Latest News

Last week, Prindex Co-Director Anna Locke attended the India Land and Development Conference 2023: Land - People Relations: Diversity and Transitions, cosponsored by Global Land Alliance. She reflects on the conference, people she met, and the future of land governance in India. Special thanks to the Center for Land Governance and Pranab Choudhury for convening an important space for dialogue and collaboration.

Global Land Alliance acknowledges that we, as individuals and as an organization, benefit from the traditional land of the Nacotchtank and the Piscataway Conoy People working in what is now known as Washington D.C. As a core value of our mission, we believe that the Indigenous knowledge is key to advancing rights to land and resources.

In the summer of 2023, Global Land Alliance’s Brazilian team and Brazilian partners Torsiano Consulting set out to conceptualize how the Brazilian government could approach the designation of public lands in the Amazon. Our team analyzed the efforts currently underway by the Brazilian government how they are improving and accelerating public land allocation process, which will have dual-benefits for climate outcomes and rights for Indigenous People and forest-dwelling communities in the Amazon. The following article is a summary of the legal and operational analysis.

This week Global Land Alliance and Prindex formally signed on as global partners of the Stand for Her Land (S4HL). We look forward to collaborating with, supporting coalition partners from around the work to advance the vision of S4HL: to bridge the gap between law and practice for Women Land Rights.

Last week, Andrea Teran and Christina Kuntz from GLA traveled to Bolivia to meet with representatives of the Bolivian National Institute for Agrarian Reform (INRA), Inter-American Development Bank, Fundación de la Cordillera (FUNDECOR), and other consultants for GLA's work regarding environmental and social safeguards within the land formalization process, land administration process, and institutional capacity building in Bolivia. 

Global Land Alliance has been selected by the European Commission (EC) to receive a €2.1 million grant to advance Prindex. It is part of an overall effort by the EC to advance land governance with the International Land Coalition (ILC), and underscores the importance of data on perceptions of land and property rights. This grant will further develop the global study which asks people how likely they think it is that they will lose their land or property against their will in the next 5 years.

We are pleased to announce that Global Land Alliance has joined the PLACE Community as the first PLACE Founding Member..

Earlier this month, Global Land Alliance’s Executive Director submitted an open letter, joining a collective voice promoting Brazilian State support for CLT initiatives, and influence representatives to take supportive measures to affordable housing and long-term community-building, development and/or guarantee of rights.

How do we better ensure that women are not left worse off after Land Tenure formalization campaigns? From February 21-25th, a Global Land Alliance team comprised of Laura Restrepo and Maribel Arguello visited the small villages of Tierra Grata and Chafurry in the Puerto Lleras municipality, which is in the larger Meta department of Colombia.

Global Land Alliance (GLA) participated in the international conference organized by Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests of the Kingdom of Morocco. The conference took place on February 22 and 23, 2023 in Rabat and was focused on the findings and recommendations of an in-depth report about the issues of land division.

The Government of Kenya, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Land Coalition (ILC) Africa and Global Land Alliance will host the the first-ever Regional Land Data and Digitalization Conference will bring together key actors in Africa and beyond to share good practices in data technologies and digitalization for the land sector

Global Land Alliance’s November 2022 edition of our Parcel Post contains articles entitled: Treaties, Indigenous Land And Resource Rights In The Great Lakes And Enbridge’s Line 5 Pipeline: Interview With Whitney Gravelle by Christen Corcoran; Treaties, Indigenous Land And Resource Rights In The Great Lakes And Enbridge’s Line 5 Pipeline: Interview With Aurora Conley by Christen Corcoran; Land Tenure Insecurity And Climate Adaptation: Socio-Environmental Realities In Colombia And Implications For Integrated Environmental Rights And Participatory Policy by Brianna Castro and Christina Kuntz; People-Land Relationships On The Path To Sustainable Food Security by Malcolm Childress, Pranab Choudhury, and Jolyne Sanjak

The 2022 United National Climate Change Conference (UNCCC) COP will be the 27th convening of this group and will take place from November 6th-18th. The stakes are higher than ever as a series of recent scientific reports has shown that global climate change affecting nature, people’s lives and infrastructure everywhere. Its dangerous and pervasive impacts are increasingly evident in every region of our world. These impacts are hindering efforts to meet basic human needs and they threaten sustainable development across the globe. (IPCC 6trh report 2022) The same scientific consensus shows a growing recognition of the role of land, land tenure security and forests in climate mitigation, adaptation and resiliency goals.

Fast, transparent and just compensation of losses and restitution of rights for land and housing property in Ukraine require actions now. Incorporating several critical amendments and adopting the Law on compensation of losses is the first of such steps. Equally important are swift rebuilding of government infrastructure on the de-occupied territories and clarifying the responsibilities for managements of abandoned and destroyed property. The legitimate right holders need to be informed about how to secure their property rights and how to report any losses. These and several other steps discussed below will help to rebuild Ukraine and prevent undue tension in all sectors of Ukrainian society.

Ovejas is a small, rural town in the Sucre department of Colombia, which is situated on the northern Caribbean coast. The majority of the land in this area has historically been used for agricultural purposes and, furthermore, has experienced decades of armed conflict, illicit crop cultivation, tenure insecurity, and forced displacement. Today, Ovejas and other rural areas in the region are moving towards a post-conflict context via various initiatives including the promotion of licit agribusiness models in addition to the formalization of land parcels.

In the recently published Land Tenure Security and Sustainable Development, edited by Margaret B. Holland, Yuta J. Masuda, and Brian E. Robinson, a diverse range of contributing authors, including Malcolm Childress, Moustapha Diop and Christina Kuntz, provide a unique disciplinary, sectoral and topical perspective

The work to shut down Line 5 to protect the Great Lakes and the climate continues despite spreading misinformation about the need for the pipeline. On July 28 join communities and stakeholders for this special virtual event, The Latest on Line 5: Key Pathways to Protect the Great Lakes from an Oil Spill Disaster.

In this new episode of the LandUP! podcast, we unpack the linkages between land tenure and land degradation. We spoke to Professor of Geography Dr. Jon Unruh, Country Program Manager Kader Baba and Researcher Anne Hennings about the emerging nexus between land tenure and Land Degradation Neutrality.

GLA’s Victor Endo- “Planificando la vivienda del futuro” del Programa de intercambio de conocimiento Vivienda Sostenible Para Todos, del Banco Mundial.

Last week, the International Land Coalition (ILC) hosted its 9th Global Land Forum in Jordan - the first large in-person meeting of the land community for three years. The main focus of the Forum was on the climate crisis and the role of strong land rights in adapting to and mitigating climate change. However, it also focused on those issues traditionally championed by those working on land rights: gender equality and social inclusion, peace-building, food security, tenure security, land governance and the continued plight of those defending land rights and the environment.

Mike Wiggins Jr, Bad River CEO and Tribal chair said of the removal: “No amount of compensation is worth risking Wenji-Bimaadiziyaang- an Ojibwe word that literally means ‘From where we get life.’ It’s time to end the imminent threat the company is presenting to our people, our rivers, and gichi gami (Lake Superior). It’s not only an infringement of our sovereignty, but a burden felt by our people having to engage in the perpetual chase for the next pipeline rupture. It’s time to stop the flow of oil immediately.”

In the past few weeks, a number of water protectors have seen criminal cases dropped by prosecutors in so-called Northern Minnesota after alleged actions taken to stop the Line 3 pipeline in defense of the water, the climate, and the treaty rights of the Anishinaabeg people. Violating Anishinaabe treaty territories in Minnesota, the new stretch of Line 3 was approved without full consent or proper impact studies, threatening safe water sources for millions. It carries the carbon equivalent of 50 coal plants. More than 68,000 Minnesotans testified against this plan.

Join Prindex's event at the Global Land Forum, read thoughts from Prindex Co-Directors Anna Locke and Malcolm Childress on what they hope the Forum will achieve, and explore our work around the event's key themes.

Thanks to all who participated in Land Portal and Global Land Alliance’s webinar “Invisible and Excluded: Risks To Informal Wives And Partners From Land Tenure Formalization And Titling Campaigns In Latin America”. We hope to continue to raise awareness on risks to informal wives during land tenure formalization campaigns. The webinar builds off of Global Land Alliance’s paper Invisible and Excluded: Risks to Informal Spouses from Land Tenure Formalization and Titling Campaigns,

Global Land Alliance’s March 2022 edition of our Parcel Post contains articles entitled: “Invisible And Excluded: Risks To Informal Wives And Partners From Land Tenure Formalization And Titling Campaigns In Latin America”, by Jen Duncan, Laura Bermudez, and Kevin Barthel; “Indigenous Land Defense at Peehee Mu’huh: “Green Energy" Demands Encroach on Paiute and Shoshone Territory” by Christen Corcoran;

International Womens Day 2022. Land rights formalization and titling campaigns have improved land tenure security for millions of rural people over the past decades. But while many have benefitted, others have been left out, and risks are often highest for women.

In this episode of the Land Up! podcast we ask where we land up on gender equality. We spoke to human rights lawyer Faith Alubbe, land economist Nana Ama Yirrah and Mokoro Principal Consultant and Land Portal Board Member Dr Elizabeth Daley about women's land rights with a special focus on widows in Africa.

The latest IPCC climate report mentions tenure security a whopping 58 times. This is a welcome shift in emphasis from the UN – strengthening land rights is a just and sustainable way to protect vulnerable landscapes in the climate fight, and one that works. By the report’s own estimate, time is almost up. As we push closer to the point of no return, the world needs to stop talking and start acting. Ramping up the recognition of land rights could help us preserve enough of the natural world to pull us back from the brink.

The Global Land Alliance (GLA) and the Land Portal Foundation invite you to join this webinar on 16 March, 2022 to learn about the risks to informal wives during land tenure formalization campaigns.

In this first episode of the Land UP! podcast, we ask: where do we land up on climate change?

We spoke to Indigenous climate activist Dr Myrna Cunningham Kain, the Guardian's global environment editor Jonathan Watts and Prindex Co-Director Anna Locke about diversity, representation, and climate justice at COP26.

A new report “Opportunity Assessment to Strengthen Collective Tenure Rights in Forest Carbon Partnership Facility Carbon Fund Countries” published by Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and the World Bank, identifies pathways for strengthening collective land tenure rights of IPLCs and features detailed Carbon Fund country profiles.

GLA’s Malcolm Childress and Selina Carter and Fundação Getulio Vargas’s Edgard Barki were published in the academic journal Land for their article “Fit-for-Purpose, Private-Sector Led Land Regularization and Financing of Informal Settlements in Brazil”.

Global Land Alliance’s May 2021 edition of our Parcel Post contains articles entitled: “Honduras’ Overlapping Crises Have Their Roots in Land and Natural Resource Policy Failures”, “Perceptions Data Reveal Patterns of Tenure Insecurity in the Middle East and North Africa”, “Decentralizing Land Administration: Village Boundary Setting/Resource Mapping, Land Use Mapping and Community Sample Survey Activity in Indonesia”.

As we celebrate Workers’ Day tomorrow, hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest workers remain trapped in precarious poverty by land inequality and insecurity. Stronger rights and fairer access to land would give the most vulnerable – especially women – the solid ground they need to work their way out of poverty.

Global Land Alliance celebrates International Women’s Day 2021 and women’s rights to ownership and security of their land and natural resource rights. GLA strives to achieve sustainable prosperity for people and places; and gender equity is certainly a cornerstone of this work. Securing women’s land and property rights can increase agricultural productivity, incentivize the adoption of climate-resilient natural resource management and increase household spending on health and education. Conversely, when women face barriers to accessing, using or controlling land and other productive resources around the world, it not only puts them on an unequal footing in life, but it also restricts these wider positive social, economic and environmental outcomes.

Global Land Alliance and Cadasta Foundation are pleased to announce joint funding to, and collaboration with, Yayasan Puter Indonesia (Puter) to support a Village Boundary Setting/Resource Mapping, Land Use Mapping and Community Sample Survey (VBS-RM/LUM/CSS) activity in Labulia Village in the Jonggat Sub-District of Lombok Indonesia.

Global Land Alliance partners at the Urban Planning Department of the University of Lagos recently published a booklet entitled “Lagos Urban Planning: Debunking Myths & Stereotypes”, organized and compiled by Rethinking Cities Initiative and the Heinrich Böll Stiftung. Global Land Alliance congratulates and highlights this accomplishment to better understand key issues to tenure and property rights in Lagos.

Global Land Alliance’s October edition of our Parcel Post contains articles entitled, “Community Participation and Inclusion during a Pandemic: Recent Experiences from around the World”, “Prindex Finds One Billion People Worldwide Are Insecure About Losing Their Property: Now Is The Time to Push For Accountability, Transparency and Monitoring” and an interview with expert Grenville Barnes. We are excited to share articles on these subjects here:

Please join us on 12 November for an online event on land and property rights in East Asia and the Pacific. Secure land and property rights are crucial to economic growth and sustainable development. Improving tenure security is also important to the agendas of many global development institutions and donors working in East Asia and the Pacific. Until recently, however, there has been a lack of reliable data that is comparable across regions and countries.

In their recently published Storymap project, PlaceFund explores the way Prindex data can be used to create change. Drawing on the latest Prindex data and analysis, it does an excellent job in unpacking the Prindex finding that 1 billion people feel they are likely to lose their home or land in the next five years.

The Economist published an article entitled “The Quest for Secure Property Rights in Africa” authored by KHAYELITSHA, which cites Prindex comparative data; demonstrating that especially in Sub-Saharan Africa formal titling is not the only answer to tenure and property security.

On behalf of Global Land Alliance, Mónica Ribadeneira Sarmiento participated yesterday in a virtual forum organized by la Red Interamericana de Catastro y Registro de la Propiedad presenting Prindex methodology, uses and comparative data for the LAC region for the event "Catastro y Registro En la Pandemia y la Pospandemia". Miss the forum? Presentation is included below:

Miss the Prindex Global webinar on July 15, 2020 where we released data from 141 countries worldwide? Watch here:

July 15th Prindex Global released findings that nearly one billion people worldwide feel that they are at risk of losing their land or property. Thomson Reuters’ Zoe Tabary interviewed GLA’s Executive Director, and Prindex co-Director, Malcolm Childress on the importance of this data and continuing to cooperatively engage with local leaders, academics, politicians, land activists, and stakeholders around the world how to address the pandemic of insecure housing.

As we share the Global Land Alliance's 2019 Annual Report with you, we reflect on the core issues of security for land, shelter, and livelihoods that has been further underscored by the global COVID19 pandemic. These issues that GLA has been working towards since our founding six years ago. GLA continues to grow to advance sustainable prosperity for people and places in innovative and exciting ways, and continues to deliver this mission through a Reliance on our Alliance. GLA's alliance consists of individuals and organizations that share a common vision and mission.

Join us for the online launch of Prindex, the world’s first global survey measuring how secure people feel in their land and property rights, hosted by Land Portal. Having previously published data and analysis for 33 countries, Prindex is now poised to release its full global dataset of 140+ countries. The event is a chance to discuss the latest global findings and how they can contribute to a world where everyone feels secure in their land and property rights.

Cadasta Foundation and Global Land Alliance (GLA) are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on April 17th, 2020 to mutually support and advocate for land tenure security for vulnerable and marginalized communities around the world.

The current pandemic brings concepts of property to the foreground.  Stay at home orders, social distancing, commercial closures, draconian border control, the interruption of air travel (to use just a few examples) are about how space is to be used, about new mandates for (most commonly) restrictions to commons, public, and private property, and often very intense social controversy over who gets to set the rules for property use.  How property is understood and treated in the planning process will now be one of our key issues going forward.  In Pandemics, Property, and Planning  a global group of scholars reflect on the pandemic’s meaning and implications through the lens of land-based property rights and spatial planning. 

This Earth Day marks the 50th Anniversary of a dedicated event to promote advocacy and education of environmental protection and our planet’s ecosystems. Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson established the first Earth Day event in 1970, which sparked Washington D.C. to adapt the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Global Land Alliance celebrates International Womens day 2020 in recognizing the intersectional leadership and action of women globally for land and property recognition. This year, we are highlighting unintended consequences of land tenure formalization that impact women involved in informal unions.

Global Land Alliance’s February edition of our Parcel Post contains articles entitled, “Securing Forest Tenure: GLA Partners to Pilot Forest Tenure Assessment Tool in three Countries”, “Out of Africa, on to Asia: The Land Tenure Journey of Dr. John Bruce” and “Terra Nova: A Sustainable Solution to Tenure Security and Recognition for Favelas in Brazil”. We are excited to share articles on these subjects here:

Global Land Alliance is hiring Prindex regional coordinators for the Latin America, MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asian regions. We're looking for dynamic, highly motivated and self-propelled consultant to engage with a wide range of regional stakeholders to increase engagement with the Prindex initiative

GLA’s Malcolm Childress was interviewed by Catherine Cheney for DEVEX on the launch of a spinoff of Omidyar Network called PlaceFund, spun out of the property rights initiative at Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment firm launched by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

This past spring, Global Land Alliance and The Nature Conservancy began a partnership to complete an analysis of legal access to freshwater rights and resources in Colombia and Ecuador, as well as prepared and scoped for a full analysis to take place in early 2020 in Gabon, Angola and Brazil.

Curitiba, Brazil – Terra Nova, an organization that documents land ownership in order to improve quality of life in Brazilian settlements, and Global Land Alliance announced today a partnership to scale a proven model for mediating between land owners and favela occupants in Brazil and to develop a historical database for research purposes

Global Land Alliance, with its Dominican partner Fundacion REDDOM and expert technical assistance from Colombia Rural of Bogota and VIDENZA Consultores of Peru, recently completed a study for the Government of the Dominican Republic’s Unidad Técnica Ejecutora de Proyectos Agroforestales (UTEPDA) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

¿Cuál es la Percepción en Honduras del Derecho de tenencias? Global Land Alliance participated in a forum at the Observatorio Universitario de Ordenamiento Territorial Faculty of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH) this past Tuesday.

Check out the Global Land Alliance August Parcel Post newsletter!