Abstract

Land administration systems play a crucial role in managing land and have evolved over time to meet societal needs. Global initiatives, including the UN-GGIMs Framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA), aim to modernise these systems to support sustainable development. FELA emphasises that land administration must be effective, interoperable, and inclusive, aligning with global standards and practices to accelerate efforts to document and manage land relationships effectively. In response to these goals, EuroSDR and UN-GGIM Europe conducted a survey across 16 organisations from 14 European countries to assess the adoption of FELA’s pathways: Partnerships, Capacity and Education, and Advocacy and Awareness. In previous survey rounds, the other FELA pathways were assessed.

The survey reveals a technically robust and internationally cooperative, but strategically unbalanced land administration sector. Partnership activities are maturing, supported by strong technical competence and long-standing regional networks.

However, capacity development is evolving at two speeds: while some countries cultivate interdisciplinary training and innovation, others rely heavily on traditional technical capacity building and lack structured continuing professional development or entrepreneurship support. The most significant gap is in communication. Many organisations are technically competent but relatively weak in communication. They often struggle to reach non-technical audiences effectively and rarely assess the impact of their outreach efforts. In addition, they do not appear to make targeted efforts to engage vulnerable groups or address socio-environmental challenges.

The findings suggest that advancing FELA Pathways VIII (Capacity and Education) and IX (Advocacy and Awareness) will be essential to balance the strong achievements already present in Pathway VII - Partnerships.

This publication should be read alongside the two previously published surveys to provide a holistic view across all nine FELA strategic pathways and an understanding of the current state of FELA implementation in the participating countries. We acknowledge all the respondents in their efforts to fill in the survey questionnaire.

Official Publication No. 74 and Official Publication No. 77.