hanstad1_ SHAMMI MEHRAAFP via Getty Images_India farmer Shammi Mehra/AFP via Getty Images

The Case for Open Land-Data Systems

In countries where accurate, accessible land records are not maintained, it is the marginalized and vulnerable who are the worst affected by corruption and covert land grabs. But the ongoing revolution in information and communications technology provides unprecedented opportunities to digitize land records and open them to all.

SEATTLE – Last month, a former Zimbabwean cabinet minister was arrested for illegally selling parcels of state land. A few days earlier, a Malaysian court convicted the ex-chairman of a state-owned land development agency of corruption. And in January, the Estonian government collapsed amid allegations of corrupt property dealings. These recent events all turned the spotlight on the growing but neglected threat of land-related corruption.

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