By Tim Hanstad, Co-Founder & Senior Advisor, Landesa

This is the first blog in a series of two that are based on a keynote address made at the 2018 India Land Development Conference.

I have been working on issues of land rights for more than 31 years in more than 22 countries, but no country has captured my attention, focus and heart more than India.  

By Tim Hanstad, Co-Founder & Senior Advisor, Landesa

This is the second blog in a series of two that are based on a keynote address made at the 2018 India Land Development Conference.

As members of the land community, we know that access to a stable and flourishing piece of land, even the smallest plot or parcel, has the potential to be ground-breaking and life-changing. It means the difference between health and illness, between being read and illiterate, and in the most extreme cases, the difference between being fed and hungry.  In essence, it determines one’s life path, the key factor between qualifying for essential government services and living at the peripheries and margins of society.

This past December marked seven years since the start of the Arab Spring, one of the most “viral” revolutions of our time.  In a matter of months, uprisings spread quickly from Tunisia to Yemen and changed the landscape of the region.  While the causes and effects of the Arab Spring have been the subject of thorough analysis over the years, the revolutions emerged so quickly and with such force, in part, because of very palpable, muffled disillusionment.

When we speak about land tenure issues and challenges, we are quick to speak about complex, yet exciting concepts, such as cadastral registers and titling. For those working in the land community, these are the foundations upon which our work is built, essential to breaking the proverbial glass ceiling which so many face when it comes to claiming their land rights.

Major global agreements, such as the Paris climate change agreement, and the SDGs will not come to fruition without local governments

Over a year ago in Quito, after a long negotiation and high involvement of all stakeholders, the atmosphere I could feel in my constituency was that of a promise; a big promise of a different international understanding of the urbanization phenomenon, a new role of cities and local and regional governments in the international governance and a shared vision of the need to rethink models.

Fernando Eguren, Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales

Uno de los aspectos más difíciles y problemáticos en el Acuerdo de Paz tiene que ver con el ordenamiento social de la propiedad y el uso de la tierra. Las clases dirigentes y el Estado colombiano fracasaron en la implementación de las reformas rurales de 1936 y 1961, con las que se pretendió la pacificación de la sociedad colombiana mediante la articulación de una reforma agraria con una reforma política. ¿Estamos ante la posibilidad de un nuevo fracaso del problema agrario tras el Acuerdo con las Farc?

Land is connected to many of our most pressing global issues. For example, a significant body of empirical evidence supports the view that strengthening indigenous and local communities’ legal rights to their land is a crucial strategy for avoiding deforestation and mitigating climate change.

Ahmed Jaradat
Miembro Vía Campesina en Palestina e investigador del Alternative Information Center (AIC)

Traducción realizada por Antonio Parrales

2018 could be transformative for the indigenous and community land rights movement, with unprecedented opportunities for scaling up rights recognition around the world.

It's time to ditch the jargon and tell stories about property rights that create the impact needed for change

In a world bombarded with information, stories are everything. Strong storylines can inspire movements and shift attitudes. The “99 percent” story sparked a global conversation about income inequality, and fueled the Occupy Wall Street movement.