Floss in Cadastre and Land Registration

Samoa land tenure

The Independent State of Samoa gained independence in 1962 having been 

administered  by Germany (1900  –1914) and then New Zealand (as a United 

 Nations Trust Territory from 1945  –1961). It has a population of 181,000 (2006 

census) and a land area of 2,831 square kilometres. Agriculture (primarily coconut 

based products), fishing, tourism and remittances from Samoans working overseas 

are the main contributors to the Samoan economy. All government cadastral and 

registration services are provided by the Ministry of Natural Resources and 

 Environment (MNRE) located in the capital Apia (on the island of Upolu). Apia is 

also the main commercial centre of Samoa and most of the private sector sur-

veyors  licenced to undertake cadastral surveys are based there too.

80 percent of the land in Samoa is held under customary ownership and this 

land is protected under the constitution. Samoan society is still strongly focussed 

on village life and the associated traditions. Customary land is not owned individ-

ually but communally with most land being associated with a chiefly (matai) title. 

The matai has authority (pule) to decide on the permitted uses for that land by 

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other members of his family group. One forum for the resolution of disputes con-

cerning customary land is the Land and Titles Court (but it should be noted that 

“Titles” in this case mean chiefly titles).

The remaining non-customary land consists of 4 percent of freehold land and 

16  percent of public land. Cadastral and registration records of parcels of land 

within these non-customary categories of land are recorded within the formal 

 cadastral and registration systems. A small number of blocks of customary land 

subject to a lease are also with the formal systems. The computerised cadastral 

mapping system, known as Samoa View, has 21,000 parcel records (July 2009). 

The computerised Land Registration System has 12,000 current titles.