Language and technology barriers are a very serious constraint to effectively exchange and learn from land data, information and technologies across the globe. We would like to explore whether we can gain inspiration from how semantic web technologies have overcome knowledge-sharing challenges in other sectors, such as the agriculture sector. With emerging technologies, new tools and ever-growing amounts of land data, we face a very real risk of losing the overview. Without this overview, data is much less likely to be used and thus be useful.

Agricultural long-term experiments (LTEs) are most valuable research infrastructures to reveal the effects of agricultural measures in the long run. However, information about existing LTEs is scattered and the data are often not easy to access. A repository for LTE data and metadata can ensure that a particular LTE can be found easily and access to the data is simplified.

Based on practical examples and on-going discussions, this paper critically reflects on prerequisites and conditions to be observed for open land data to contribute to increased transparency and better land governance. Moreover, the paper touches on the question of what open land data and transparency can mean for addressing land corruption which negatively affects the livelihoods and prosperity of many men and women globally.

This report provides a summary of an online workshop on March 16th 2020, organised in place of a planned fringe meeting of the World Bank Land and Poverty Conference which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2-hour digital workshop brought together over 40 participants from across the world to discuss key data and key open data use-cases for land governance. This report is written based on workshop recordings and shared notes.

An information ecosystem is an extremely vast and cluttered space. What data exist? What data is up to date? What data is reliable? Who owns the data? Can I use the data without inflicting harm? Who are the data subjects? Many people across numerous sectors struggle with such questions and more. The land governance sector in India is no different. But somehow, it seems the land data ecosystem in India is more complex and controversial.

This September, the Land Portal hosted an online dialogue on ‘Open Land Data in the Fight Against Corruption’. This responded to a dual recognition that corruption remains a major issue in land governance, and that open data has been identified as a powerful tool in the fight against corruption. At the same time, gaps remain between the promise and the reality of open data in the land sector. Poor data availability, underdeveloped theories of change, and a lack of implementation support have all contributed to slowerthan-desired progress in data publication and use over the last decade.

Statistical Yearbook of Indonesia 2019 is an annual publication presenting various data from BPS-Statistics Indonesia and other agencies. The publication provides general pictures of geographic and climate conditions, government, as well as key socio-demographic and economic characteristics of Indonesia. The data in some particular tables are presented at provincial and international level to compare socio-economic condition inter-regions and inter-countries.

The curriculum “​Open in Practice: Using Open Data, Knowledge Sharing and Information Management Systems in the Fight Against Land Corruption”​ is being developed to increase land professionals understanding of concepts relating to Corruption and Open Data, and identify how open land data can contribute to addressing the lack of transparency, poor accountability, and increase the participation of civil society actors in land administration, land-based investments & land policy related information.

From 9th to 29th September 2019, Land Portal, Cadasta and GIZ co-hosted an online discussion focussing on the role of open land data in the fight against corruption. Drawing on over 100 contributions from 48 contributors covering six continents, the dialogue explored the opportunities and challenges for the use of open data as a tool to address land-related corruption. 

The Agriculture Census 2019, the sixth in its series, is an agricultural statistical venture of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). Not only has Bangladesh recorded persistent economic growth of 7.86 to 8.13%, but it has also achieved a substantial reduction in poverty rate. Bangladesh retains a strong commitment to social cohesion and to a progressive development agenda. The accelerated economic growth in the country is a consequence of this socio-economic development particularly in regards to the growth of agriculture sector.

lack of transparency in the land and property sector prevents individuals, communities and governments from unlocking the value of the property as an asset, and undermines policies and legal frameworks that aim to provide land tenure security, potentially leading to a misallocation of rights. In fact, land governance is ranked among the sectors in which people are most likely to pay bribes for access to services, according to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer.

In April 2019, UN Habitat through the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) and Global Urban Observatory (GUO) Units; with support from the Global Land Indicators Initiative (GLII) contacted National Statistical Offices (NSOs), National Land Registries and SDGs focal points with the aim of mobilizing existing data on land tenure security in response to SDGs indicator 1.4.2. The data drive was conducted in support of UN Habitat Database for Human Settlements Indicators, for which 1.4.2 is part of.