Photo by Patrick Sheperd/CIFOR (Creative Commons Attribution)

Conference Themes

Theme 1: How can secure land rights benefit climate action?

According to the World Bank, half of all climate actions are linked to land, including mitigation actions and infrastructure related to adaptation requiring land use changes and yielding both opportunity and risk for indigenous communities. Insecure, fragmented and disputed land tenure can frustrate the goals of policy and programmes addressing climate mitigation and adaptation. Equally importantly, communities can suffer displacement and injustice due to lack of recognition of customary tenure, occupancy and land rights. Furthermore, inequalities in land systems lead to marginalisation of women, vulnerable and minoritised sections of communities in debates and decisions around climate risk. This session will consider the complex intersection between climate change, climate justice and land tenure and welcomes papers addressing socially just and sustainable land initiatives.

Theme 2: How can we maintain effective land systems within zones of conflict and land dispute?

Many social, political and economic factors can give rise to conflicts that impact on land. Issues such as tribal and ethnic issues, historical and legacy issues, issues to do with political parties and political polarisation to population growth and land scarcity and degradation issues create conditions for land-conflict. It takes different formulas depending on the parties involved in the conflict as well as the value of the land for both of them. The conflict could be between individuals such as siblings “based on gender issues”, between groups of local people “tribes”, subnational conflict “between political parties”, national conflict “between government and local people”, and even between different nations. Any type of conflict on land that takes place within a wider conflict context, becomes multilayered, and needs different actions for interventions on various levels. This session welcomes papers that share understanding on how parties involved in land disputes in conflict contexts, globally over history, reach resolution & identify local/national /international actions that enhance land dispute resolution?

Theme 3: How can effective land administration increase transparency and what are the benefits?

Real estate with a total global value of $379.7 trillion is key to the world’s economy. For individuals, housing and land often represent the single most valuable and important assets they will ever possess. Security of title, low transaction costs, transparency, access to finance and strong governance are all critical for market functioning. In the past, much of this is predicated on transparent governance and appropriate legal and financial systems in place. Well-functioning land administration systems with registered real estate and secure and transparent systems for managing transactions are key bulwarks against corruption and to promote equity. In many countries, real estate markets operate quasi-informally with unregistered real estate, limited tenure security, low level of transparency, restricted asses to finance, low levels of received taxation, and limited market depth. How can real estate markets serve the needs of citizens in an equitable manner and provide services required by society? What is the role of effective land administration systems in increasing transparency and reducing corruption? To what extent property identification and registration are necessary for such markets? What is the role of large-scale investors and governments?

Theme 4: Early Career Professionals and Junior Researchers – Innovations in Land Research and Practice

This is an open session to encourage early career professionals and junior researchers to present contributions under the theme of innovations in land research and practice of relevance to the land community. Hence, we welcome presentations on both completed and work-in-progress projects and research. Early career professionals and junior researchers will get a chance to present and get feedback on their work from other researchers and practitioners.

Abstract Submission

To submit your abstract please use the following link: Abstract submission. Deadline for abstract submission is 24 November 2024.

Registration

To register for the conference please use the following link: Registration for the conference. Attendance of the conference is free.

Conference Agenda

Available mid February 2025

Book of Abstracts

Available after the conference

Organizing Committee

Prof. Jessica Lamond

Co-chair of the Conference

Professor in Real Estate and Climate Risk; College Dean of Research and Enterprise, College of Arts, Technology and Environment; Co-Director of the Centre for Architecture and Built Environment, UWE Bristol

Jessica is currently Professor in Real Estate and Climate Risk at the University of the West of England and co-Director of the centre for Architecture and Built Environment at UWE, Bristol. Her research interests include the fields of flood and climate risk management, real estate, land and property valuation and land management and she has recently led projects for a wide variety of funders including EPSRC, DFID, Defra, RICS and Flood Re. Jessica led the land planning and management of the DFID funded Urbanisation Research Nigeria research programme which spanned land planning and registration, climate resilience, municipal service delivery and valuation of urban development.

At LINK Jessica is responsible for the Research stream. If you are interested, please e-mail jessica.lamond@uwe.ac.uk, visit Jessica’s UWE page or visit our Research page.

Robin Bloch

Co-chair of the Conference

Urban Development and Planning Specialist, Visiting Professor at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

Robin Bloch is an urban planner who specialises in spatial and land use planning and management at all territorial scales, in local economic and industrial development, and in environmental management, sustainability and urban resilience, with emphasis on flood risk management. He has a 35-year planning career with experience from over 30 countries across four continents, leading diverse teams for the majority of multilateral and bilateral development partners. These teams have worked with a wide range of counterparts and  stakeholders at municipal, regional and national government levels, as well as those within the private and community sectors. He is a Visiting Professor at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.

Prof. Chryssy Potsiou

National Technical University of Athens, Greece

Professor Chryssy Potsiou is teaching Cadastre and Land Management, Property Valuation and BIM at the School of Rural, Surveying & Geoinformatics Engineers of the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. Having served the International Federation of Surveyors as Commission Chair (2007-2019), Vice President (2011-2014), and President (2015-2018), she is now an Honorary President of the organization. She currently is a bureau member of UNECE/Working Party on Land Administration. She has cooperated as a consultant with the World Bank and the Norwegian Mapping Agency for the compilation of research on Land Administration and on the formalization of informal settlements in the UNECE region. She served as a member of the board of directors at the Hellenic Mapping and Cadastre Organization and the agency responsible for the implementation of the Hellenic Cadastre, Hellenic Association of Rural and Surveying Engineers, as well as the Hellenic Societies for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, and for Geographic Information Systems. She currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the UN GGIM Academic Network (2023-2024). To learn more about Chryssy see: http://users.ntua.gr/cpotsiou/

Dr Lorenzo Cotula

Head of the Law, Economies and Justice Programme, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Lorenzo Cotula is the Head of the Law, Economies and Justice Programme at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Lorenzo’s research and policy work cuts across land and natural resource governance; international investment; transnational value chains; human rights; and legal empowerment, citizen agency and public accountability. Before joining IIED in 2002, Lorenzo worked as a research consultant to the Legal Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). He holds a degree in law (Sapienza University of Rome), an MSc in Development Studies (London School of Economics), a PhD in law (University of Edinburgh) and a PgCert in Sustainable Business (University of Cambridge).

Grazyna Wiejak-Roy

Senior Lecturer in Urban Economics and Real Estate, UWE Bristol

Grazyna is a Senior Lecturer in Urban Economics and Real Estate at the School of Architecture and Environment at the University of the West of England. Her teaching centres around real estate finance, investment, and strategy. Her research is on investment strategies, transaction risk, the changing nature of the retail real estate market and land management. She carries nearly 20 years of experience in real estate consultancy gained at EY, PwC, and KPMG in the UK, Europe and Australia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Chartered Valuation Surveyor, RICS assessor, past member of RICS governing bodies in Poland and Australia, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She holds MA in Economics, MSc in Property Appraisal and Management and PGCert in Academic Practice.

At LINK Grazyna is responsible for the Education and Professional Development stream. If you are interested, please e-mail grazyna.wiejak-roy@uwe.ac.uk or visit our Education Page.

Heba Fekry

Urban Planner, Regional Office for Arab States, UN-Habitat

Heba specialises in regional & urban development, land governance and program management. Since 2006, Heba had the opportunity to work with the private sector, national governments, and international organizations on urban planning and management, international cooperation, programs development, fund raising, data analysis, emergency response, and research. Her work and research cover different continents and regions; specifically Europe, Africa and West & Central Asia. She holds bachelor in urban & regional planning and three master degrees; in GIS & remote sensing, urban management and development, and entrepreneurship & innovation management. She is currently conducting her PhD research on land governance.

Prof. Maxwell Mutema

Land expert

Maxwell holds a PhD (Reading University in land management and economics), Masters (Agribusiness Management; and Agriculture and Food Industries, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester). On behalf of World Bank, Africa Development Bank, UN-FAO, UNDP,  EU, DFID, USAID, DAI, ORGUT UK,UNECA and TECHNOSERVE Inc and alike Maxwell has completed several high-profile assignments on different facets of land and agribusiness in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He has supervised several postgraduate students and is currently a student mentor at the University of Reading. He is a prolific writer on land and agribusiness-related issues and has participated in various roles at the World Bank Annual Land Conferences in Washington, DC.

James Kavanagh

Director of Land and Resources, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

James, MRICS C.Geog is a Chartered Surveyor & Chartered Geographer. James is head of Land & Resources with The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). James is chair of the International Land Standard (ILMS) Coalition, Secretary General of CASLE (Commonwealth Association of Surveyors and Land Economists) and vice chair of FIG Commission 9. James is working on further research, insight, and standards on issues of valuation within informal settlements, on customary land issues, land acquisition and compensation, and the process of land and property rights formalisation.

Esther Obaikol

Land Governance Expert

A Ugandan lawyer with thirty-one (31) years of accumulated work experience in with twenty (20) years in leadership positions at national, regional, and global levels. Esther has twenty-six (26) years’ experience in land governance, twenty-one (21) years in piloting innovations in gender, land, and tenure security, sixteen (16) years’ experience in organizational development & management, partnership, and network building; and five (5) years’ experience in environmental governance focusing on legal and social research, monitoring and evaluation, and policy advocacy. Esther currently works as the Deputy Team Leader/Gender and Institutional reform Specialist for Land Equity International’s Land and Gender Project in Maseru Lesotho as well as the Gender and Land Lead in the FCDO’s Decision Support Unit to the Land Facility.

Geoffrey Payne

Geoffrey Payne & Associates, UK

Geoffrey Payne is a housing and urban development consultant with more than five decades of experience covering all regions of the world. His consultancy, Geoffrey Payne and Associates has undertaken research, consultancy and capacity building assignments for the World Bank, UN-Habitat and other international development agencies, governments and academic institutions. He has published widely and his latest book (‘Somewhere to Live: Rising to the global urban land and housing challenge’, Practical Action Publishing, 2022) addresses these issues in the context of increasing inequality and the climate crisis.

Presentations and Recordings

Will be available after the conference

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