IALTA and China: International Conference on Zoning, Taking and Constitutional Protection of Peasant Rights, Peking University

On 6-7 August 2011 Prof Leon Verstappen from the International Alliance on Land Tenure and Administration (IALTA)participated in the ‘Second Forum on Global Constitutionalism: International Conference on Zoning, Taking and Constitutional Protection of Peasant Rights’ organized by the Constitutional and Administrative Law Centre of Peking University in China. Bringing national and international land scholars and policy-makers together, the conference provided a timely contribution to China’s ongoing land policy reform agenda pertaining to the revision of the current Land Management Law. Key issues surrounding land tenure and property rights, land acquisition, land law, land institutional development and urbanization were discussed at the conference. And these issues were cross-fertilized from a comparative angle with international land reform experiences. Participants from the Netherlands, UK, Germany, South Africa, US, Canada and other countries provided pertinent lessons for the case of China.

Prof Verstappen’s presentation was focused on the Dutch experiences of land acquisition and expropriation especially with regard to institutional arrangements, legal procedures, the interface of public-private interests, and the implications for China in the process of building more transparent and accountable land management systems. He also shared his experiences in land management from a legal and multidisciplinary angle with the participants and discussed the priorities of the IALTA in facilitating relevant research for the participants.

For more information, please contact Prof Leon Verstappen, email: l.c.a.verstappen@rug.nl, and www.ialtanetwork.org, landportal.info.