South-Eastern European Journal of Earth Observation and Geomatics Special-Thematic Issue Vo1, No2S, 2012 47 ®Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Published online July 2012 Land Administration in post-conflict environment – Aspects relevant for South East Europe Dimo Todorovski a, *, Jaap Zevenbergen b , Paul van der Molen b a PhD Candidate/Gen. Secretary UNU School for Land Administration Studies, b Professor, University of Twente, Faculty ITC, UNU School for Land Administration Studies, *Corresponding author: todorovski@itc.nl, +31534874329 Abstract: There is a very specific correlation between land and conflict; they meet each other on every point of the cycle of the armed conflict and in the post-conflict period. Land was identified as a critical gap in international response capacities and awareness about the importance of addressing the housing land and property issues in the emergency and early recovery period has increased. Experiences show that there are only a few cases where land issues were addressed in the post-conflict period. The South East Europe region’s history acknowledges facts where conflicts were substantially present in the past which just goes in alignment with relevancy of the topic for this region as well. This paper makes an overview of the causes and characteristics of conflict and post-conflict period, war torn societies and issues related to land administration in such environment. ‘Land administration in post- conflict environment’ in this research paper is recognised as land administration performing in peace - normal life conditions - but loaded with the characteristics of the post-conflict environment. At the end this paper underlines the importance of the topic of the Land Administration in post-conflict environment and identifies it as one of the elements of the overall process of post-conflict state building. Keywords: Economy, Real Estate, Human Settlement, Land Use, Politics 1. Introduction The causes of armed conflict and widespread violence are many and varied. In some cases land is a major cause. Land and land related issues are increasingly recognized by the international community as important element associated to conflict activities that take place before, during and specifically after the conflict in emergency and early recovery period (FAO, 2005; OCHA, 2005; UN-HABITAT, 2007). This paper addresses the role of Land Administration (LA) in post-conflict environments. The focus is on identifying its potential role as a state building element in the post-conflict period. First conflict and post-conflict environments are explored based on available literature. Then LA and characteristics of LA in post-conflict environment are discussed. ‘LA in post-conflict environment’ in is recognised as LA performing in peace – normal life conditions – loaded with the characteristics of the post- conflict environment. At the end this paper finishes with some conclusions about the identified need to better understand LA in post-conflict environment and as one of the elements of the overall post-conflict state building. 2. Conflicts and post-conflict environment The basic idea of conflict is loosely defined as disagreement between people about something, involving some degree of antagonism. Related concepts are: dispute, contestation, contention, competition, rivalry. How people react to the disagreement or