This State of Land Information (SOLI) report is an analysis of the current state of land data in Botswana, assessing the availability of land information and the compliance of this information with open data standards. 

The aim of this report is to serve as a diagnostic for the land information ecosystem in Botswana and enable targeted interventions for improved information management.

This State of Land Information (SOLI) report is an analysis of the current state of land data in Zambia, assessing the availability of land information and the compliance of this information with open data standards. 

This publication discusses the importance of open data as a tool for inclusive land governance. It introduces and describes open data, land governance functions, and metadata. It provides an in-depth looks at AGROVOC, the controlled vocabulary about agriculture and related sciences coordinated by FAO for more than 40 years, and LandVoc, a sub-vocabulary dedicated to the land sector. Using these two examples, the article explores why structured metadata is integral for open data to support innovation and improvements in land administration.

The “Responsible Governance of Investments in Land” (RGIL) project in Lao PDR fosters investment quality promotion to ensure that agriculture and forestry investments in land are productive, contribute to sustainable land management and respect the rights and needs of local populations.

The “Responsible Governance of Investments in Land” (RGIL) project in Lao PDR fosters investment quality promotion to ensure that agriculture and forestry investments in land are productive, contribute to sustainable land management and respect the rights and needs of local populations.

One of the key aspects of the Mozambican legal framework for land is that Mozambican nationals can acquire tenure rights through inheritance, via peaceful occupation or through customary channels These usufruct tenure rights, known by the Portuguese acronym ‘DUAT’ (Direito de Uso e Aproveitamento da Terra), can be held individually or jointly.

The Continental Land Policy Initiative, now the African Land Policy Centre, has made tremendous progress in generating knowledge on land governance since inception in 2006. A key milestone was the formulation of a Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa in 2009 upon which the African Union Declaration on Land Issues in Africa was prepared and endorsed in Libya in July 2009.

In Zambia, security of tenure for communities residing under customary land tenure settings has in recent years increasingly come under threat owing to the pressures of high rate of urbanization, speculation, subdivision and conversion to state land, which effectively excludes marginal populations from accessing resources for their land. While customary land is a major resource for most Zambians, the inadequacy or total lack of documentation leads to tenure insecurity, making people susceptible to forced displacements, and frequent land disputes.

Existing land governance system in Zimbabwe subjects vulnerable groups such as women to ‘land corruption’, which entrenches the already existing gendered land inequalities. This study used secondary data and found that Zimbabwe has witnessed various forms of corruption in general and land corruption, in particular, despite the country having the requisite policy, legal and institutional frameworks as well as other mechanisms to curb the scourge of corruption.

Today, the demographic and economic dynamics stimulate an increasing competition for the access to the urban land. The multiplication of needs and logics of use of this non-reproducible resource activates, more than ever, the question of the regulation of the access to the land and questions the modalities of distribution of property rights between the various actors.

The study reviews the land policy in Zimbabwe and investigates the extent to which the policy provides incentives for investment and technology adoption to increase labour productivity in the agricultural sector. The research is based on a desk study of relevant literature and land policies implemented by the Zimbabwe government since 1980. This is complemented by empirical data drawn from various organisations that have been tracking the progress of the land reform programme.

              Various methodologies are being put in place in participatory mapping programs by actors with the aim of improving the system of land governance. However, they all contribute to the integrated management of resources and the strengthening of local user rights.               The purpose of this study is to explain the role of participatory mapping in the sustainable management of land resources.