Last year, U-LEAD with Europe implemented a training programme on spatial planning and natural resource management. It included 225 municipalities, with 48 receiving additional expert support in developing the terms of reference for a comprehensive plan for the spatial development of the territory of the municipality or in auditing the land plots.

Among them was the Pokrovske municipality of the Dnipropetrovsk region, which, with the support of U-LEAD with Europe experts, audited all its municipally-owned lands.

How it was done

Firstly, it is not at all difficult to audit municipally-owned lands. Secondly, the number of land plots is usually lower than it may seem at first glance.

To start off, land plots under lease were determined as a priority. The auditors found 408 of them. The members of the Pokrovske municipality team, namely Liudmyla Mulyar, Viktoriia Gubich and Alina Tsykalo, first split up the entire scope of work among themselves, and then addressed the technical issues:

1. While participating in practical workshops and doing their homework, they got access to the information of the State Land Cadastre.
2. They downloaded information and json (plot with coordinates) for each land plot.
3. They entered relevant information into the ‘smart’ accounting table (its template was developed by U-LEAD with Europe experts).

After the above steps, the experts assisted the municipality in importing all the files with the compiled information into the QGIS software, and the municipality got its own database of municipally-owned land plots under lease.

Representatives of the Pokrovske municipality also learned to work in QGIS during workshops that were part of the training programme.

Naturally, that was just the beginning. Having a defined algorithm, the municipality can use it to audit land plots of all forms of ownership.

Added value

U-LEAD cooperated with the municipality from September 2021 to February 2022. Further use and implementation of the acquired knowledge and practices was left to the municipality. However, due to the full-scale Russian invasion and the introduction of martial law in Ukraine, the operation of the Public Cadastre Map, which reflects the information of the State Land Cadastre, was suspended.

Despite this, the Pokrovske municipality was able to continue using its own database, analyse the current situation and make operational land management decisions.

Today, since the Public Cadastral Map is still not available and available public resources can provide only very limited information, the use of geographic information systems in land management is a very useful skill.

Liudmyla Muliar, Chief Expert of the Department of Land Relations and Environmental Protection of the Pokrovske municipality, stated,

“When the Public Cadastral Map was operational, it was more convenient to use it. Rather, it was just a matter of routine. Even though authentication and each request took more time there, we got used to it over many years. When access to the Public Cadastral Map disappeared, we were very happy to have our own database, and it became another reason to fully switch to QGIS. At the moment, it doesn’t seem too difficult.”

If you and your municipality want to gain in-depth knowledge of spatial planning and natural resource management, we invite you to apply for the new advanced training programme by U-LEAD with Europe, starting in October this year. Learn more and find the application form here.