IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v11y2022i11p1939-d958866.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Overview of Frontier Technologies for Land Tenure: How to Avoid the Hype and Focus on What Matters

Author

Listed:
  • Simon Hull

    (Division of Geomatics, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7701, South Africa)

  • Harold Liversage

    (International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), 00142 Rome, Italy)

  • Maria Paola Rizzo

    (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 00153 Rome, Italy)

  • Vladimir Evtimov

    (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 00153 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

Secure land and natural resource rights are key ingredients for rural transformation, social inclusion, and the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. In many cases, these rights are not formally recorded, and statutory land administration systems are inaccessible to rural communities. The rapid development of geospatial technologies and systems, combined with participatory methods for social empowerment, have contributed significantly to addressing these challenges and in developing fit-for-purpose land administration/land recordation systems that promote land tenure security, but with the plethora of options currently available, it is challenging to know which technologies are appropriate for what circumstances and purposes. This paper reports on the findings from a joint FAO/IFAD project that addresses this problem. Thirteen one-hour interviews were conducted with knowledgeable experts to showcase which technologies are being used for what purposes and by whom, the associated benefits and challenges, and what the future may hold. We conclude that technologies are best used in partnership with communities and as integrated solutions, that successful implementations must incorporate maintenance plans, and that the real challenge is not the technology–it is the social, legal, and political context. These findings are useful for governments, NGOs, academia, donors, and others involved in land-related projects aimed at benefitting small-scale farmers.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Hull & Harold Liversage & Maria Paola Rizzo & Vladimir Evtimov, 2022. "An Overview of Frontier Technologies for Land Tenure: How to Avoid the Hype and Focus on What Matters," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:11:p:1939-:d:958866
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/11/1939/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/11/1939/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malumbo C. Chipofya & Sahib Jan & Angela Schwering, 2021. "SmartSkeMa: Scalable Documentation for Community and Customary Land Tenure," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-20, June.
    2. Stöcker, Claudia & Bennett, Rohan & Koeva, Mila & Nex, Francesco & Zevenbergen, Jaap, 2022. "Scaling up UAVs for land administration: Towards the plateau of productivity," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Eilola, Salla & Käyhkö, Niina & Fagerholm, Nora, 2021. "Lessons learned from participatory land use planning with high-resolution remote sensing images in Tanzania: Practitioners' and participants’ perspectives," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Naghavi, Mohammad & Alesheikh, Ali A. & Hakimpour, Farshad & Vahidnia, Mohammad H. & Vafaeinejad, Alireza, 2022. "VGI-based spatial data infrastructure for land administration," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    2. Ansah, Barikisa Owusu & Voss, Winrich & Asiama, Kwabena Obeng & Wuni, Ibrahim Yahaya, 2023. "A systematic review of the institutional success factors for blockchain-based land administration," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. Stig Enemark & Robin McLaren & Christiaan Lemmen, 2021. "Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration—Providing Secure Land Rights at Scale," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-12, September.
    4. Muhammad Sheraz Ahsan & Ejaz Hussain & Zahir Ali & Jaap Zevenbergen & Salman Atif & Mila Koeva & Abdul Waheed, 2023. "Assessing the Status and Challenges of Urban Land Administration Systems Using Framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA): A Case Study in Pakistan," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-27, August.
    5. Rohan Mark Bennett & Jerome Donovan & Eryadi Masli & Kirsikka Riekkinen, 2023. "Land Administration As-A-Service: Relevance, Applications, and Models," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, January.
    6. Bujar Fetai & Jernej Tekavec & Mojca Kosmatin Fras & Anka Lisec, 2022. "Inconsistencies in Cadastral Boundary Data—Digitisation and Maintenance," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-19, December.
    7. Ho, Serene & Choudhury, Pranab R. & Joshi, Richa, 2023. "Community participation for inclusive land administration: A case study of the Odisha urban slum formalization project," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    8. Rincón Barajas, Jorge A. & Kubitza, Christoph & Lay, Jann, 2024. "Large-scale acquisitions of communal land in the Global South: Assessing the risks and formulating policy recommendations," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:11:p:1939-:d:958866. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.