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Displaying 11 - 20 of 184"Pandemic was the turning point" on stimulating healthy and fruitful debate on land issues
Celebrating Fifteen Years of Open: The Land Portal’s Journey to Creating Communities of Practice
Since its beginnings, the Land Portal has been founded in a spirit of openness and, with one of its primary goals being providing wide access to land governance information. The Land Portal, however, was created at a time where the opportunities to inform and open up the debate on land issues and thinking around the importance of open land data were much more limited. When I first came to know of the Land Portal’s work, long before I joined the team, social media was still very much in its infancy, the open data movement was just taking off and technology was only beginning to become personal and portable. These significant changes would eventually lead to a world in which technology touches nearly everything we do, considerably changing the nature of the Land Portal’s work.
Looking to the next 15 years of the Land Portal, a critical global platform on land rights
Dr. Ritu Verma was a Board of Director of the Land Portal Foundation for two consecutive terms
It is with great happiness that I extend my warmest congratulations to the Land Portal on its 15th Anniversary!
As the Land Portal celebrates a decade and half of ground-breaking and impactful work in the area of knowledge-sharing on land rights and struggles across the globe, it has a lot to be proud of.
Unlocking the Power of Open Data for Climate Action
Imagine a world where every community has the data, information and knowledge it needs to make informed decisions about the land they call home. A world where the power of information is harnessed to hold leaders accountable for managing essential natural resources sustainably. This is the transformative potential of open and accessible land data in the fight against climate change, which is the defining challenge of our time, threatening the lives and livelihoods of communities worldwide.
The Land Portal Turns 15!
Happy birthday, Land Portal!
At 15 years, it’s fun to reflect on the Land Portal’s beginnings. Someone recently asked me if there was a time when I thought the Land Portal wouldn’t make it, and I could instantly recall those moments. There were times when I flew from Rome to Berlin or Rotterdam, including with my infant son to meet our first potential donor, only to hear that we weren’t successful. Or before, when the Land Portal was a small project under the joint oversight of the International Land Coalition and landtenure.info consortium. Despite the great initial support they provided in bringing the Land Portal to life, none of us was completely sure if it could fulfill its potential without becoming an independent, neutral organization with its own funding. There were more recent times too. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we fought to keep our operations going as uncertainty changed everything around us.
Reflections from an early supporter
In the beginning
Back in 2009, when I joined a meeting of the International Land Coalition, the Land Portal was on the agenda, and they were looking for people to be part of the steering committee in order to give shape to the future of the Land Portal. One of my two focus areas in research is land and property in general. The other focal is family law, by the way. I was interested in doing something internationally, and I wanted to explore the possibilities regarding research related land on an international level. I joined the committee together with the representatives of other organizations. From that moment on, I got interested in the work of the Land Portal, I got to know how it functions, and past initiatives on land information and data.
The Land Portal Turns 15
15 YEARS OF THE LAND PORTAL
CELEBRATING A MORE OPEN AND INCLUSIVE LAND SECTOR
This year, the Land Portal marks 15 years in action. We began as a simple, yet ambitious, website in 2009 by aggregating fragmented land data for people searching for free, reliable information to support land rights protection for vulnerable people.
Back then, land stakeholders were still searching in the dark for concrete, reliable data related to land. Broad aspects, like the link between land and food security, or land and climate, had yet to be comprehensively documented. There was also urgency to improve information, as some actors were exploiting the blind spot while carrying out abusive land practices, including land grabs.
We have stayed true to our original goals, but we haven’t stayed static. Tackling issues through independent research, connecting land to other development agendas, bringing cutting-edge data principles to land information, fostering vigorous debates – the Land Portal has evolved into an anchor for the land governance community.
We have held up our microphone to diverse voices. Anyone can still register and add their data and perspectives to our platform. Our collaborators range from global organizations to individuals and small civil society communities. We pick up topics such as sextortion, carbon markets, and data justice before they go mainstream.
We have crafted easily approachable content to help users get an instant look or dive deep into the land governance situations in countries. Our thematic portfolios put land into context by covering issues from land conflicts to corruption, food security to gender, climate change, urban and forest tenure, indigenous land rights and much more.
From the beginning, the Land Portal’s unique differentiator was our embrace of the open knowledge movement – the idea that knowledge should be free to use, reuse, and redistribute with as few legal, social, and technological restrictions as possible. We were early adopters in our use of open source software, linked open data, and open licensing. The start-up approach is in the DNA of the Land Portal, and it’s what allowed us to leverage our open data beliefs to embark on another ambitious programme - to document the State of Land Information. We shed light on the levels of completeness and openness of land data around the world to create more conversations.
Throughout it all, we built a community based on trustworthy and unbiased information. The data and information landscape has changed in the last 15 years and will continue to evolve at an ever increasing pace. There are more organizations collecting land data, more attention paid to land-related data, and more artificial intelligence tools that are being used for land governance, with uncertain outcomes. We are paying attention to our users’ evolving needs and remain laser-focused on growing with the global land governance community.
“As we celebrate our history, our energies are concentrated on the future. We’ll continue to ask ourselves what we can do better, where we can improve in serving our users, and how we can innovate,” says Laura Meggiolaro, Managing Director. Thank you to all our users over the years and the donors who have supported the Land Portal.
Read + Watch: 15th Anniversary Celebration Messages
Read: Laura Meggiolaro's Reflections
Please stay tuned for more information about events, blogs, and content for our 15th anniversary.
Terminology: Majority World or Global South?
We appreciated all of the people who took the time to leave comments, write emails, and take the poll. We heard you, and based on what we heard, we won’t be making any wholesale changes right now in how we refer to countries and regions that have historically been left out of economic and industrialized development. We are particularly sensitive to the idea that the term Majority World could, as Rafael wrote, “perpetuate a notion that could undermine the importance of minority groups. It appears to replicate the very idea that the worth or relevance of a group is tied to its size, which is a concept many of us are striving to move away from, especially those of us engaged in addressing the vulnerabilities of minority populations.”
From our friends and collaborators
Messages of congratulations from Land Portal supporters.
Land Portal cumple 15 años
15 AÑOS DEL LAND PORTAL
CELEBRANDO UN SECTOR SECTOR DE LA TERRA MÁS ABIERTO E INCLUSIVO
22 de abril de 2024 - Este año, el Land Portal cumple 15 años en acción. Comenzamos como un sitio web sencillo, pero ambicioso, en 2009, agregando datos fragmentados sobre la tierra para personas que buscaban información gratuita y fiable para apoyar la protección de los derechos sobre la tierra de las personas vulnerables.
Por aquel entonces, las partes interesadas en la tierra seguían buscando a tientas datos concretos y fiables relacionados con la tierra. Aspectos generales, como el vínculo entre la tierra y la seguridad alimentaria, o la tierra y el clima, aún no se habían documentado exhaustivamente. También era urgente mejorar la información, ya que algunos actores se aprovechaban del punto ciego mientras llevaban a cabo prácticas abusivas con la tierra, incluidos los acaparamientos.
Nos hemos mantenido fieles a nuestros objetivos originales, pero no hemos permanecido estáticos. El Land Portal ha evolucionado hasta convertirse en un ancla para la comunidad de la gobernanza de la tierra, abordando cuestiones mediante investigaciones independientes, conectando la tierra con otras agendas de desarrollo, aportando principios de datos de vanguardia a la información sobre la tierra y fomentando debates enérgicos.
Hemos alzado nuestro micrófono para diversas voces. Cualquiera puede registrarse y añadir sus datos y perspectivas a nuestra plataforma. Nuestros colaboradores van desde organizaciones globales a particulares y pequeñas comunidades de la sociedad civil. Nos ocupamos de temas como la sextorsión, los mercados de carbono y la justicia de datos antes de que se conviertan en la corriente dominante.
Hemos elaborado contenidos de fácil acceso para ayudar a los usuarios y usuarias a obtener una visión instantánea o a profundizar en la situación de la gobernanza de la tierra en los países. Nuestras carteras temáticas contextualizan el tema de la tierra abarcando cuestiones que van desde los conflictos por la tierra hasta la corrupción, pasando por la seguridad alimentaria, el género, el cambio climático, la tenencia urbana y forestal, los derechos de los indígenas sobre la tierra y mucho más.
Desde el principio, el único elemento diferenciador del Land Portal fue nuestra adhesión al movimiento del conocimiento abierto: la idea de que el conocimiento debe poder utilizarse, reutilizarse y redistribuirse libremente con el menor número posible de restricciones legales, sociales y tecnológicas.
Fuimos pioneros en el uso de software de código abierto, datos abiertos enlazados y licencias abiertas. El enfoque de puesta en marcha está en el ADN del Land Portal, y es lo que nos ha permitido aprovechar nuestras creencias en los datos abiertos para embarcarnos en otro ambicioso programa: documentar el Estado de la Información sobre la Tierra. Arrojamos luz sobre los niveles de exhaustividad y apertura de los datos sobre el suelo** en todo el mundo para crear más conversaciones.
A lo largo de todo ello, construimos una comunidad basada en información fiable e imparcial. El panorama de los datos y la información ha cambiado en los últimos 15 años y seguirá evolucionando a un ritmo cada vez mayor. Hay más organizaciones que recopilan datos sobre la tierra, se presta más atención a los datos relacionados con la tierra y se utilizan más herramientas de inteligencia artificial para la gobernanza de la tierra, con resultados inciertos. Prestamos atención a la evolución de las necesidades de nuestros usuarios y seguimos centrados en crecer con la comunidad mundial de gobernanza de la tierra.
«Mientras celebramos nuestra historia, nuestras energías se concentran en el futuro. Seguiremos preguntándonos qué podemos hacer mejor, en qué podemos mejorar el servicio a nuestros usuarios y cómo podemos innovar", afirma Laura Meggiolaro, Directora General. Gracias a todos nuestros usuarios/as a lo largo de los años y a los donantes que han apoyado el Land Portal
Estén atentos para recibir más información sobre eventos, blogs y contenidos para nuestro 15º aniversario.
ACERCA DE
La Fundación Land Portal crea, conserva y difunde información de libre acceso sobre la gobernanza de la tierra fomentando un panorama de datos inclusivo y accesible. Todos nuestros esfuerzos apoyan nuestra misión de INFORMAR a la gente, ABRIR datos e información críticos y DEBATIR perspectivas sobre la tierra. Creemos que el acceso a la información es crucial para lograr una buena gobernanza de la tierra y garantizar los derechos a la tierra de las personas sin tierra y vulnerables. Contacto: Lilian Lee, lilianlee@landportal.info