We know that there is not one single path to achieving a global shift in women’s land tenure security.

At a minimum, it is going to take:

2020 was a tough year on many fronts, and land rights were no exception. COVID-19 hindered land rights advocates from doing field research, meeting with government officials, prioritizing policy initiatives, and obtaining funding.

Despite these headwinds, we have seen important advances, and the field continues to grow. Here are eight breakthroughs in 2020 to celebrate:

#1: New laws and policies

By Navene Elangovan for Channels News Asia (CNA) Singapore

The data revolution – characterised by the transition to big data, open data and new digital data infrastructures [1] – is projected to make an astonishing 44 billion terabytes of digital data and information available by the end of 2020 [2]. Despite this plethora of information now available to us, about 1 billion people in 140 countries still feel insecure about their land and property rights [3].

Prindex Researcher Joseph Feyertag argues that corruption holds the key to unlocking tenure insecurity.

Forest tenure reform in the global south has often failed to be gender-responsive, but there is increasing interest in taking up this challenge to activate effective change.

Now, a new guide created by scientists with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) aims to make the process more accessible, recommending a three-step process, billed as “analyze, strategize, and realize,” to support interventions in local and national contexts.

Opening up land-related administrative data, combining it with data from other sources  and processing and making this data available as easily accessible information for women and men equally could be a means to counteracting land corruption in land management, land administration and land allocation. But does open data and enhanced data transparency indeed help to counteract land corruption? 

On January 24, 2020, a quiet revolution happened in South Africa. In a landmark ruling in the Durban High Court, 72-year old Agnes Sithole scored a legal victory that not only provided her a share of her husband’s estate but may also help to protect an estimated 400,000 black elderly women in South Africa. Facing impoverishment when her marriage ended, Ms.

Land technology is moving at warp speed. How will the Biden administration and Samantha Power ensure women benefit?

Today Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States.

Hit hard by the pandemic, Asia's indigenous and local communities face fresh government-led efforts to exploit their land and resources

In addition to its devastating toll on public health, COVID-19 has exacerbated global food insecurity and economic crises. These costs have been particularly acute for Indigenous Peoples and local communities on customarily governed territories and lands.

Using satellite technology and digital innovation, the United Nations Development Programme, through its Sustainable Palm Oil Initiative, in partnership with the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), has built an Android-based digital system to address challenges in developing a land cover monitoring system. 

The INA- Alert application allows users to get real time accurate information and it works in conjunction with the WebGIS Ecosystem, developed by Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (LAPAN).