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Land Administration, Data & Technology

Land Administration, Data & Technology

The term land administration was coined by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in 1993, who defined the term as:

“the process of determining, recording and disseminating information about ownership, value and use of land and its associated resources. These processes include the determination (sometimes called ´adjudication´) of land rights and other attributes, surveying and describing these, their detailed documentation, and the provision of relevant information for supporting land markets” (FAO, 2020).

Land administration is essential for secure land tenure, efficient land markets, and can provide support for effective spatial planning. Moreover, it is regarded as essential for promoting economic development and ensuring good governance and helps to avoid land-related conflicts. (see e.g. UN-GGIM, 2015).


Learn more: LANDac Resources

Brief – Land Administration, Land Governance Institutions, and COVID-19 (2020)

Following the Webinar Series and Online Discussion on Land Rights Implications of COVID-19, LANDac, together with Landesa, the Land Portal Foundation, New America and the Norwegian Refugee Council published a Brief Series on the impact of COVID-19 on Land and Housing. This brief (one out of four) focuses on the impact of Covid-19 on Land administration and land governance institutions.


Dispossessing Tribals and the Poor from Lands: Land Laws and Administration in Andhra Pradesh, India (2011)

This study has been taken up in the context of the large scale acquisition of agricultural lands for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and other projects in India in recent years. There has been widespread resistance against forced acquisition of agricultural lands in several parts of India. Land administration and the land rights of the vulnerable groups of people have become major issues of public concern. The study analyses the land laws, land administration, assignment of lands, land acquisition, resettlement & rehabilitation policies. Please contact the LANDac secretariat if you wish to learn more on this study.


Other Resources

UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management – The Application of Geospatial Information – Land Administration and Management (2015)

Geospatial land information and its management are fundamental to successful land administration and the derived benefits to the economies and overall sustainable development of nations. Furthermore, it is critical to the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, as it is able to provide reliable data on land, including its tenure and dimensions, at local scales. This background note provides the Committee of Experts with information to satisfactorily guide its discussions and to enable the crafting of applicable and achievable next steps. It provides overall definitions of land governance, land administration and land management and is therefore relevant to other readers as well.

Ref: UN-GGIM (2015). The Application of Geospatial Information –Land Administration and Management. Available at: http://ggim.un.org/meetings/GGIM-committee/documents/GGIM5/land%20admin%20and%20mngnt%20background%20paper%203.2%20final.pdf


Land Portal Foundation

The Land Portal Foundation, one of LANDac’s partner organisations, was established to create, curate and disseminate land governance information by fostering an inclusive and accessible data landscape. The Land Portal Foundation believes that access to information is crucial for achieving good land governance and securing land rights for landless and vulnerable people. Improving access to land-related data and information is our mission. They provide a platform for land data and publications, link land databases and visualize and synthesize data, among other things. Explore their data bases, tools and the their Geoportal, or visit the website here.


News Items

In honour of International Open Data Day, having taken place on March 6th, we would like to invite you to submit Read more
Efficient land (including water and forest) administration practices are required to achieve many global development agendas—e.g., land degradation neutrality, New Read more
Newly launched MSc programme in Land Management and Geospatial Science at TUM (Germany) The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is Read more