An Introduction to Machine Learning

Machine learning is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that enables systems to programmatically “learn” and improve from past experience. Computers use algorithms and statistical models to “learn” patterns and insights from sample sets of data (often called “training data sets”), and apply those insights to make intelligent predictions and decisions about much larger sets of data.

An Introduction to Self-Sovereign Identity

Self-sovereign identity (SSI) is a new paradigm for creating digital identity systems that function more like identity does in the physical world, where every person has a unique and persistent identity which is represented to others by means of a collection of credentials. SSI allows people to collect digital “credentials”—pieces of evidence about their identity—attested to by various external sources of authority.

An Introduction to Blockchain

Blockchain, at its most basic, is database technology. It is a type of distributed ledger, that can be concurrently accessed and updated by multiple users. Members of a blockchain network collectively validate new data through consensus algorithms and add the information to “blocks,” which are linked cryptographically into a “chain” (hence the term blockchain). As a result, this decentralized network creates an agreed-upon record of the time and origin of every data input, stored on many independent computers.

An Introduction to Drones

Land surveying and mapping are evolving rapidly due to advances in unmanned aerial system, or drone, technology. A drone is a flying machine—either fixed-wing or rotary—that is remotely controlled or flies autonomously through software-controlled flight plans. Because they are unmanned, drones are cheaper and smaller than manned aircraft, and can perform tasks too expensive or dangerous with a pilot on board.

An Introduction to Dual-Band GNSS

The vast majority of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)-enabled consumer devices—like phones, tablets, smart watches, and car navigation systems—use single-frequency receivers, which are only accurate to about five meters, in good conditions.12 By contrast, dual-band satellite receivers use two different frequencies of signals to calculate positions.

This is the executive summary of the full report Securing land rights at scale. The report reflects on the experience of DFID land programmes which include LTR across six countries (Guyana, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Mozambique), drawing also wherever possible on relevant experiences of programmes driven by other donors.

This Quick Guide to Land and Conflict Prevention presents approaches and alternatives for addressing tensions over land, resources and property which left unaddressed may lead to violent conflict. Historical grievances and competing claims to access rights, tenure insecurity and unequal distribution of land are common causes of such tension. Current trends in population growth, climate change, environmental degradation, resettlement, and land use patterns, including large scale acquisitions, create a very real and rapidly growing potential for conflict.

This guide is intended for practitioners who are confronted with land conflicts in the course of their work or are in a position to prevent them and/or include land governance as one pillar in their policies. It aims to broaden the understanding of the complexity of causes that lead to land conflicts in order to provide for better-targeted ways of addressing such conflicts, and provides a number of tools with which to analyse land disputes. In addition, this guidebook discusses a wide variety of options and tools for settling ongoing land conflicts and for preventing new ones.

The international community has recently hailed the restoration of property rights for people uprooted by armed conflict as a means of remedying forced displacement. Proponents of property restitution assert that this remedy can enhance the rule of law in a post-conflict society by promoting reconciliation and bolstering economic and social stability. A United Nations (U.N.) subcommission has endorsed a set of legal and technical guidelines for constructing a property restitution scheme.

Facing land grabs and eviction in the name of development, women worldwide increasingly join land rights struggles despite often deeply engrained images of female domesticity and conventional gender norms. Yet, the literature on female agency in the context of land struggles has remained largely underexplored. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, my findings suggest that land rights activism in Cambodia has undergone a gendered re-framing process.

Much has been written on land deals, their impact and challenges of contestation in the Global South. Multiple studies show that communities are high-spirited as long as they oppose the actual conversion of their land. My findings illustrate, however, how companies, local authorities, communities, civil society and the government mitigate conflicts, re-shape resource governance, and negotiate terms of development in operating plantations and local-global dynamics thereof.

Sierra Leone recently attracted significant inflows of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in export-oriented mining and agribusiness. These investments have usually involved large-scale land deals with local communities that have been facilitated and brokered by government officials, local politicians, and paramount chiefs. Affected people and communities were supposed to receive compensations for lost land and, in addition, they expected to find gainful employment opportunities with multinational companies.