The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) (link is external) spoke with Michael Jarvis, Executive Director of the Transparency and Accountability Initiative (TAI), about OpenLandContracts.org, how the landscape regarding contract transparency has changed in recent years, and what these changes mean for stakeholders seeking to improve governance and accountability in the context of natural resource investments.

TAI is a donor collaborative focused on building a more just, equitable, and inclusive society through its support of transparency and accountability efforts.

OpenLandContracts.org(link is external) is the world’s first global repository of publicly available investor-state land contracts. Launched in October 2015 with support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the repository currently includes more than 190 contracts and associated documents from 14 countries, and provides tools to help stakeholders understand these often complex legal documents.