By Cadasta Staff
Land rights are not invisible because they don’t exist. They are invisible because the systems meant to recognize them were never designed to capture how communities understand and govern their land.
On April 8th, Cadasta and Esri brought together practitioners, technologists, and land governance experts to examine what it takes to close that gap between formal systems and the reality on the ground.
Led by experts from both organizations, the conversation spanned geospatial technology design and implementation, as well as the governance structures needed to ensure community-generated data can be recognized and used to shape decisions and policies. What emerged from the discussion was a clearer picture of how to bridge the gap between local knowledge and formal systems, and why technology alone is not enough.
The Real Gap Isn’t Data. It’s Connection.
Across contexts, community knowledge exists in many forms, such as sketch maps, oral histories, spreadsheets, and local records. But these forms rarely translate into systems that governments or institutions can use.
Billions of people globally still lack secure, documented land and resource rights, and much of the world’s tenure reality remains effectively invisible to formal systems. This invisibility has consequences. It limits legal recognition, weakens planning, and increases vulnerability to displacement, especially as climate and land-use pressures intensify. Closing the gap is not just about collecting better data. It is about connecting systems that were never designed to work together.
That disconnect is not just technical, it’s structural.
From Participation to Integration
Participatory mapping is not new. What is changing is how that data is collected, structured, validated, and used.
Cadasta and Esri demonstrated how partners are:
- Mapping in low-connectivity environments
- Digitizing and standardizing community data
- Integrating that data into geospatial systems that institutions can recognize
- Producing outputs that support planning, investment, and legal processes
This “ground to cloud” process requires more than tools. It depends on alignment across workflows, institutions, and governance frameworks. Effective systems are fit-for-purpose, trust-centered, inclusive, and interoperable. They are designed to adapt across contexts rather than enforce rigid standards.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Examples from Cadasta’s work grounded the discussion.
Through the Strengthening Land and Forest Rights Program, 13 partners across 12 countries have documented millions of hectares and supported formal recognition processes.
In Belize, Maya communities used participatory mapping to document boundaries, resources, and cultural sites, producing data that supports governance and legal engagement.
This work is inherently iterative, involving learning, collecting, analyzing, and ultimately using data to advocate and engage. It is not just about digitization, but about connecting data to decision-making.
A similar approach is now being applied beyond forests to coastal systems, or “Blue Commons.” These areas are critical to livelihoods and ecosystems, but often even less formally documented. New workflows that combine geospatial analysis with AI-supported tools are helping partners monitor change and manage tenure at scale.
From Projects to Systems
The implications are practical. As governments, funders, and institutions invest in climate resilience, conservation, and development, the quality and usability of land data will shape what gets funded, protected, and prioritized. Systems that cannot incorporate community-generated data will continue to produce incomplete and inequitable outcomes.
The work ahead is not just about expanding access to tools. It is about building systems that are trusted, interoperable, and designed to reflect how land is actually understood and governed.
The promise of moving from ground to cloud is not just about better maps; it is about better decisions about land, resources, and the future they support.
Watch the webinar recording here.