Land Administration for Sustainable Development

Citation

Plimmer, F. (2011), "Land Administration for Sustainable Development", Property Management, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 324-324. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.2011.29.3.324.1

Land is much more than the earth we live on. The way land is administered can have a profound effect on social equality, economic growth, and environmental protection. We need well‐managed processes in land administration that ensure sustainable development.

With these words, this impressive and authoritative text is introduced to its readership. The text clearly explains the basics of land administration, the modern building systems, the development of Land Administration Systems (LAS) and its implementation. Issues of land markets, environmental and social concerns as well as resource management, poverty allegation, social equity and managing indigenous rights, all from a sustainable development perspective are covered here. There is a section on future trends, which offers advice to those jurisdictions seeking to develop such systems, as well as a review of the challenges ahead.

The authors are experienced and well known within international circles, and their land administration credentials are demonstrated by the breadth and depth of coverage of this work. They have between them focused on a range of land administration issues, including capacity building, land use, markets, and good governance as well as land administration per se. All of these (and very many more) are addressed in this book, in the context of land administration in a readable and comprehensive manner.

Institutional, policy and technical aspects of designing, building and managing an LAS are included, and while this may be somewhat specialist for some readers, it goes a long way to reinforce our understanding of what is necessary to underpin many of the systems which we often take for granted.

Indeed, that is something of the problem with land administration. Too many of us (particularly in well‐developed countries) tend to break it down into discrete component parts and fail to see (and appreciate) the wider picture – how a whole range of theories, principles, institutions and activities must come together to provide the physical, social and economic environment which we enjoy and which can be available for others. This book explains how such sustainable land administration systems can be available to everyone – adapted to suit the needs of individual jurisdictions.

The book is written for a wide audience – experts as well as non‐experts, teachers and students. It covers both theory and a “toolbox” of best practice approach in its aim to present the administration of land holistically.

The book concludes by emphasising the importance of land administration to a spatially enabled society, where “place” is key to organising information relating to a range of essential activities (e.g. health, transport, taxation and defence) as well as for the benefit of commerce and individual well being.

The authors are to be congratulated on this is important book – not just because of its subject matter, but also because of its accessibility, its breadth of coverage and because we all need an understanding and appreciation of such information to create a sustainable future for everyone.