Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto stated in his Keynote Address at the 2009 ESRI International User Conference that 4.5 billion people do not have recorded property rights, and as a consequence, they cannot get credit, they can't build capital, and they aren't able to participate in a market economy. Land administration systems (LAS) are designed to address this issue by providing a basic infrastructure for implementing land-related policies and land management strategies.
Land Administration for Sustainable Development, by Ian Williamson, Stig Enemark, Jude Wallace, and Abbas Rajabifard, a new book by ESRI Press, offers practical information about how to design, build, and manage LAS in support of better land management and sustainable development. This book also describes emerging tools for LAS design and provides a toolbox of best practices tailored for specific country needs.
Senior government officials and academics, as well as land administrators and others working in land-related professional fields, will find Land Administration for Sustainable Development useful to study and address problems of economic development, environmental and resource management, poverty alleviation, social equity, and indigenous rights management. The concepts outlined in this book will also help decision makers in making LAS choices and improvements.
Says de Soto, "If you don't have the deed, then you don't have the record . . . That's what you call dead capital. The solution to poverty to a great extent is in making this dead capital live capital." Formal land administration is fundamental to creating live capital. When communities are empowered with the knowledge and the tools to develop effective landownership policies, their residents can get credit, build capital, and truly engage in a market economy.
