The article examines the challenges in Malawi's land governance, tracing issues back to colonial legacies and addressing contemporary problems in customary land practices. Despite amendments to incorporate indigenous people and customary laws, challenges persist, particularly in ownership claims tied to prevailing customary law in which marriage systems play a central role. The journey towards reform began in 1996, resulting in the Malawi National Land Policy in 2002, aiming for tenure security and sustainable land use. The Customary Land Act (amended) of 2022 faces challenges, including potential land grabs by wealthy Malawians. Women and children's rights in land ownership are often overlooked, with discriminatory practices persisting. Striking a balance between decolonisation and cultural preservation is crucial for achieving social justice in land laws.

Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain, and corrupt practices in the context of land administration and land management have come to be known as ‘land corruption.’ Unfortunately, land corruption is all too common, with one in every five people across the globe paying bribes to access land services. 

The impact of COVID-19 has been devastating around the world. In response, countries have put in place emergency measures to help their citizens and private firms weather the pandemic and recovery programs to boost the economy once the lockdown restrictions can ease.

Most developing economies do not have the fiscal space to implement broad recovery programs, as the revenues from key economic sectors have collapsed, expenditures to respond to the pandemic have escalated rapidly, and capital outflows have increased.

"Information is power but information sharing is even more powerful." With this statement, during his opening of the side event on blockchain at the LANDac encounter 2020, John Dean Markunas, Power of Chain Consultancy (PoC) cited me. I am now citing him back to explain what I meant.

By Rohan Bennett, Eva-Maria Unger, Christiaan Lemmen, Kees de Zeeuw

By now, most readers are likely to have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic – perhaps directly through their own health or the health of those they know, or more indirectly through loss of work or income… and almost certainly through the changes in social norms and freedoms brought about by various lockdowns. This article explores the relevance of the land administration sector, disaster risk management and spatial information in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.