The rapid progress in digital information and communication technologies  (ICTs) comes with both fresh opportunities and new challenges for different sectors and actors adopting the new solutions that become available over time. Since the mid-2000s, the global land governance community has piloted a series of open data and transparency initiatives largely based on such digital innovations, aiming at increasing accountability and counteracting corruption in the land sector, both at the local and global level.

This is the presentation of Dr.  Marcello De Maria, Postdoctoral Researcher at the School of Agriculture Policy and Development at the University of Reading during the webinar on the Role of Open Data in the Fight against Land Corruption on January 28th, 2021. 

The analysis revealed overwhelming support for the use of open data as an anticorruption tool in the land sector, but it also found strong evidence for the existence of a high degree of untapped potential.

Open Data is data that can be freely used, shared and built-on by anyone, anywhere, for any purpose. Open Data is widely considered to be an effective response to land corruption by increasing transparency, supporting innovation and increasing civic engagement. Advocates of open data believe in its potential for empowering citizens to gain more insight on government spendings and land-related decisions; giving civil society greater power to hold governments accountable for their actions.