Cadastres and Climate Change

This paper explores the role of land registers and cadastre in supporting measures that aim at adapting to and mitigating climate change. To that end, the paper provides a brief introduction to climate change in general. The paper then continues by analyzing the role of housing, land use, land-use change and forestry with respect to carbon storage and emission reduction. It appears that –in certain cases such as a FAO/IIED report on large-scale biofuel production)– land tenure and land management are of eminent importance. The paper also refers to the evolving voluntary retail market for carbon credits, which even might constitute a ‘title ’ in their own right and be registered separately from an ownership title. To promote carbon sequestration and emission reduction, land policy and associated land instruments such as market regulation, land use planning, land taxation and land reform should include climate-proof goals. To facilitate good land policy and its implementation, the paper encourages land registers and cadastres to extend their traditional purposes of markets and taxation to include contributing to adaptation to and mitigation of climate change