Importance of Land in SDG Policy Instruments: A Study of ASEAN Developing Countries

: Allocating land-related social, economic, and legal beneﬁts to people is crucial for meeting the commitments made by various countries for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). Economic growth in developing countries in the Southeast Asian region is very rapid, requiring primary resources such as land, which poses challenges for implementing nationally determined commitments towards SDGs. This paper quantitatively compares the relevant policy instruments issued by the key ASEAN countries to analyze the importance of land provision in achieving the speciﬁc SDGs. Using content analysis to formulate a framework for comparing the various policy instruments and strategic plans, the article identiﬁes the importance of land use in various policy instruments focused on achieving SDGs. Most countries use authoritative instruments to incorporate land-related aspects. The use of the symbolic, capacity-building, and incentive instruments is relatively lesser. Many countries give prominence to land for providing shelter or as an economic resource, while land use for managing gender equality is negligible. Policy makers could incorporate a more balanced mix of instruments and those addressing different dimensions of land use while redesigning their policy or strategy documents to implement SDGs.


Introduction
The development paradigm based on meeting the needs of the current generation without hampering the needs of future generations was the basis for sustainable development as articulated by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 [1]. This concept has been the basis of various agreements related to sustainable living amongst the countries, leading to the formulation of eight millennium development goals (MDGs) [2]. Subsequently, The United Nations Sustainable Development Summit adopted the sustainable development goals, comprising 17 goals, whose progress is measured through 169 specific indicators [3,4]. These goals were ratified by less than 193 member states. Various countries have formulated their strategies, through nationally determined commitments, to chart their respective progress to achieve the SDGs.
The concept of sustainable development is based on three pillars of economic growth, environmental protection, and social inclusion, each of them receiving a fair share in the Declaration of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development titled "The Future We Want" [5]. The focus on sustainable development coexists with achieving a greener economy while eradicating poverty [6]. SDGs have become an integral part of governments' policy and decision-making processes during the last few years. During their quest to implement the SDGs, different countries identify their local challenges and formulate customized solutions to keep track of their anticipated path for sustainable development. As every goal demands precise action or an attitude change [7], many countries have placed infrastructure development and improvement and the use of the available resources at the core of implementing SDGs [8]. A review of the nationally determined commitments of different countries indicates that countries have concentrated their efforts on reducing greenhouse gas emissions [8]. This emphasis addresses the environmental aspect of the SDG implementation.
Land, traditionally considered one of the factors of production, has been the mainstay for infrastructure development and is crucial for providing various civic services. The social and economic development, particularly in the urban context, depends on the availability of land, which further impacts the levels of hunger, poverty, and wellbeing [9,10]. With the growing world population, the per capita availability of land has declined. With an increasing demand for land in cities, its availability decreases for sectors such as agriculture. For example, land under agriculture use has declined significantly in Asia. In 2014, agricultural land use was one-third of what was available in 1961. The cropland declined from 0.45 hectare per capita in 1961 to 0.21 hectare per capita in 2016 [11,12]. Land is also used to augment governments' finances through various instruments used to finance infrastructure. Indiscriminate adoption of land-based financing tools has also led to a sharp increase in land price that has exacerbated the inequality between landowners and non-landowners. One of the adverse consequences of rising land prices is housing affordability, with stark differences across various countries [13].
Land has featured predominantly under the SDGs than the MDGs. MDG 7 (ensuring environmental sustainability) considers the land as a resource for improving the lives of slum dwellers. The importance of land is noted to be much more crucial in many SDGs. SDG 1 (removing poverty in all its forms everywhere), SDG 2 (end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture), SDG 5 (achieve greater gender equality and empower all women and girls) and SDG 11 (make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable) have indicators that underpin the land as shelter or source of income. The transformation to a new sustainable development model of the world economy from the hitherto industrial development model would mean better management of the underlying resources, including land. Many countries are developing their national and subnational plans, policies, and legislative instruments that support SDG achievement.
There is a substantial amount of research that focuses on creating indices to evaluate the performance of the SDGs [6,14,15]. Previous research has also discussed the relationship of SDGs with specific resources or sectors such as energy (mostly renewable) or reduction of greenhouse gases [16][17][18]. Land has been researched from the perspective of forest degradation, soil erosion, wetlands, etc. [19][20][21]. However, there is scant literature on whether policies or plans associated with SDGs incorporate elements that address land management. This research is inspired by this lack of literature and addresses the knowledge gap regarding the inclusion of land management in SDG-related policies. The research findings intend to provide inputs to a discussion on the current extent of importance accorded to land in the national documents relevant to SDGs' implementation and inspire further research on SDG-related policy analysis [22].
This study compares policy measures or actions undertaken by key developing countries of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) to address the land-specific indicators in the SDG targets. The ASEAN is an important collaboration in the global economy, with the member countries accounting for 8.5% of the world's population and having the fifth largest GDP, amounting to USD 3.2 trillion [8]. The region has witnessed a rapid economic growth of 5.3% per annum from 2000 to 2018 [23]. The region also consists of the least developed countries (such as Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Myanmar) [24]. According to The Long-Term Climate Risk Index, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand were among the top ten countries most affected by extreme weather events during 2000-2019 [25]. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the region's economic growth, adding to the challenges of achieving the SDGs [26] (ADB SDG Accelerator Bond, 2021). A study of the key countries in the region would provide pointers for other developing countries for incorporating land in their national policy instruments/strategic documents.
The rest of the paper is structured as follows. The contextual background of the countries being compared is presented in Section 2. The method adopted and the data used for the analysis is described in Section 3. The results and discussions are presented in Section 4. Finally, in Section 5, the conclusions are presented.

SDG Status of Key ASEAN Countries
This paper studies the SDG policy initiatives of seven ASEAN countries-Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. As per the SDG Index 2021 [27] report (data for the year 2020), the total ASEAN population was 667.3 million, out of which these seven countries account for about 98% of the population. The data for Brunei Darussalam and Lao People's Democratic Republic is not readily available. Being more developed than the rest of the ASEAN countries, Singapore has also been excluded from this study.
The demographics profile of the seven ASEAN member countries has been set out in The Southeast Asian region is estimated to require an investment of about $210 billion per annum for fifteen years between 2016 and 2030 to achieve climate-resilient infrastructure [26]. The region is estimated to have an investment shortfall of 3.8% of its GDP (4.1% when accounted for climate resiliency). The decade from the year 2020 has been termed as the Decade for Action for achieving the SDGs [30]. Most countries have been renewing their commitments and making suitable modifications to their chosen paths to achieve them. The challenges faced by many countries, particularly the ASEAN group, include huge investments, limited integration of SDGs into infrastructure planning, inadequate capacity in the government and private sector, and the complexity in translating the SDG targets, indicators to project outcomes [26].
Even though the ASEAN region has made substantial progress in recent years, the trajectory remains challenging as the pace of implementation is varied. Except for Thailand, none of the countries are in the top 50 countries to achieve the SDGs. Tables 2 and 3 present the current scenario of the SDG implementation process in the seven countries. The statistics of the top-ranked country, Finland, also give a perspective of the difference between the leader and the ASEAN countries. Finland is on track in achieving SDG 1 and is moderate in its progress in achieving SDGs 2, 5, and 11. Thailand leads the ASEAN group, followed by Vietnam and Malaysia on the SDG Index score. The rest of the four countries have similar scores and figure in the second half of the global ranking. Thailand and Malaysia appear to be on track to achieve SDG1, while the other five countries are having challenges in their path. All the countries have significant or major challenges in their progress towards SDGs 2, 5, and 11. Three of the seven countries appear to be stagnating in their progress, while four others appear to be having moderate progress in these SDGs. Thailand, Malaysia, and Myanmar appear to be stagnating in their progress in SDG 2, while the progress of the other four countries is moderate. The progress of Myanmar, Cambodia, and the Philippines is stagnating in SDG 5, while the status of Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines are similar with regards to SDG 11.
The available data on some of the SDG indicators are presented in Table 3. Malaysia and Thailand have very high access to basic service, i.e., water, whereas the other countries lag in providing access to water to a substantial portion of their population. The disparity in income of small-scale food producers is stark between Vietnam and Cambodia. The share of the urban population living in slums also varies significantly. Myanmar, Cambodia, and the Philippines have more than 40% of their urban population residing in slums; Vietnam fares better than other ASEAN countries with only 13.8% urban slum population.
The COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to have had a further debilitating impact on the ASEAN region's efforts to grow its economy sustainably. It is estimated that more than $250 billion have been invested in the region to support economic recovery from the effects of COVID-19. However, some of these investments have a negative effect on climate resilience and sustainable infrastructure, thereby, hampering the progress towards achieving SDGs as intended [31].   [32]. * For the indicator numbers-11.2, 11.3, 11.7, and 11.a-data is unavailable on the SDG Gateway website [32].

Methodology and Data
This research aimed to assess the extent to which land and its related elements have been considered by different countries while developing their respective SDG-related policy documents. Content analysis is preferred for inferring the extent of usage of categories or keywords in a set of documents [33]. This replicable and systematic approach provides a way to interpret a large quantum of data by tabulating it in categories using coding rules. The method allows researchers to systematically sieve through a large volume of data to identify trend/s communicated by stakeholders through the documents [34]. The content analysis method used for this article is adapted from the approach used by Xie et al. in their comparative study of policy instruments to assess how China is faring in implementing the SDGs [35].
The process adopted for the content analysis is set out in Figure 1.  As a first step, SDG targets with clear land-related indicators are identified. The SDGs and the indicators that mention land either as an economic resource (farming, agriculture), shelter (residential, housing), public space (transportation, recreation, parks, urban green spaces), and to achieve gender equality from the perspective of females being entitled to use the facilities [35] are set out in Table 4 below. Access to or ownership of land as an economic resource Access to or ownership of land as shelter SDG 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture 2.3 By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources, and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment.
Access to or ownership of land as an economic resource SDG 5 Achieve gender equality and 5.a Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and Ownership of land for achieving gender equality Access to or ownership of land as an economic re- As a first step, SDG targets with clear land-related indicators are identified. The SDGs and the indicators that mention land either as an economic resource (farming, agriculture), shelter (residential, housing), public space (transportation, recreation, parks, urban green spaces), and to achieve gender equality from the perspective of females being entitled to use the facilities [35] are set out in Table 4 below. Access to or ownership of land as an economic resource Access to land as public spaces 11.a Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning Access to or ownership of land as economic resource Source: Authors' compilation from the SDGs [36].
The method used by Xie et al. [35] is based on McDonnell and Schneider's theory for policy instruments analysis [37,38]. The method categorizes the policy instruments based on their nature (into five groups-authoritative instruments, incentive instruments, symbolic and advisory instruments, capacity-building instruments, and system change instruments). Authoritative instruments refer to those possessing official or legal power. By the virtue of government being policymakers, these instruments suggest the implementation of the measures which may demand, guarantee or forbid some actions or things [38]. The authoritative instruments typically cover zoning, urban planning, land use, regional planning, standards, and labelling. The incentive instruments involve the transfer of monetary benefits to the public, agencies, or institutions as defined or suggested by the instrument. They are usually combined with some rule or regulation to ensure the implementation of this rule or regulation as intended by the policymakers [38]. The incentive instruments pertaining to land include taxes, subsidies, property rights, payment for ecosystem services, etc. Symbolic and advisory instruments are used to communicate the policy elements or guidelines for directing the target audience's behavior [38]. The examples were symbolic and adversary instruments include voluntary commitments and guidance documents. Capacity-building instruments focus on developing the capacity of the various stakeholders involved in the process. The capacity-building initiatives can cover a wider gamut of information campaigns, education on infrastructure investments, R&D spending, and procurement, etc. System change instruments refer to those that enable organizational, institutional, or governance structures for implementing the policies [38]. Directions relating to land readjustment, land information systems, registration, cadastre, and expropriation constitute system change instruments.
These policy instruments are then compared against the four dimensions of land utilization, i.e., land as an economic resource, land as shelter, land access for public spaces, and land and gender inequality. The various types of policy instruments are then plotted against the dimensions of land utilization to reflect the various characteristics of incorporation in policy or strategic documents. The types of instruments are plotted on the X-dimension and the land utilization characteristics are presented on the Y-dimension, as depicted in Figure 2. The list of documents related to land utilization, SDG achievement in different countries, and the document considered for content analysis are presented in Table 5 below. These documents are collated from the respective countries' websites and the list compiled by the Urban Policy Platform facilitated by UN-Habitat [39].  The list of documents related to land utilization, SDG achievement in different countries, and the document considered for content analysis are presented in Table 5 below. These documents are collated from the respective countries' websites and the list compiled by the Urban Policy Platform facilitated by UN-Habitat [39].
Firstly, all irrelevant data and terms were removed from each document for content analysis. Only the relevant chapters were scanned to identify the measures. The following Table 6 lists the chapters and the text (paragraphs) considered for the research.  The count of relevant text (paragraphs) in the respective country documents ranges from 85 in Malaysia to 357 in Thailand. From the above-listed text, land utilization-related policy instruments were identified and segregated in the tabulated format (Table 7), as shown in the sample below. Similar information for all the remaining countries data have been provided as Appendix A.

Myanmar
Authoritative Instruments

System Change Instruments
Land as economic resource ownership/access Create market conditions to enable greater investment in agriculture, aquaculture and polyculture, and mechanization [48] Revise and develop education and training in the agriculture, aquaculture and food sectors, responding to the evolving needs of farmers and the rural private sector [48] Land & Gender equality Strengthen urban governance and related policy frameworks, including those related to urban land management, with a focus on gender-specific and youth-related concerns [48] Source: Authors compilation based on a review of the documents listed in Table [

Results and Discussion
Results from the analysis of seven countries' SDG policy and strategic instruments are presented in the Table 8 below. The information in the Table refers to how many times instruments appear under respective categories, and the percentage of their appearance for the respective country. All the countries have a diverse mix of authoritative instruments, incentive instruments, capacity-building instruments, symbolic and advisory instruments, and system change instruments. i.
Categorization of Policy Instruments: X-Dimension Table 9 below presents the extracted information of the distribution of the category of instruments for each country. The number of instruments across all the five categories has ranged between 7 and 20 in different countries. The differences amongst the number of land-related policy instruments across the various countries indicate the lack of uniformity on land-related aspects while progressing towards SDG implementation. The percentage of various categories of instrument used, in descending order, when taken together for all the countries is authoritative instruments (44%), symbolic and advisory instruments (26%), capacity-building instruments (13%), system change instruments (11%), and incentive instruments (6%). It appears that all the countries rely on statutory or legislative mechanisms and provide guidance documents to influence aspects of SDGs rather than focusing on capacity-building, or institutional governance or structural changes, or providing incentives for better behaviour.  Among all five categories, the proportion of authoritative instruments is highest in all countries except in Indonesia, making it the most prominently used instrument category. Incentive instruments have not been used in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar, whereas the Philippines mentions three incentive instruments. Thailand mentions two, while Vietnam and Cambodia have one incentive instrument. Except for Myanmar and Thailand, all the other countries have symbolic and advisory instruments. Cambodia has the maximum number of symbolic and advisory instruments, followed by Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Every country, except for Indonesia, has mentioned capacitybuilding instruments in their policy documents. However, the number of instruments is low, ranging from one to three per country. Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand mention system-change instruments in their policy documents, while the other four countries do not have any instruments under this category.
Indonesia has used only two categories of instruments, symbolic and advisory instruments. Cambodia has used all five types of instruments, with authoritative instruments, symbolic and advisory instruments being the more prominent categories. Malaysia has the least number of policy instruments relating to the land (7) and has used three types of instruments, with no incentive or a system change instrument. Similarly, Myanmar also has fewer instruments (9) and does not have any under the category of incentive instruments and symbolic and advisory instruments. The policy documents of the Philippines mention instruments under all the categories except the system change instrument category. Thailand also has instruments under all the categories except the symbolic and advisory instruments category. However, Vietnam does not have any system change instrument has instruments in all the other categories.
Government still use authoritative instruments as the preferred means to implement their plans. However, the usage of the other types of instruments indicates their increased openness to consider alternative mechanisms to communicate their intentions and translate the same into desired outcomes. The symbolic and advisory instruments are the next prominent category that points to the government's willingness to reach out through more guidance and best practices' dissemination efforts. These policy instruments are typically characterized by their adoption with lower prior requirements, wider stakeholders, and lower investment. The success of these instruments relies on greater dissemination and propaganda to reach a wider audience. These instruments have the potential to create consensus across different societal groups, and foster partnerships to implement the landrelated policies. The capacity-building instruments, and the system change instruments are not the widely used categories across the ASEAN countries. This indicates that the countries, while important to implementing land-related policies, are yet to support the implementation of SDGs through more comprehensive education or to commit resources to augment the institutional structures for land-related aspects. The use of incentive instruments appears to be insufficient across all the ASEAN countries. While the incentive instruments need to be used judiciously, they have the potential to quickly reduce the gap between the expectations of the governments and the operative conditions on the ground.
As the countries are currently behind in their stated commitments of achieving the SDGs, it might be helpful to investigate the role of incentive instruments in greater detail.
ii. Categorization of Policy Instruments: Y-Dimension Table 10 below presents the extracted information of the land utilization distribution in each country's policy instruments. Land utilization in the policy instruments is categorized into four groups, namely, land as an economic resource, land as shelter, ownership, land access for public spaces, and land for gender equality. The SDG-related policy instruments of all the seven countries incorporate elements relating to land as an economic resource, land as shelter, and land access for public spaces. However, the elements related to land for gender equality do not seem to be as important as the other three categories. The count of the policy instruments related to land for shelter have the highest mention, with 37% of the total. The policy instruments related to land as an economic resource and land access for public spaces are almost equal at about 30%. The count of the policy instruments relating to utilization of land for gender equality show the lowest importance, at about 6% of the total. With eight each, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, with seven policy instruments related to land utilization as shelter, have the highest number in the ASEAN region. All the other countries have two to four policy instruments related to land utilization for shelter. Thailand has the highest number of policy instruments mentioning land as an economic resource (8), followed by Cambodia (7). Vietnam's policy document has only one mention of land as an economic resource. All the other countries have three to four policy instruments mentioned in their respective documents. Vietnam's policy document mentions six policy instruments for land utilization for public spaces. Cambodia and Thailand have five such policy instruments. All the other countries have one or two policy instruments related to land utilization for public spaces.
A review of the land utilization policy instruments in Cambodia indicates that the highest importance is accorded to land usage for shelter (8) followed by utilization of land as an economic resource (7) and the availability of land for public spaces (5). This document does not have any policy instrument relating to land utilization for addressing gender inequality. Limited land availability, high reliance on the agriculture and fisheries sector, and the historical turmoil that the country has witnessed leading to social inequality could be the reasons for such a distribution. Cambodia's National Strategic Development Plan is based on its Rectangular Strategy Phase IV, which is a progressive improvement on the earlier phases. This document focuses on land, in terms of real estate, urbanization, construction, land use, and public private partnership. The document mentions developing laws related to the land-particularly land management, housing, and construction. The overarching focus appears to be on making affordable housing available using land reforms as a tool and encouraging public private partnerships. The policy instruments also ensure that illegal settlements are regularised as per the prevailing provisions.
The pattern is similar for Indonesia, with seven instruments for utilization of land for shelter, three instruments relating to land utilization as an economic resource, and one pol-icy instrument for utilizing the land for public spaces. The fast-growing urban population, leading to greater aspirations for affordable housing, and the general congestion, particularly in the country's urban areas, could have influenced such a distribution. Indonesia's 2020-2024 National Medium-term Development Plan (RPJMN) is part of the 2005-2025 National Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPN). This plan has integrated the sustainable development goals to such an extent that, now, many of the SDGs are inseparable from the Indonesian Government's current development agendas. Moreover, this document acts as a precursor to the broader Vision 2045, whose objective is to achieve sustainable infrastructure, improved public services, and high human development. The focus of the policy instruments has been on providing legal certainty to land rights, enabling better access to land through land banks, promoting urban renewal, using public land for affordable housing find augmenting the income of the farmers and fisheries sector.
Out of the seven policy instruments relating to land in Malaysia, four relate to land as an economic resource, two relate to land utilization as shelter, and one for land access for public spaces. No policy instrument directly refers to land utilization for addressing gender inequality. Malaysia's Shared Vision Prosperity 2030 document has been developed keeping 15 guiding principles and 8 enablers at the core. The focus of land utilization in the policy document is on making the rural, semi-urban, and unutilized land more economically beneficial. There is an increased focus on ensuring equality for the indigenous people, balanced regional development, improving access to common infrastructures such as hospitals, transportation modes, etc. and access to affordable housing.
Myanmar has three policy instruments, each relating to land utilization as an economic resource and for shelter, two instruments relating to land for public spaces, and one for addressing gender inequality. Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan-MSDP (2018-2030) has been crafted by keeping 3 pillars, 5 goals, 28 strategies, and 251 action items in focus with a long-term vision to achieve broad objective of making Myanmar prosperous, democratic, and peaceful country. MSDP focuses on different cross-cutting themes such as equity and inclusion, sustainability in all its forms, conflict-sensitive approaches, and democratic principles. This plan aligns with SDGs and domestic and international commitments of the country as a part of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Strategic Framework, and others. The land related policy instruments focus on strengthening the legal rights of urban households, creating an institutional and governance infrastructure to support the same, improving the quality of life through better public infrastructure, and implementing a national housing strategy that focuses on affordable housing for the low-income groups.
The Philippines also has instruments across the four land utilization categories. Eight of its instruments relate to shelter, three relate to land as an economic resource, two address gender inequality, and one relates to land access to public spaces. The Philippine Development Plan-PDP (2017-2022) has been built on three pillars of enhancing the social fabric (Malasakit), reducing inequality (Pagbabago), and increasing growth potential (Patuloy na Pagunlad). This plan focuses on alleviating poverty (in agriculture and lagging regions) and inequality. The land-related policy instruments emphasize strengthening housing as a means to eradicate poverty, having a better land titling system through appropriate institutional governance structures, providing incentives for affordable housing, and providing better public infrastructure, particularly for low-income households.
Thailand has accorded the highest importance to land as an economic resource (8) followed by utilization of land for public spaces (5) and the availability of land for shelter (2). It does not have any policy instrument that addresses land for gender inequality. Thailand's Twelfth National Economic and Social development Plan focuses on self-sufficiency and people-centred development. The land related policy instruments focus on enhancing land ownership opportunities in order to augment income, particularly of low-income groups, applying economic instruments to ensure land rights, the development of land banks, and to support infrastructure to ensure efficient land management.
Vietnam has the highest number of policy instruments accorded to land utilization for public spaces. It has four instruments that address the utilization of land for shelter and one instrument each for the other two categories. Vietnam's National Action Plan focuses explicitly on the SDGs-related indicators and outlines the phased implementation and activities to be performed by various entities. The national plan emphasizes urban development, promotes participation by various sectors to increase housing affordability, and provides incentives and initiatives to attract investments in housing.
The ASEAN countries put more prominence to making land available for shelter/ housing. The other two major uses in the SDG policy and strategy documents are using land as an economic resource and making land available for public spaces. Cambodia and the Philippines have the greatest number of instruments for land use as shelter, whereas Malaysia and Thailand give more prominence to land use as an economic resource. Myanmar has given equal importance to land usage as an economic resource and shelter. Vietnam is the only country with the highest number of instruments relating to land usage for public spaces.
The approach used for the study is a semi-quantitative analysis method that examines the contents of the policy documents in a systematic manner. This research studied the representative policy and strategy documents of the ASEAN countries to implement SDGs. The intention is to investigate the importance attached to land-related issues in implementing SDGs. However, there is no uniform or established mechanism to classify the policy documents and there are no standardized coding mechanisms. The classification system adopted in this paper synthesizes the work done by MacDonald and Elmore [37], Ingram and Schneider [38], and Xie et al. [35]. Another element that needs to be considered is the extent of usage of various instruments or the ideal combination of instruments needed for achieving the desired outcome. Given the early stage of the SDG policy formulation and incorporation of the land-related aspects, the equilibrium quantum of land-related instruments in the overall SDG implementation documents cannot be accurately estimated. This research assumes that the relative appearance of the types of instruments or the purposes of land usage is consistent with the intention of the respective governments. The relative presence of a particular type of policy instrument or the land use mentioned could be due to the broader range of elements that need to be covered. Hence, the equilibrium required of the respective land-related policy instruments would need to be studied in greater detail. There are numerous documents developed at the sub national level that also have elements related to land. A more extensive study in the future incorporating a wider group of countries at both national and subnational levels would provide a perspective of how much importance land related issues have been accorded in the SDG implementation.

Conclusions
The research investigates the importance accorded to land in various policy and strategy documents developed by countries in their quest to achieve SDGs. The policy and strategy documents of a representative group of countries from the ASEAN region have been studied using content analysis to draw inferences on how the land-related aspects have been used. Ensuring land availability for the shelter/housing purposes is the primary focus of the ASEAN countries. All the countries have their own priority areas where they have higher number of instruments; for example, Malaysia and Thailand have given preference to land used as economic resources. However, Cambodia and the Philippines have given preference to land use as shelter. For Malysia and Thailand, there is no specific policy instrument that is related to land utilization while addressing gender equality. Myanmar's policy instruments give equal preference to land as economic resource and land as shelter/housing. Land use for public space has the highest policy instruments for Vietnam. The usage of different types of instruments is not relatively balanced across the region. All the countries have, predominantly, used authoritative instruments. The usage of more collaborative, transformative, and capacity-promoting building is not as widely used. The reliance on authoritative instruments depicts greater control and supervision, which demonstrates the importance attached to the incorporation of land-based aspects in achieving the SDGs. The substantially lower use of other categories of instruments may compromise the strength of the executive, weaken partnership spirit and collaborative ventures. The dimensions of the land usage demonstrate a strong emphasis on providing shelter and promoting economic use. The importance of making land available for public spaces is relatively lower, while the number of instruments that indicate land availability to promote gender equality is significantly less.
The achievement of SDGs would mean a fair distribution of societal benefits and is contingent upon a myriad of factors, including the ability to implement initiatives and projects. SDG achievement is contingent upon a balanced, cohesive presence of all the elements pertaining to land. Incorporation of the various dimensions of land in their respective policy and strategy documents by the respective countries signals their commitment to sustainable development. Giving greater prominence to instruments that promote capacity-building, institutional reforms can form is a stronger foundation for the accelerated achievement of SDGs. As the countries progress towards their respective committed dates of achieving SDGs, there would be a need to strengthen the policy aspects that would necessitate the adoption of a wider range of instruments. A proper equilibrium in the various categories of the instruments and the different dimensions of land usage could be considered with the policymakers for fostering sustainable development.
Author Contributions: The research was equally conceived, designed, and written by the authors. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Conflicts of Interest:
The authors declare no conflict of interest. Pushing for the amendment of the law on investment, and the effective enforcement of this law and the law on special economic zones.

Appendix A
Continuing to enhance land reform and accelerate the development of a master plan and land use plan for land management, urban planning and construction, at both national and sub-national levels, aiming to manage and use land more efficiently All of these require the RGC to place priority on: (1) promoting agriculture sector and rural development; (2) sustainable management of natural resources and culture; (3) strengthening urbanization management; and (4) ensuring environmental sustainability and readiness to respond to climate change.
All the decrees and sub decrees have been listed under planned actions title-basically proposed actions in the NSDP-document Strengthening the competency to manage urbanization, land use plan for the capital, developing land use plans for municipalities, district-khan, commune-sangkat nationwide; preparing strategic directions for land zoning; and residential management by using technology. Encouraging the settlement of disordered buildings in municipalities and urban areas in the form of on-site development or resettlement in accordance with Directive No: 03 on the settlement of temporary buildings on state land that are illegally occupied in the capital, municipalities, and urban areas Developing the map for the temporary construction sites and poor communities and housing loan information in the capital and provinces.
Continuing social land concession programs to distribute lands to 500 poor and landless families per year and to distribute 500 land plots and/or houses per year to the armed forces standing at the borders.
Promoting the construction of housing units for rent and sale to low and medium income and vulnerable people in accordance with the National Program for Development of Affordable Housing.
continuing to focus on managing the real estate sector and strive to promote affordable housing in line with the RGC's policies Promoting construction sector development and arrangement of cities and urban areas, especially Poipet and Bavet, by enhancing the development and enforcement of laws, regulations, technology and construction standards that ensure quality, safety, beauty, efficiency and smart city principles, as well as strengthening the implementation of an affordable housing program. Increase public access to affordable, proper, and safe housing for 1 million households Table A2. Cont.

Authoritative Instruments Incentive Instruments
Symbolic and Advisory Instruments Capacity-Building Instruments

System Change Instruments
The policy directions and strategies in the context of fulfilling the needs for adequate, safe and affordable housing and settlements in urban areas are to develop a public housing system through the provision of simple flats to own or rent that are integrated with the public transportation system, using the approach of forming urban public housing agencies in the respective metropolitan areas by providing land, managing assets, and rejuvenating areas including the developing new towns.
Land access as public spaces Providing land for development in the public interest through the establishment of a land bank, and improvement of land services through modern, digital-based services and recruitment of civil servants as land measurement officers Land & Gender equality Smart Farming refers to the wide use and integration of high technology that is environmentally friendly in farming activities, in order to increase the quantity and quality of domestic harvests, while at the same time reducing the agriculture sector's dependence on labour. For example, drones can spray insecticide and internet of things (IoT) sensors can analyse farmland and monitor farming produce. The effectiveness of smart farming can be strengthened with automation, precision agriculture applications and vertical farming.

System Change Instruments
Land as shelter ownership Granting of land title to the indigenous should also consider their opportunity to participate in the development stream and the right to continue practising their culture and heritage. Therefore, issues on indigenous land ownership need to be given due consideration and a specific policy should be formulated to address them.
Community in economic transition involves vulnerable groups including communities that have migrated from estates, urban poor groups and settlers, and rural people in urban and industrial settings. Among these groups' issues are home ownership, access to basic facilities, and quality education. These issues need to be addressed thoroughly, to improve their social mobility and increase their participation in higher-income economic activities.
Land access as public spaces Improving access to basic facilities and infrastructure in rural areas such as hospitals, health centres, schools, roads, jetties, bridges, markets and telecommunication infrastructure Land & Gender equality Strengthen urban governance and related policy frameworks, including those related to urban land management, with a focus on gender specific and youth-related concerns Table A5. Philippines.

Authoritative Instruments Incentive Instruments Symbolic and Advisory Instruments Capacity-Building Instruments System Change Instruments
Land as economic resource ownership/access Ensure and protect the land tenure security of ARBs by completing the LAD and immediately install ARBs in awarded lands upon the issuance of emancipation patent or CLOAs. An inventory of lands and profiling of ARBs will be conducted to ensure an updated status of land distribution in the country and guide the delivery of support services in agrarian reform communities and clusters.
"Physically link production areas to markets through road and rail-based transport, inter-island water transport and logistics system." Develop an integrated color-coded agricultural map to identify the comparative advantage of specific areas. It will contain updated sub-national information on soil characteristics, water availability, climatic types, topography, and socioeconomic conditions. The map will inform production decisions about suitable crops and agricultural activities Land as shelter ownership Strengthen housing as a platform to reduce poverty and improve social outcomes. Housing programs will be linked with other social development programs. It will help maximize the "multiplier effect" of the provision of housing units as a means to reduce poverty, generate jobs and employment, and spur downstream economic activities The budget will consider a proposed policy on an income-based subsidy scheme that will bridge the gap between housing costs and varying income levels of families Intensify implementation of alternatives and innovative solutions to address the housing needs of the lower income classes and vulnerable sectors. Solutions such as public rental housing, mixed-income/mixed-use housing development, housing microfinance initiatives, incremental housing programs, and housing cooperatives will be used to enhance housing affordability. These solutions will help address the issue of low occupancy rate and cater more sustainably to the needs of the homeless, poor, and underprivileged beneficiaries. Develop integrated neighbourhoods and sustainable communities, particularly for low-income households. This is to ensure that housing and auxiliary services and needs of resettled ISFs are adequately satisfied. The physical infrastructure of housing and location of human settlements must also ensure compliance with disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) and climate change adaptation (CCA) requirements to mitigate risks and address vulnerability In addition, voucher-type direct subsidies for socialized and economic housing will be explored.
A voucher-type scheme can expand the delivery mechanism to include NHA and SHFC and the HDMF, LGUs, and government financial institutions (GFIs). Such a scheme introduces competition among players that comply with the substantive and procedural requirements of the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992.
Adopt viable land acquisition approaches and fast-track the inventory of lands for socialized housing development.
Strengthen partnerships with stakeholders. As a cross-cutting strategy, the sector will strengthen its multi-stakeholder partnerships through a participatory approach. This ensures that local shelter plans are linked with the National Resettlement Plan (NRP). It will encourage PPPs for housing projects and improve the developers' compliance to the policy of balanced housing development. The government will also harness the services of volunteers from the academe, corporate, nongovernment, and international organizations in delivering social services, providing technical assistance, responding to disasters, and undertaking humanitarian efforts.
Housing finance reforms shall be instituted to meet the needs of starting families. The HDMF contribution system should be restructured to better match the earning profile and the required payment stream.
Inventory of lands and cadastral surveys will be fast-tracked to hasten the process of identifying land for housing projects. Housing finance reforms shall be instituted to meet the needs of starting families. The HDMF contribution system should be restructured to allow for a better match profile of members and the required payment stream.
The decentralization of housing and urban development efforts will be reinforced, especially on local shelter planning, comprehensive land use planning with a ridge-to-reef approach, land acquisition and development, curbing proliferation of informal settlers, implementation of a Regional Resettlement Action Plan (RRAP), and pursuit of NUA and SDGs, in coordination with the NGAs.
Land access as public spaces Enhance green spaces in urban areas

Land & Gender equality
Secure tenure in affordable, safe and disaster-resilient housing will be provided to underprivileged and homeless families. Provide for the needs of the vulnerable. Cultural aspects, gender-responsive when providing housing for different groups, cultural accessibility will be considered when providing housing for different genders and be elderly-and persons with disability-friendly.
A gender responsive CDD ("peoples' plan") approach will be promoted to involve the beneficiaries in the entire development process. Such an approach will help increase occupancy rates and efficiency in the collection, improve estate management, and ensure inclusive access to and control of housing and human settlement services and benefits. Collect land taxes progressively.
Developing models and processes of knowledge transfer in agricultural practice to farmers in order to change their systems to become compatible with climate change and to realise the potential of their land Finally, a land bank should be established as a mechanism for distributing landholdings to farmers and poor households such that they would have land to earn a living as well as for shelter Integrate land management mechanisms to establish the overall direction for land policies towards fair distribution of ownership.
Design efficient land leasing systems to create opportunities in land utilization.
Advocating the passage of a Protecting Agricultural Land Bill The strategy on green growth for sustainable development emphasizes fair distribution of land solve the problem of public land encroachment and provide the poor with common rights to use land.

Land as shelter ownership
Formulate measures that prevent land ownership by foreigners.
Finally, a land bank should be established as a mechanism for distributing landholdings to farmers and poor households such that they would have land to earn a living as well as for shelter Table A6. Cont.

Authoritative Instruments Incentive Instruments Symbolic and Advisory Instruments Capacity-Building Instruments System Change Instruments
Land access as public spaces Foster universal and tailor-designed infrastructure that emphasizes appropriateness for children, women, disabled persons, the elderly and disadvantaged groups. This aims to have equal access to public services and equal opportunity to develop themselves to their fullest potential.
Apply economic instruments when providing communities with common land rights for collective use in developing the product revenue for communities. Build a database system for land management, and issue clear and complete ownership documents for all types of public land.
The Community Land Title Act should be pushed forward so that communities can collectively manage land and natural resources efficiently Develop land management systems and resolve public land encroachment.

System Change Instruments
Land as economic resource ownership/access Review, make recommendations to improve the existing system of legislation to ensure equal rights for citizens, particularly women, the poor and the vulnerable, to access economic resources, basic services, the right to use land and natural resources, the right to own and exercise control over other forms of property as provided for by the Constitution.

Land as shelter ownership
Review, make recommendations to improve the existing system of legislation to ensure equal rights for citizens, particularly women, the poor and the vulnerable, to access economic resources, basic services, the right to use land and natural resources, and the right to own and exercise control over other forms of property as provided for by the Constitution.
Continue to implement preferential policies for investment flows into housing schemes for low-income and medium income people; to eliminate temporary houses and slums in urban areas.
Adopt policies that encourage various sectors to participate in housing development, rent houses based on market mechanisms in order to meet the needs of target groups who are able to afford it. Face affordability constraints.
Issue policies that support housing development in order to provide housing to social welfare beneficiary groups who are in need of housing but are unable to afford it, based on market mechanisms. Issue guidelines on the planning of green urban areas, a set of indicators on green urban areas in order to guide urban development. Develop a set of criteria on the planning of green spaces, public spaces in urban areas, and issue technical/economic norms for green tree parks.
Develop processes for communities to participate in the preparation of urban planning schemes, urban development projects, urban management work generally.
Review urban centre master plans from the perspective of sustainable urban approaches (green urbanism, urban ecosystems, and urban economics) and plans for urban spaces to ensure the efficiency of ecological economics/issues. Encourage investment, mobilize increased resources from society at large for the development of green spaces in the development of urban and population areas.
Speed up the construction of green urban centres, ecological urban centres and green public works.

Land & Gender equality
Review, make recommendations to improve the existing system of legislation to ensure equal rights for citizens, particularly women, the poor and the vulnerable, to access economic resources, basic services, the right to use land and natural resources, the right to own and exercise control over other forms of property as provided for by the Constitution.