This case study was originally published on the FAO AGROVOC site.  Image: FAO/Luis Tato

1. Land Portal Foundation and LandVoc 

In the aftermath of the 6.5 magnitude earthquake in Aceh, Indonesia, in 2016, disaster managers were able to able to identify which communities were at greatest risk due to rapid access to data. They used the open source InaSAFE platform to access real-time hazard data and modeled population data mapped down to the village level. This was made possible by the collaborative use of “open” data — data that is free to use, open license, and in machine readable formats — between scientists, local and national governments and communities.

The COVID-19 crisis has made 2020 the most challenging year in our lifetime. It has demonstrated the need to ensure that sustainable and equitable land governance remains a priority on the international agenda. The pandemic also underscored the importance of digital platforms for both maintaining access to data and information and providing a space people can trust.

The loss of public records and personal documents following the disaster, is already having a tremendous impact on recovery efforts

Having and using information has always been a powerful force for change, helping to fight corruption, enabling citizens to participate more fully in public life and allowing people from all walks of life to exercise their fundamental human rights. We live in a time when paradoxical topics such as ‘fake news’ and ‘big data’ are part of our everyday lives.

By Nghia Le Trung, Chairman of the Advisory Council, National Center for Research and Development of Open Technologies (RDOT), Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam