inhabitants, with a mainly Miskito and Mayangna indigenous population, located in the Upper Coco and Bocay (Bosawás) areas, the North Atlantic Autonomous Region and the South Atlantic Autonomous Region.
As a result of this project, mechanisms will be implemented that will contribute to the efficiency and quality of land management services, reducing the time it takes to register property and transaction costs.
“Land tenure rights are fundamental in generating income, thus multiplying Nicaragua’s poverty reduction efforts,” added Joseph Owen, World Bank Resident Representative in Nicaragua.
The political and legal frameworks around land management have been reinforced with the creation of a National Land Policy Framework and the approval of several laws, including Law 445: Indigenous People and Ethnic Communities from the Autonomous Regions of Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast and the Bocay, Coco, Indio and Maíz Rivers Communal Property Regime Law (2003); Law 509: National Land Registry General Law (2005); and Law 698: General Law on Public Registries (2009).
