Implementation
The Community Land Trust (CLT) concept developed by
Schumacher Society's President, Robert Swann, offers a practical way to take
land off the market and place it into a system of trusteeship on a
region-by-region basis. It is a simple non profit-making organization, with
membership open to any resident of a geographical region or bioregion. The
purpose of a CLT is to create a democratic regional institution to hold land
and to capture the speculative value of the land for the benefit of the
community. The effect of a broad-based CLT is to provide more affordable
access to land for housing, farming, small businesses and civic purposes. A
CLT acquires land by gift or purchase, then develops a land-use plan for the
parcel, identifying which lands should remain forever wild and which could
support appropriate development without damaging the overall environmental
of the area. The land trust then leases the productive sites for the
purposes determined. The lease runs ninety-nine years and is inheritable and
renewable. The leaseholder owns the buildings and agricultural improvements
on the land but not the land itself. At resale, the leaseholder is
restricted to selling his or her buildings for their current replacement
cost, excluding the land's market value from the transfer.
The Schumacher Society plans to implement an Olkhon Community Land Trust to
hold all the productive lands in the region. The Olkhon region on the west
bank of Lake Baikal in Siberia is home to 50,000 ethnic Buryats,
traditionally shepherds but caught up in the dramatic changes sweeping the
former Soviet Union. The Olkhon CLT will provide for regional ownership
through a democratically-structure organization, will secure private-use
rights for specific purposes, and will clarify ownership of buildings and
land improvement. It will thus facilitate investment and necessary business
development. The plan would (a) include a detailed land-use map for all the
productive land; (b) provide leases to current users for development that is
consistent with sound land stewardship; (c) provide bills of ownership for
existing buildings and other improvements to the leaseholders; and (d)
invite applications form residents to lease productive lands not currently
in use. The urgency of this project is underscored by the ecological
significance of Lake Baikal (holding one-fifth of the Earth's fresh water
but under severe ecological threat from unsustainable practices), the
still-strong roots of the Buryat in their traditional culture, and the
important model that the CLT can provide for fair distribution of land
within a framework of concern for the region's ecology and the important
model that an Olkhon CLT can provide for the peaceful decentralization of a
crumbling nation-state and to a capitalist world view where land is the
property of the highest bidder.
Claim
Land trusts are excellent organizations for preserving open space,
natural areas and agricultural lands. Their purposes and programmes can vary
from community to community, but most land trusts can purchase and manage
lands and educate their communities on issues of land preservation. As
nonprofit organizations, land trusts can act more quickly, with greater
flexibility, and with more resources than individual citizens or government
entities.
Refs
*The Community Land Trust Handbook (Institute for Community Economics,
1982).
Orgs
*Schumacher College - An International Centre for Ecological Studies.