Development of Tools for Increasing Transparency and Enhancing Land Governance (BR0045)

to develop the Land Management System (SIGEF) with the aim of integrating information related to the identification, certification and destination of public lands, as well as data on the land occupancy in the country, and on the different government levels and agencies responsible for managing the territory, thus adding to the effective development of a Land Governance Policy. This commitment also aims at ensuring public access to land information and at enhancing the effectiveness of governmental expenditures with the execution of georeferencing on public lands.

Commitment 1.9 Development of tools for increasing transparency and enhancing Land Governance (✪)

Commitment Text: To develop the Land Management System (SIGEF) with the aim of integrating information related to the identification, certification and destination of public lands, as well as data on the land occupancy in the country, and on the different government levels and agencies responsible for managing the territory, thus adding to the effective development of a Land Governance Policy. This commitment also aims at ensuring public access to land information and at enhancing the effectiveness of governmental expenditures with the execution of georeferencing on public lands.

Responsible institution: Ministry of Agrarian Development

Supporting institution: None

Start date: Not specified                          End date: 13 December 2013

Editorial note: Commitment 1.9 is measurable, clearly relevant to OGP values, of transformative potential impact and complete. Therefore it is a star commitment.

Commitment aim

The commitment set out to implement geo-referencing services for land data, as well as receive, analyse, and publish geo-referenced territorial parcels. This was to allow citizens and other interested stakeholders to map most of the public and private areas of Brazilian rural lands. Land disputes are a major issue in Brazil, and there are no aggregated public data on rural ownership records. Some land dispute cases are centuries-old, and relate to a host of issues ranging from native population reserved areas to the forced urbanisation of vulnerable groups. They also involve disputes surrounding Quilombola reserved areas — land founded by Quilombolas or runaway slaves of African origin — to which their descendants have a constitutional right. By allowing free access to land records, with the aid of free mapping tools, the commitment had the potential to both improve the transparency of public records and reduce inefficiencies and corruption in public services.

Status

Midterm: Completed

The system was launched in November 2013, and had registered 90 million hectares at the time this report was written. Some of the registered areas include 108,000 parcels that will be subject to land regularisation in the Legal Amazon, an area corresponding to 8 million hectares.

The tool allows citizens to consult and download individual catalogued data concerning parcels of land, requirements, certifications, and statistics on the total land parcels certified by the state. Finally, citizens can access data on rural property boundaries and service contracts for geo-referencing land data.

Did it open government?

Access to information: Outstanding

The policy area of this commitment is extremely important. According to government data, there are more than 50 million hectares of unallocated federal lands,^{[Note 22: SIGEF Presentation, Ministry of Agrarian Development, 2013, http://goo.gl/Wx96dC. ]} much of which is subject to environmental crime, unclear territorial rights, and episodes of violence and insecurity.^{[Note 23: Renata Mendonça, “Pelo 4º ano seguido, Brasil lidera ranking de violência no campo,” BBC Brasil, 20 April 2015, http://goo.gl/ZGxJ3U.]} The new tool transformed the previous scenario in which land governance was managed via controlled government databases in electronic spreadsheets. Previously, the certification process of these databases took an average of two and a half years, but now it is systematic and occurs in real time. Moreover, the processed information and partial procedures are open, downloadable, and designed for easy visualisation by citizens. With the information now public, citizens can immediately check if their land and statutory records match, or if part of their land is claimed by others. It is also possible to identify unregistered areas, and to check whether land advertisements are accurate.

The online system has already shown promising results. Since its launch in 2013, the number of land certifications has increased dramatically. According to government figures, the number of certified plots jumped from 9,029 in 2012 to 27,893 in 2013 to 83,646 in 2015.^{[Note 24: Richard Torsiano, “Georeferencing and the Land Management System – SIGEF,” 28-30 April 2016,  http://irib.org.br/files/palestra/35-regional-06.pdf. ]} In addition, the Brazilian Association of State Entities in Communications and Information Technology awarded the system its e-Gov prize in 2014.^{[Note 25: Ivan Leonardi, “Sistema de Gestão Fundiária do Incra recebe prêmio e-Gov,” 30 May 2014, http://bit.ly/1xnJw5n. ]} The director of the Association of Notaries and Registrars of the State of Mato Grosso (ANOREG-MT) maintains that the new system is a very important tool with which to follow official registry update requests. It has also improved transparency not only for notaries and registrars, but also for citizens to search, identify, and verify their land registry information. ANOREG-MT’s view is that the system promoted outstanding efficiency in a public service that was previously underprovided.^{[Note 26: Oldemir Schwiderke (Director, ANOREG-MT), in response to the public call for comments made by the IRM researcher, March 2017.]} Given how the system has transformed public access to land information, the commitment is considered to have made an outstanding contribution to open government in Brazil.

Carried forward?

The commitment is not included in Brazil’s third action plan. The IRM researcher suggests bolstering civil society’s use of the tool, and investing in the expansion of the system’s open data policy. Possible next steps include translating the system’s impact and importance for the lay person, using it for investigations into land problems, and incentivising citizens to analyse rural properties with signs of irregularity.