A/HRC/7/16 page 19 society groups and regional politicians, to address the impact of a large development project on indigenous people.37 The Rapporteur sees this form of assistance as a useful role for mandate holders. B. Suggested areas of continued focus 1. Access to land 65. In this section, the Special Rapporteur wishes to continue the discussion that he initiated in the last report he presented to the Council regarding the link between land and the right to adequate housing.38 66. In several reports,39 the Special Rapporteur has stressed that land, as a housing resource, is a critical element of the human right to housing. Inadequate housing of the poor is often the consequence of being barred from access to land, credit, and materials with which to build. When access is granted, tenure generally is not. The lack of legal provisions to enable communities to inhabit or own land and to make productive use of natural or common resources should also be noted as creating an obstacle to the implementation of the right to adequate housing. 67. Land constitutes the main asset from which the rural poor are able to derive a livelihood. Of all the private land in the world, however, nearly three quarters is estimated to be controlled by just 2.5 per cent of all landowners. Millions of families, though they toil on the land, do not enjoy ownership rights over it and are considered landless. An average of 71.6 per cent of rural households in Africa, Latin America, and Western and East Asia (excluding China) are landless or near landless.40 68. Land also plays a crucial role in the structural linkages between rural and urban housing problems. While migration to urban areas is on the rise, the underlying causes for this movement are not being addressed. Such migration is generally not voluntary, but is the product of extreme rural poverty due to landlessness; land insecurity; land conversions; the loss of means of subsistence resulting from a failure to give priority to agrarian reform or promote rural infrastructure; project-induced displacement; distressed housing; or the industrial takeover of farmland. The lack of legal recognition of the right to land contributes to these situations. In cities, these migrants are often precluded from accessing adequate housing and forced to live in slums and other informal settlements characterized by insecure and inadequate living conditions. 37 A/HRC/7/16/Add.1. 38 A/HRC/4/18. 39 See for instance E/CN.4/2001/51, E/CN.4/2002/59, E/CN.4/2005/48, E/CN.4/2005/43 and E/CN.4/2006/118. 40 E/CN.4/2005/48, para. 40.