ReliefWeb

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Following the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013, the Philippines authorities pledged to ‘build back better’ – a vision designed to ensure that affected communities were stronger and more resilient in the face of future storms. Significant efforts and some important steps have been taken by various authorities to begin fulfilling that vision.

But unless the fundamental issue of security of land tenure is addressed, poor and vulnerable people – those most affected by Typhoon Haiyan – are at risk of being left out of any lasting recovery and rehabilitation in the aftermath of the strongest storm to ever make landfall.

The government’s commitment to build back better after Typhoon Haiyan requires more than building safe houses. It also demands measures to provide land tenure security for poor and vulnerable people as part of relocation and resettlement efforts, and as part of livelihoods recovery programs.

Why security of land tenure matters

The lack of secure access to land is closely linked to poverty, especially in rural Philippines. In Region VIII alone, which includes the disaster-affected areas of Leyte and Eastern Samar, approximately 32 percent of the total population are informal settlers. This striking degree of tenure informality – almost one-third of the population – correlates with one of the highest rates of poverty in the country.

Tenure insecurity creates cycles of vulnerability to natural disasters. Displaced persons who do not have a rightful claim to land are more likely to:

• Fall into poverty, as evictions – or the threat of eviction – prevent restoration of livelihoods;

• Move back from sites of displacement or relocation to unsafe land, and;

• Form residual caseloads of landless groups without access to land and permanent housing.