Drone data has allowed us to find solutions for a wide range of social challenges, like humanitarian aid, resource conservation, resilient urban planning and many more. But as the field has expanded, three pressing issues have emerged:

1. how to produce impactful analysis in a rapid manner;
2. how to then bring back results to beneficiaries to turn data into action; and
3. how to make ethics a main concern in each step of the process.

NEW DELHI - A push to formalise land claims, map settlements and digitise records is not always in the best interests of vulnerable communities, and may even lead to greater rights abuses, analysts warned on Friday.

From Peru to the Philippines, governments are curtailing the rights of indigenous communities and forcibly resettling people in slums, land campaigners say, while mapping lands and digitising land records with the aim of increasing efficiency.

Monrovia – A three-day Experience and Lessons sharing workshop on a range of land tenure topics, including Land Administration Reforms, Customary Land Rights, Land Administration Systems, and Spatial Planning is being convened at a local hotel in Monrovia.

We are honored to announce that Omidyar Network has renewed its support of the Land Portal Foundation with an investment of $400,000 to support the integration and visualization of spatial data and the dissemination of SDG-related data and information, as well as provide core funding for institutional enhancement, over the next two years.

The Working Group 9.4 of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) gathers scholars and practitioners that deal with the issue
on how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) affects social development. The theme for the upcoming 2019 IFIP WG 9.4 conference is: “Strengthening Southern-driven cooperation as a catalyst for ICT4D”.

Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities are stewards of natural resources and nature. We have been conserving our territories for thousands of years. Each indigenous community has its own territory. For indigenous nomadic pastoralists our territory consists of summering grounds, wintering grounds, migration routes, stopovers and mid-way stations with different ecological, social, economic and cultural assets. These assets include forests, rangelands, wetlands, lakes, rivers, coasts, seas, and many other types of ecosystems and wildlife.

By: Chris Arsenault

Date: September 28th 2016

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation

BRASILIA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When George Porto joined Brazil's environment agency 13 years ago, the country didn't have access to satellite data on illegal logging -- let alone heat maps tracking deforestation patterns or gun-toting agents dedicated to stopping ecological crimes.

How times have changed.

By: Gabriella Mulligan
Date: September 23rd 2016
Source: BBC News

Farming can be a tough enough business at the best of times, but imagine not being able to prove that the land you farm is even yours.

In Ghana, for example, only 10% of smallholder farmers have any kind of certificate documenting their ownership rights.

By: Danica Lo

Date: September 23rd 2016

Source: Food and Wine

Crowdsourcing and contracts help smallholder farmers in Ghana and Kenya.

By: Ian Allison

Date: August 31st 2016

Source: International Business Times

Blockchain-based Bitland is looking to address the unregistered land issue in West Africa.

By: Dieter Lübeck
Date: August 29th 2016
Source: GIM International