Iris Krebber and UK's FCDO (then DFID) figured prominently in the early days of the Land Portal. Read this recollection to see how Iris inspired Laura Meggiolaro as the Land Portal was being launched as an independent organization. 

Happy Birthday! My sincere congratulations to Land Portal on an astounding journey from a small initiative into the world’s leading window of all things land tenure and governance!

The team and all who contributed to this tremendous success should be really proud. As Margaret Mead famously said, 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.'

The Land Portal has become a true game changer and catalyst of transformation. This is through its role in making key data and information available and accessible, stimulating and facilitating debate about policy and learning from the evidence from the local to the global level, delivering impact at scale, proactively managing risks and trade-offs around the complex political economy of land, and, finally, helping to hold ourselves and key actors accountable for progress, including for the benefit of and through the Sustainable Development Goals.

In my career, not a day goes by when I am not reminded of the tremendous importance of good land governance systems and the important contribution that Land Portal is making, whether I work on economic development, food security, climate, or, as I do now, on conflict and fragility.

Supporting the beginnings and the trajectory of Land Portal over the past 15 years has been an incredible experience and honour for me personally, and a hugely valuable investment through DFID/FCDO by the UK taxpayer, for the more inclusive and sustainable world of tomorrow.

Iris Krebber | Head of Civilian Stabilisation Group Operations |Office for Conflict, Stabilisation and Mediation (OCSM) | UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)

Congratulations to the small but mighty Land Portal team for fifteen years of service to the sector. You have provided valuable information to civil society, researchers, governments, donors, implementers, journalists, and many others. You have stimulated dialogue, provided data and analysis, helped us visualize the world around us, and informed us of the next interesting webinar or event. You are a critical component of the land ecosystem and I can’t wait to see what you do in the next fifteen years. Congratulations and thank you for all that you do!
 

Amy Regas, Co-Founder, PLACE |  Senior Associate, Tetra Tech

Happy anniversary, Land Portal!

It's been an amazing collaboration since the beginning of the Global Data Barometer back in 2020. Looking forward to more great projects to advance our understanding of data within the land sector. Cheers to many more years of fruitful collaboration! 

Silvana Fumega, Project Director, Global Data Barometer

Huge congratulations to the entire Land Portal Team for reaching a 15th successful year! From the early beginnings as a project, to becoming incorporated as a global not-for-profit Foundation under Dutch law, it’s been an inspiring journey all the way. 

Land Portal exemplifies a public good at its very best, with its informative content and debates open to everyone online. Land Portal is a one-of-a-kind curator and aggregator of every type of land data and is now well-known and respected among the global land governance community of practice as the ‘go to’ destination on land. 

I am extremely proud to be a small part of this fantastic group of people.

Dr Elizabeth Daley, Chair of the Land Portal Board

Congratulations to LandPortal.info on reaching this significant milestone of 15 years! Your unwavering commitment to providing invaluable resources and fostering knowledge sharing in the realm of land governance, particularly in addressing the critical issues of data transparency and combatting land grabs, is truly commendable. As a member of the Steering Committee of the Land Matrix Initiative I highly appreciate our joint endeavour in improving access to land data for holding investors in land accountable. Here's to many more years of cooperation, empowering communities, advancing research, and advocating for positive change. Cheers to your continued success and impact! 

Dr. Jann Lay 
German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) / Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien
and University of Goettingen

Photo by David Dibert from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/sunflowers-635504/