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Abstract
This knowledge product examines how the LAND-at-scale Iraq programme has used land governance as a pathway toward stabilization and sustainable peace in post-conflict settings. Focusing on the interconnected pillars of land, data, and dignity, the publication shows how participatory mapping, community validation, and the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) helped document de facto land relations and support the issuance of Occupancy Certificates for displaced and returning populations, particularly in areas affected by conflict and historical dispossession. It argues that in fragile contexts, incremental tenure recognition can provide immediate protection, reduce disputes, support reconstruction, and strengthen trust in institutions while formal land administration systems are rebuilt. The report also highlights the importance of legal recognition, institutional coordination, gender inclusion, and minority rights in making documentation meaningful and durable. Drawing on the experience of LAS Iraq, the publication offers practical lessons for other fragile settings, showing how land governance can serve not only as a technical reform agenda, but as an essential architecture for dignity, legal recognition, and long-term peace.
Publication details
- Authors
- Javier Prieto (author) and Sandra Quintero (editor)
- Publisher / producer
- LAND-at-scale Iraq and UN-Habitat
- Publication date
- March 2026
- Resource type
- Knowledge product
- Language
- English
- Extent
- 18 pages
- Geographic focus
- Iraq, including Sinjar (Ninewa)
- Source note
- Cover photograph shows field data collection in Sinjar (Ninewa), Iraq.
- Subjects
- cadastral maps maps Land Administration Domain Model land cover mapping gender equity gender equity in access to land land law displacement land conflicts land dispute land tenure women open data
Program: LAND-at-scale.
Related projects: LAND-at-scale Iraq: Housing, land and property rights for displaced people, LAND-at-scale Iraq: Justice innovation for land and housing claims.
Original publication credited to Javier Prieto (author) and Sandra Quintero (editor). Cover reproduced from the first page. Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0. Land Portal source record.