Measuring the impact of land use regulation on the land market in Nepal

Measuring the impact of land use regulation on the land market in Nepal

Effective land use management and efficient land markets form the basis of sustainable development. The sustainable development of land resources requires consideration across the economic, social, environmental and institutional dimensions. Therefore, measuring the impact of land use regulation on the land market across multiple dimensions can facilitate better decision making and support sustainable land management. Recent developments in land administration system theory indicate the need to undertake the measurement and management of change produced by policy interventions to ensure good governance. However, identifying the aspects of change to be measured across these dimensions and the methods to be adopted for measuring the impact of land use regulation on the land market requires an understanding of the theoretical, conceptual and methodological dimensions.

The aim of this study is to utilise an integrated approach to identify the impact of land use regulation on the land market in Nepal across the economic, social, environmental and institutional dimensions. Nepal has introduced a series of land use policy interventions in recent years and was therefore selected as the study area to understand the impact of land use regulation on its land market. A holistic approach for assessing the impact of land use regulation on the land market was developed in this study as no single theory was found that considered all dimensions appropriately. Fourteen land market impact factors were identified through a desktop review, and these were later refined through semi-structured interviews to adjust the factors to the local Nepalese context. A mixed-method exploratory design framework was adopted to measure the impact of land use regulation on the land market. In the first phase, a qualitative analysis of interview-based data was performed to finalise impact factors relevant to the Nepalese land market, which were then utilised to collect survey-based quantitative data. Quantitative analysis of the survey data was performed using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP); then in the second phase, quantitative research was conducted using archival and documentary evidence. The approach allowed the use of multi-stakeholder and multi-criteria-based assessment of the impact of land use regulation on the land market in Nepal.

The perspective-based findings of the first phase of the research identified negative impacts across the economic, social, and institutional dimensions and a slightly positive impact across the environmental dimension. Across the economic dimension, reductions in subdivisions decreased land supply, increased the price of available residential land, caused a reduction in mortgage availability and increased the overall cost of land transactions. Within the social dimension there was evidence of increased conflicts between buyers and sellers due to the poor implementation of the restrictions and people utilised loopholes such as family separations as a process to subdivide the land. Many of the social impacts were the result of poor communication and implementation of the policy changes by the implementing authorities. The lack of coordination and sharing of land use data across the various implementing institutions further contributed to the negative impact experienced by stakeholders in the land market. Improved planning and land use restrictions had a positive impact due to quality of land developments, reduced congestion, reduced land-owner exposure to flooding and improved open space in land developments. The evidence-based findings of the second phase of the results complemented the findings of the first stage across all dimensions by providing additional insights across each dimension.

The research concluded that the land market could be successfully assessed holistically across the economic, social, environmental and institutional dimensions. In a broader context, the blending of perspective-based findings with evidence-based results in this research improved the breadth of understanding of the impacts across the land market. The research supported the concept that land use regulation and the land market are intrinsically linked and should be considered together to better understand the impact on sustainable development. This mixed methods research approach enabled the measurement of the impact of land use regulation on the land market in Nepal and can contribute to improvements in future land use policy interventions and implementation.

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