Land Grab

=<ul helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" text-align="text-align" center="center" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="hidden-xs" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 23px; line-height: 1.33;">=</li><li class="hidden-xs" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 23px; line-height: 1.33;"><a href="https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/blog/land-unchained">https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/blog/land-unchained</a></li><li class="hidden-xs" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 23px; line-height: 1.33;">...Challenging the Assumptions of Blockchain Land TitlingMost of the land on the planet is not registered under a system of private titles. Globally, up to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://rightsandresources.org/wp-content/uploads/GlobalBaseline_web.pdf" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">65 percent of land<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" background-position="background-position" px="px" center="center" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a> is governed by local communities or Indigenous People through collective or customary tenure systems. Across the Global South, land registries are often incomplete, as governments only recognize a fraction of these lands under customary systems, officially demarcating them as government-owned, public land. So while <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.landesa.org/who-we-are/" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">three quarters of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas where land is a key asset, over a billion of these people<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" background-position="background-position" px="px" center="center" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a> lack legal documents formalizing their ownership of the land. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.landesa.org/what-we-do/sub-saharan-africa/" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">90 percent<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" background-position="background-position" px="px" center="center" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a> of rural land is not formally documented. This lack of formal documentation is however not seen as a problem for many, who consider land – like water – as a common good, with high social and cultural values, that must be shared and preserved for current and future generations.For blockchain technology to be used in the administration of land, claims over land ownership first would have to be determined, documented, and verified. The World Bank, one of the major proponents of the use of blockchain for land registration, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/keeping-it-clean-can-blockchain-change-nature-land-registry-developing-countries" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">claims<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" background-position="background-position" px="px" center="center" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a> that countries without the required records need simply to “clean up” their registry in order to make blockchain work. However, this “clean up” is a much larger and more expensive undertaking than suggested by the Bank, given it requires “documenting” rights in the first instance, demarcating parcel boundaries,resolving disputes, and, establishing the necessary procedures and laws for a“modern” land administration infrastructure. As recently as 2018, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-landrights-technology/technology-holds-promise-but-no-silver-bullet-for-land-rights-world-bank-idUSKBN1GW0CC" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">only a third of all countries<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" background-position="background-position" px="px" center="center" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a> – including just two in Sub Saharan Africa – maintained land records digitally. In many countries where legal institutions are weak or susceptible to corruption, the process of formalizing ownership claims through individual titles can do <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.prindex.net/reports/global-perceptions-tenure-security-looking-beyond-formalisation-property-rights/" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">little to improve tenure security<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" background-position="background-position" px="px" center="center" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a>, allow governments to solidify their claims to “vacant” land, and make it available for “investment,” as detailed in <a rel="noreferrer" href="https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/driving-dispossession" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Driving Dispossession</a>.Zambia, one of the most advanced countries in the application of blockchain technology for land titling is clearly on this path to privatization. At the time of independence in 1964, there was <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://landportal.org/library/resources/contestation-confusion-and-corruption" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">no private land in Zambia<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" background-position="background-position" px="px" center="center" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a>, with 94 percent of the country under customary tenure and the remaining six percent under state control. This started to change in the early 1990s, when the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) required the government to change <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/midcwp/229597.html" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">land laws towards privatization<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" background-position="background-position" px="px" center="center" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a> as a condition for the restructuring of its international debt.As a result of this and subsequent legal changes, Zambia saw a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/midcwp/229597.html" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">drastic reduction of customary land<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" background-position="background-position" px="px" center="center" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a>, from 94 percent to less than 60 percent today.This so-called formalization of land tenure resulted in shifting the control over land from people to the government, thereby making it available for lease to private interests. In the years after the <a rel="noreferrer" href="https://oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/driving-dispossession.pdf#page=11" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Lands Act</a> was passed, conversions of customary land to leasehold increased, displacement became common, and while investors reaped the benefits, local villagers suffered through <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.184.397&rep=rep1&type=pdf" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">“social and economic exclusion, elite capture, displacement, intra-community conflict, and the enclosure of common pool resources.”<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" background-position="background-position" px="px" center="center" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a><aside class="callout" style="box-sizing: inherit; position: relative; margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 1.5rem; border: 1px solid rgba(10, 10, 10, 0.25); border-radius: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; line-height: 1.25; margin-top: 0px !important;">Early Lessons from Blockchain Land Titling Raise Red Flags</h3>Despite the security that blockchain technology is supposed to provide, it assumes the information regarding ownership claims that is collected and entered is accurate. As they decide to introduce blockchain land titling programs, governments will be responsible for allocating significant resources and determining procedures to implement the technology in a way that ensures the information collected and entered is accurate and safeguarded from corruption.

The early lessons from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh’s blockchain titling program however reveal how corruption can still occur.<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://qz.com/india/1325423/indias-andhra-state-is-using-blockchain-to-build-capital-amaravati/" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;"> The program<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" px="px" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a>, which documented the land claims of 24,000 farmers across 22 villages, was hailed as cost-effective way of providing a tamper-proof, secure system to document land claims. While the technology itself has proven secure, farmers have raised the alarm that bribery to land registry offices continues and results in manipulated entries into the blockchain. An Andhra Pradesh government official estimated that nearly <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://qz.com/india/1325423/indias-andhra-state-is-using-blockchain-to-build-capital-amaravati/" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">US$700 million was paid in bribes across land registrars in India<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" px="px" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a> in 2017 alone. Similarly in Kenya, early efforts to implement blockchain titling have been <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2020/07/lands-ministry-preps-for-massive-ownership-disputes-as-transition-to-digital-lands-registry-begins/" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">delayed<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" px="px" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a> by numerous disputes over parcels of land with multiple titles and <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kenya-land-corruption/kenya-to-purge-land-ministry-of-corrupt-cartels-official-idUSKCN12C264" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">widespread corruption<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" px="px" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a> within the Ministry of Lands. Despite the theoretical ways blockchain can reduce corruption, technology alone will not overcome these entrenched governance issues as demonstrated by these early cases.

Lastly, the security offered by the technology is not absolute. While instances of blockchain security breaches are rare, they do still occur. In 2016, a high-profile Ethereum smart wallet was hacked. The target of the hack, known as DAO, had US$60 million worth of cryptocurrency assets frozen. Given the decentralized nature of the technology, no single registrar can fix the error, demonstrating that the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://cadasta.org/blockchain-for-land-administration-hype-or-substance/" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">impact of a hacked land registry<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: url(" sites="sites" all="all" modules="modules" extlink="extlink" images="images" extlink_s.png="extlink_s.png" px="px" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat" width="width" height="height" padding-right="padding-right">(link is external)</a> would be catastrophic....</aside></li><li class="hidden-xs" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 23px; line-height: 1.33;">Ultimately, shifting land registries to blockchain requires countries to move towards systems of private land ownership, which will require registration and digitalization. All of the 25 ongoing blockchain land projects around the world are focused on providing individual titles to land while ignoring the millions of hectares managed under customary or collective tenure systems. Thus, blockchain does nothing to help countries that maintain communal land systems and who have abstained from privatizing land and instead encourages countries to move towards individual, private land ownership. The process of transferring land away from customary systems to facilitate blockchain private titles risks further marginalizing disadvantaged groups and allowing wealthy and powerful interests to access and solidify their claims to land that does not belong to them...</li><li class="hidden-xs" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 23px; line-height: 1.33;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.65em;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Instead of protecting land rights for communities, blockchain titling programs are actually geared towards promoting private investment. While the process of transitioning land registries onto blockchain ignores customary tenure systems, it opens the door to corruption, and can lead to dispossession, it simplifies the process of acquiring land for companies and therefore “unlocks the economic potential of land” for the private sector.This motivation was made explicitly clear in Zambia. In 2018, the Zambian government signed a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/07/31/1544696/0/en/Overstock-com-Subsidiary-Medici-Land-Governance-Signs-MOU-with-Zambian-Ministry-of-Land-and-Natural-Resources-to-Build-Blockchain-Land-Titling-Program.html" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">memorandum of understanding (MOU)<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a> with Medici Land Governance (MLG), a blockchain company and subsidiary of the US-based online retailer Overstock.com, to “develop a program for systematic land governance within the country.” MLG’s initial <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://investors.overstock.com/news-releases/news-release-details/medici-land-governance-signs-mou-lusaka-city-zambia-develop-and" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">project<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a> used blockchain to create and digitize land titles and issued 50,000 titles“to serve as proof of concept for a systematic, streamlined process to scale up the country’s land titling program.”<blockquote class="row" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0.5625rem 1.25rem 0px 1.1875rem; border: 0px; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 75rem;">
<div class="small-12 medium-7 large-9 column" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0.9375rem; width: 623.25px; float: right;">“There are also trillions of dollars in value in global mineral reserves that cannot be accessed by the mining firms…where land governance is not clearly established.”<cite style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block;">Patrick Byrne, Former CEO, Overstock.com, July 15, 2019</cite></div></blockquote>Less than a year later, the company <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://investors.overstock.com/news-releases/news-release-details/medici-land-governance-signs-mou-lusaka-city-zambia-develop-and" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">signed a second MOU<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a>, this time with the Lusaka City Council, to issue “no fewer than 250,000 certificates of title” to people living in Zambia’s capital.As expressed by its former CEO Patrick Byrne, Overstock.com’s interest in land titling is closely tied to the World Bank’s motto that private property rights can help unlock the economic potential of land. In communications with investors, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/07/15/1882578/0/en/Overstock-com-Releases-Letter-to-Shareholders-from-CEO-Patrick-M-Byrne.html" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Byrne cited<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a> “trillions of dollars in value in global mineral reserves that cannot be accessed by mining firms” due to unclear land governance systems. The explicit goal is that private titles will allow mining companies to enter into agreements with landowners to exploit vast natural resources, and ensure that the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/07/15/1882578/0/en/Overstock-com-Releases-Letter-to-Shareholders-from-CEO-Patrick-M-Byrne.html" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">wealth extracted through mining<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a> is enjoyed by land rights holders and corporations. Under this scenario, Overstock.com would also benefit financially from unlocking this “dead capital,” though exactly how this will be negotiated remains unknown.What is known in terms of revenue models is that in Zambia, the company expects to receive a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/07/15/1882578/0/en/Overstock-com-Releases-Letter-to-Shareholders-from-CEO-Patrick-M-Byrne.html" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">cut of the tax revenues generated<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a> through government land titling and the resulting increase in taxes. In addition, Byrne has <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://investors.overstock.com/static-files/d0b6975d-88be-4fa6-8f9a-4d6056686454#page=8" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">commented<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a> that donor countries pay healthy sums for land titling projects,suggesting that international development aid dollars could potentially support MLG’s efforts globally.This motivation to benefit the private sector is shared by many of the blockchain startups that have been engaged in land titling projects. Seso Global <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.pulse.ng/bi/tech/how-seso-global-plans-to-unlock-dollar100-billion-trapped-in-nigerias-real-estate/0z2epv5" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">plans to<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a> “unlock US$100 billion trapped in Nigeria’s real estate market using blockchain technology”while in the United Arab Emirates, Tech Mahindra’s project to shift the land registry onto blockchain <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.techmahindra.com/en-in/dpm-abu-dhabi-and-techmahindra-launch-blockchain-solution-for-land-registry/" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">promises to<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a> “create value which can bring benefits to citizens and multiple entities associated with municipalities (like property developers, banks).”The day after MLG signed its first MOU in Zambia, it also <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/08/01/1545744/0/en/Overstock-com-Blockchain-Subsidiary-Medici-Land-Governance-Signs-Agreement-with-World-Bank-to-Enhance-Access-to-Secure-Land-Rights-in-Developing-Countries.html" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">penned an agreement with the World Bank<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a> to collaborate in other countries to “support the design, implementation, and evaluation of pilot programs that will create systems to ensure secure land tenure.” The Bank’s lead economist on land issues, Klaus Deininger, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/08/01/1545744/0/en/Overstock-com-Blockchain-Subsidiary-Medici-Land-Governance-Signs-Agreement-with-World-Bank-to-Enhance-Access-to-Secure-Land-Rights-in-Developing-Countries.html" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">commented<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a>: “Joining forces with MLG allows the Bank to provide client countries access to cutting edge technology, work with the countries on adapting the technology to their context, and then document the impact of the updated process. We are excited about the opportunities this collaboration offers us to generate transformative innovations and make the case for greater public and private investment in an area that is key for development.” <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://investors.overstock.com/static-files/d0b6975d-88be-4fa6-8f9a-4d6056686454#page=8" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">According to Byrne<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a>, the Bank is now helping open doors for blockchain-based land titling “all over the world.” However, details of the partnership with Overstock.com remain confidential and have not been made public by the World Bank. The World Bank’s Access to Information Department was “unable to fulfill” the Oakland Institute’s request for information regarding the partnership and other ongoing blockchain land titling projects.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0.5rem 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; line-height: 1.25;">Exploiting More Natural Resources or Preserving the Commons</h2>The Bank’s involvement in facilitating blockchain titling contradicts its commitment to safeguarding customary tenure systems that have <a rel="noreferrer" href="https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/driving-dispossession.pdf#page=31" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">been shown in many cases</a> to provide tenure security and safeguard natural resources. In a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/652011571234169196/EBA-2019-About-the-Data-on-Safeguards-for-Land-Rights.pdf" data-extlink="" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; box-shadow: rgb(215, 190, 142) 0px -2px 0px inset;">2019 paper<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link is external)</a>, the World Bank itself acknowledged that “customary land has proven to be highly resilient, continuous and flexible” and that safeguarding [customary land] rights should be a “development priority.” Despite this statement, the Bank’s programs facilitating blockchain titling continue to directly undermine customary and collective forms of land governance, putting millions at risk of losing their land and livelihoods.As demonstrated by the Zambia case, shifting land registries onto blockchain is a part of the broader move to “unlock the economic potential of land” in order to put more land and natural resources into exploitation by private interests. While implementing the technology can be attractive to corporate interests eager to access land, it can be a tool of dispossession for those whose livelihoods depend on land governed under customary tenure systems. As a number of governments consider applying blockchain to land titling, they must understand and pay heed to the true motivations and implications of this technology. <a href="https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/about/people/andy-currier" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">Andy Currier</a></div></div></div><div about="/about/people/andy-currier" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document" class="ds-2col node node-team-member view-mode-author_blog_profile clearfix" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 2em 0px 0px; padding: 1em; border: 1px solid rgba(169, 133, 60, 0.25);"><section class="group-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 696.656px; float: right; padding-right: 0.9375rem; padding-left: 0.9375rem;"><div class="field field-name-field-member-email" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="mailto:acurrier@oaklandinstitute.org" data-extlink="" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">acurrier@oaklandinstitute.org<span class="mailto" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: -20px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 10px; height: 10px; padding-right: 12px;">(link sends e-mail)</a></div><a href="https://twitter.com/ndycurrier" target="_blank" data-extlink="" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">@ndycurrier<span class="ext" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: url("/sites/all/modules/extlink/images/extlink_s.png"); background-position: 2px center; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; width: 1px; height: 1px; padding-right: 12px; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); position: absolute !important;">(link is external)</a><div class="field field-name-body" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Andy is a Research Associate supporting the Institute’s work on land rights, food sovereignty and international development.</div></section></div></li><li class="hidden-xs" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 23px; line-height: 1.33;">=</li></ul>=The <a href="http://www.upworthy.com/can-you-believe-coke-and-pepsi-are-desperate-enough-to-stoop-so-low" style="text-decoration: none;">latest Oxfam video campaign</a> has taken aim at the biggest giants in the sugar industry, accusing them of massive land grabs and the displacement of poor farmers across the world.“The companies that supply your favorite food brands with sugar may be kicking poor farmers off their lands and out of their homes...Tell Coca-Cola, Pepsi Co and Associated British Foods to make sure their sugar doesn’t lead to land grabs," demands Oxfam in the new video.The culprits  -- Coca-Cola, Pepsi Co. and Associated British Foods -- are combined known as "the Big Three." At least one member of the trio has taken notice of the viral video campaign: Coke recently declared that it would make sure its sugar production doesn't lead to land grabs.Now that Coke has taken action, the focus has shifted to rival Pepsi with campaigners urging the giant corporation to commit to zero tolerance for land grabs ahead of their shareholder-filing deadline.