How Open Data on Land and Property Rights can Improve Global Food Security and Nutrition

Over a billion people worldwide, predominately smallholder farmers, lack secure land rights, which are crucial for obtaining loans and providing the long-term visibility necessary for planning successful agricultural operations. Open data technologies enable mapping and access to information on land rights, which in turn can lead to more protection for community and smallholder farmers. However, across most contexts, information and data on land are largely inaccessible. Moving towards open and transparent land data and information represents a significant opportunity to provide the foundation for secure land and property rights, and ultimately improved food security and nutrition. 

As part of the GODAN Action project, the Land Portal Foundation leads the thematic area of Land Data, which aims to explore the potential of open data to improve sustainable land use planning, to facilitate access to justice, to address rural employment through and to build collective bargaining potential among farmers and the organizations that represent them. 

In this Webinar, Laura Meggiolaro outlines the challenges and potential of land-related data for agriculture and nutrition and describes cutting-edge initiatives and their potential to contribute to enhancing food security and nutrition. 

About the Panelist

Over the last six years, Laura Meggiolaro has been responsible for the overall management, implementation and expansion of the Land Portal contributing to the process that has seen the Land Portal evolving from a project into an independent organization: the Land Portal Foundation. She leads the team who contributed to transforming the Land Portal from a simple provider of information services into one of the leading Open Data initiatives that seeks to promote transparency through promoting sector standards and information infrastructure.

Laura holds a master’s degree in communications science and a master’s degree in economics for development. She has been working in the development sector for 15 years. Prior to coming to the Land Portal Foundation, she has been collaborating with UN agencies and civil society organisations, including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Land Coalition at IFAD and ActionAid, specialising in information knowledge management for land rights.