In land governance, a sector ripe for abuse and corruption, transparency is critical in ensuring land use and allocation is fair and accountable and that tenure rights can be defended and protected. The opaque nature of land administration systems and decision-making mechanisms exacerbates corruption by land officials, from petty corruption as citizens try to undertake transactions, to major political corruption in land management, such as the illegal sale or lease of state land by public officials – a practice becoming more evident given the current ‘land grabbing’ phenomenon.

In response, this discussion aims to bring together these stakeholders to address the implications of open data for land governance, including understanding the links between transparency and global challenges, such as overcoming poverty, strengthening property rights for vulnerable populations, enhancing food security and combating corruption. The organisers also hope to broaden consensus on this issue, define what data is important for the community to be open and begin to collect examples of best practices that can be used as an advocacy point going forward.

The organisers invite debate participants to answer the following questions:

• Have you been affected negatively by a lack of transparency in land data? If so, what were the consequences? Please describe.
• Can you share any examples of the effective use of data (open or otherwise) for land governance? How has this positively contributed to your community / region or country? Have you seen a change in revenue as a result of open data in land information?
• Do you anticipate more or less land data in your country becoming open in the future? Why/Why not?
• Land information may be collected and stored at the county, state or national level. Would it be worthwhile to create a global standard for open data on land? Please share your thoughts.
• What kinds of data are important for improved land governance?
• What are the barriers to shifting towards open data on land? How do we incentivize governments to open up land data for free? What are some strategies or case studies that illustrate success in this challenge?
• How do we balance openness and transparency with protecting the privacy or individuals or communities?
• To what extent do you use or advocate for open data in your work? What are the main challenges you encounter within your work with accessing and using data?

How to participate

The debate will take place on the Land Portal in from 6-20 September 2016..

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