Reducing Poverty Through Growth

Fact Sheet

September 12, 2007 www.mcc.gov

MCC Adopts Two New Measurements:

Natural Resource Management 

and Land Rights and Access

The Millennium Challenge Corporation evaluates country performance in a variety of specific policy areas 

through the use of objective and quantifiable indicators. These indicators now include a country’s demonstrated 

commitment to policies that promote the sustainable management of natural resources. 

MCC conducted a public search and an extensive consultative process to identify an indicator that would meet 

its criteria for an eligibility indicator and satisfy its legislative mandate.

The Indicators

MCC has identified two measures to be utilized in the annual MCC selection process: a Natural Resource 

Management Index from Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network 

(CIESIN) and the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, and a Land Rights and Access Index which 

includes an indicator from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and two indicators from 

the International Finance Corporation (IFC). In order to give countries notice of the new measures, MCC used 

these indicators as supplemental information during last year’s selection process and is now formally integrating them into the MCC Scorecard. The Natural Resource Management Index will be included in the Investing 

in People category and the Land Rights and Access Index will be placed in the Economic Freedom category in 

MCC’s scorecard. 

The “Natural Resource Management” Index includes the following indicators: 

•	 Eco-region Protection: this indicator assesses whether a country is protecting at least 10% of all of its 

biomes (e.g. deserts, forests, grasslands, aquatic, and tundra.). It is designed to capture the comprehensiveness of a government’s commitment to habitat preservation and biodiversity protection. 

•	 Access to Improved Water: This indicator measures the percentage of the population with access to at 

least 20 liters of water per person per day from an “improved” source (household connections, public 

standpipes, boreholes, protected dug wells, protected springs, and rainwater collection) within one 

kilometer of the user’s dwelling.
Millennium Challenge Corporation

Fact Sheet: Indicator Fact Sheet, September 12, 2007 2

•	 Access to Improved Sanitation: This indicator measures the percentage of the population with access to 

facilities that hygienically separate human excreta from human, animal and insect contact. 

•	 Child Mortality (Ages 1-4): This indicator measures the probability of a child dying between the ages 

of 1 and 4. Because the causes of mortality among 1-4 year olds are predominantly environmental, this 

indicator is considered to be an excellent proxy for underlying environmental conditions.

The “Land Rights and Access” Index includes the following indicators:

•	 Access to Land: This indicator assesses the extent to which the institutional, legal and market framework provides secure land tenure and equitable access to land in rural areas. It is made up of five 

subcomponents: 

•	 the extent to which the law guarantees secure tenure for land rights of the poor; 

•	 the extent to which the law guarantees secure land rights for women and other vulnerable 

groups; 

•	 the extent to which land is titled and registered; 

•	 the functioning of land markets; and

•	 the extent to which government policies contribute to the sustainable management of common 

property resources.

•	 Days to Register Property: This indicator measures how long it takes to register property in the capital 

city. The IFC records the full amount of time necessary from purchase to actual transfer of the property 

title from the seller to the buyer. 

•	 Cost of Registering Property: This indicator measures the cost to register property as a percentage of the 

value of the property in the capital city. The IFC records all of the costs incurred to transfer the property 

title from the seller to the buyer after purchase of land and/or a building,

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Millennium Challenge Corporation is a U.S. government agency designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world, is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic 

freedom, and investments in people that promote economic growth and elimination of extreme poverty.