Towards the Next Century
The above – abridged – review of the changes
in man – land relations that have taken place during
the last 50 years presents us with a tool to look ahead at
the near future. History, it is true, does not deliver blueprints
revealing future developments, but one can draw some conclusions
with respect to the likely requirements in the future.
First, changes in man – land relations will continue
to take place, and the need to adjust to them will increase
in speed because the changes in the conditions will be more
rapid. Whereas in some countries old-fashioned agrarian reforms
are still necessary, the higher level of the general social
and economic development in many countries calls for measures
that are more highly sophisticated that can be achieved only
by small steps in structural policy. This has to take into
consideration:
- the regional differences within the countries themselves;
- the different interests and conditions of the various
population groups within the countries;
- the increasing socio-economic changes that can be anticipated
with respect to the future, including technological impacts;
- the increasing urbanization and rural – urban interlacing;
- the increasing occupational and regional mobility of
the population;
- the society and youth’s decreasing interest in
agriculture; and
- the need to harmonize production, living and the ecology.
This requires
- the incorporation of man – land problems in the
general social and economic development policy;
- an expansion in policy from land-tenure policy to a broader
resource-tenure policy;
- making such an approach manageable so that it will be
possible to implement such a rural-development policy in
a regional development approach;
- aiming at the greatest possible flexibility in man –
land relations because there is no ideal land tenure system,
but only one in line with the current economic, social,
political and technological requirements, and whenever these
change, the relations of man to land will also have to change.
Metamorphosis in Man-Land Relations,
changes in Issues, Priorities and Viewpoints
Proceedings of International Seminar on Land Policy and Economic
Development, Taoyuan, Taiwan 1999, 20 - 46.
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