In India, land continues to be of
enormous economic, social, and symbolic relevance. The way
in which land can be accessed and its ownership documented
is at the core of the livelihood of the large majority of
the poor, especially in rural and tribal areas and
determines the extent to which increasingly scarce natural
resources are managed. Land policies and administration are
critical determinants of the transaction cost associated

This is a Social Agreement posted on OpenLandContracts.org. It lists Timber (Wood) as the primary resource(s)

This is a Social Agreement posted on OpenLandContracts.org. It lists Timber (Wood) as the primary resource(s)

This is a Social Agreement posted on OpenLandContracts.org. It lists Timber (Wood) as the primary resource(s)

In this paper we present an analysis of power law statistics on land markets. There have been no other studies that have analyzed power law statistics on land markets up to now. We analyzed a database of the assessed value of land, which is officially monitored and made available to the public by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Government of Japan. This is the largest database of Japan's land prices, and consists of approximately 30,000 points for each year of a 6-year period (1995-2000).

Based on a large survey to compare the
effectiveness of land markets and land reform in Colombia,
the authors find that rental and sales markets were more
effective in transferring land to poor but productive
producers than was administrative land reform. The fact that
land transactions were all of a short-term nature and that
little land was transferred from very large to small land
owners or the landless suggests that there may be scope for

The authors review the role of land
policies in the evolving farm structure of transition
countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). They show how
different policies for land property rights, degrees of
control of land rental and sale markets, and procedures for
restructuring former collective or state farms resulted in
significantly different farm structures in CEE countries

This paper sheds light on how to harvest
the "youth dividend" in Sub-Saharan Africa by
creating jobs in agriculture. The agriculture that attracts
the youth will have to be profitable, competitive, and
dynamic. These are the same characteristics needed for
agriculture to deliver growth, to improve food security, and
to preserve a fragile natural environment. With higher
priority accorded to implementation of well-designed public

The purpose of this study is to serve as
a guide on developing Greenfield transport infrastructure
(rail and port) primarily used to support mining operations
('mining-related infrastructure'), through
Public-Private Partnership (PPP) schemes and on a project
finance basis. The focus is on key financing issues and
considerations, as well as recommendations for governments
and private-sector participants, specifically in the context

The financial and economic crisis that
started in the United States has finally impacted all urban
communities and investment financing systems around the
world. Local governments grappling with the crisis face a
number of constraints which, though disparate in nature,
have a cumulative effect. This phenomenon has created a
number of extremely difficult situations. In general terms,
the consequences of the crisis can be felt on four levels:

Large-scale land acquisitions are increasing in pace and scale, in particular across parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Weak governance and poor land use planning mean that commercial ‘land grabs’ often damage biodiversity as well as dispossessing people from customary rights and livelihoods. Land can also be ‘grabbed’ for ‘green’ purposes, triggering conflicts that undermine potential synergies. Expanded state protected areas, land for carbon offset markets and REDD, and for private conservation projects all potentially conflict with community rights.

The application of computer technology in land administration is touted as one way of ensuring efficient and transparent land administration. Although this true, one major concern is not only how to create a computerized land information system that is interoperable across different government departments responsible for different land administration functions, but also how to ensure interoperability between national and devolved levels of government departments responsible for land administration.