Highlight 30/2025: How UNECE (WPLA) Can Support Land Administration Tools in Post-Crisis Contexts? The Case of Ukraine
Varis Bahmanli, 23 June 2025
The war in Ukraine has fundamentally disrupted the country’s land governance and property registration systems. Millions of people have been displaced, and in many areas, property titles have been lost or are legally disputed. This breakdown in land administration has serious consequences: it threatens property rights, impedes reconstruction, and risks creating long-term socio-political instability. Rebuilding land governance systems is therefore not simply a technical challenge—it is a critical foundation for justice, social cohesion, and economic recovery.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)—through its Working Party on Land Administration (WPLA)—is uniquely positioned to support Ukraine in this effort. WPLA provides a neutral and trusted platform that connects governments, experts, and donor institutions. It has already supported Ukraine through policy dialogues, knowledge sharing, and technical consultations. In recent WPLA sessions, Ukrainian representatives presented on maintaining land data resilience, safeguarding archives during conflict, and the need for coordinated digital transformation.
UNECE’s broader tools also support this agenda. The UN4UkrainianCities Toolbox includes policy instruments relevant for local governance and land recovery. The Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing emphasizes tenure security and institutional continuity. The Regional Action Plan 2030 calls for resilient infrastructure and inclusive planning, and Housing2030 reinforces the importance of accessible, climate-smart housing linked to transparent land governance.
WPLA’s future contributions could include: (1) coordinating donor efforts to fund digital cadastre projects aligned with local priorities; (2) producing model legal guidance on transitional tenure systems for de-occupied areas; (3) facilitating peer exchanges between Ukraine and other UNECE members with post-crisis experience, such as the Balkans or Caucasus; (4) helping develop secure, interoperable property databases; and (5) delivering targeted training for local land offices.
Furthermore, WPLA can play a key role in integrating cybersecurity standards, ensuring that Ukraine’s future land data infrastructure is resilient not only to war but to digital threats. It can also help define governance principles for multi-level cooperation—between central governments, municipalities, and international actors—ensuring that land administration reform is inclusive and trusted. These interventions can also contribute to advancing the Ministerial Commitments on Affordable and Sustainable Housing, ensuring recovery and reconstruction efforts support long-term development.
In addition to these targeted measures, WPLA could also initiate a monitoring mechanism to track implementation progress and collect lessons learned. These insights could inform not only the Ukrainian recovery process but also serve as a reference for future post-crisis land governance responses in other fragile contexts. For example, countries recovering from natural disasters or internal conflicts could benefit from the guidance developed through Ukraine’s experience. WPLA might consider publishing periodic policy briefs to disseminate these findings widely within the UNECE region and beyond.
Finally, land governance must be integrated into the wider humanitarian-development-peace nexus. As highlighted by the UNECE Explanatory Note on Housing and Land Management, secure land tenure is not only a developmental asset but also a precondition for human security and social cohesion. The intersection of property rights, environmental resilience, and digital innovation places land administration at the center of long-term recovery. By continuing to provide normative guidance, capacity-building, and policy leadership, WPLA can play a transformative role in shaping sustainable land governance in Ukraine and other post-conflict countries.
In conclusion, the recovery of Ukraine’s land governance system will depend on both technical competence and institutional legitimacy. WPLA’s ability to connect national priorities with regional norms makes it a uniquely strategic actor. With continued engagement, UNECE—through WPLA—can support Ukraine in building a land administration system that is transparent, equitable, and resilient against future shocks.
Varis Bahmanli, Highlight 30/2025: How UNECE (WPLA) Can Support Land Administration Tools in Post-Crisis Contexts? The Case of Ukraine, 23 June 2025, available at www.meig.ch
The views expressed in the MEIG Highlights are personal to the authors and neither reflect the positions of the MEIG Programme nor those of the University of Geneva.