PRESS RELEASE: Cadasta Foundation Launches New Platform and Strategy to Put Land Rights on the Map

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Cadasta Foundation will launch its new mobile technology and strategy on the sidelines of the World Bank Land and Poverty Conference. The first version of the Cadasta platform successfully documented and strengthened the land, property and resource rights of over one million vulnerable people living in both rural and urban communities in 17 countries.

At the event, Cadasta’s Chief Executive Officer, partners, and donors Omidyar Network and UK Aid, will discuss how Cadasta’s new strategy and Esri-powered platform and tools will help document and map the land rights of 8 million people in 30 countries by 2022.

The event will premier a new video and provide demo stations that show how Cadasta’s mobile applications and platform help vulnerable communities, governments, and civil society easily and securely document and map crucial land rights data.

Commenting on the launch event and Cadasta’s new technology partnership with Esri, Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president said, “Cadasta’s methods help communities and governments leapfrog the challenges imposed by traditional land administration systems. With their flexible and simple solutions, Cadasta’s tools enable partners to quickly and cheaply collect data and imagery to document land and property.”

Cadasta’s partnership with Esri ensures that Cadasta’s platform and tools are more secure and scalable while giving partners powerful tools to analyze and share their information.

Recent studies estimate that 70 percent of land in the developing world is undocumented, leaving more than a fourth of the world’s population vulnerable to conflict, evictions and encroachment.

“The issue of land and resource rights is becoming more urgent every day,” said Cadasta CEO Amy Coughenour Betancourt. “Over 1.5 billion people feel insecure about their land tenure. Cadasta’s new strategy and innovative platform are powerful tools to advance land rights and to change the way things are being done, which is not working for the majority. We look forward to forging new partnerships that lead to more secure, productive, and sustainable futures for vulnerable communities across the globe.”

At the World Bank Conference, Cadasta analysts are presenting on their work in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the team successfully mapped and documented 3,000 parcels of land and more than 17,000 people using participatory methods to revive a defunct irrigation scheme and improve agricultural production in an area historically plagued with conflict.

Cadasta staff will also be presenting a paper and hosting a Masterclass about their involvement in a project in the Indian state of Odisha, where the state government and Tata Trusts, a prominent national foundation, used Cadasta software to document the property rights of more than 525,000 people who live in the slums of some of the country’s fastest growing cities.

Using Cadasta’s data collection tools, the project surveyed households in person so that residents did not have to miss a single day of work to go a government office. The data collected on Cadasta’s tools is being used by the state government of Odisha to grant official certificates of land occupancy to the residents as well as make crucial urban planning decisions, including expanding roads to allow for emergency services, installing piped water and other infrastructure, and putting in street lamps and community spaces to make it safer and more liveable.

About Cadasta Foundation:

Founded in 2015, Cadasta Foundation is a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit that develops and promotes the use of simple digital tools and technology to help partners efficiently document, analyze, store, and share critical land and resource rights information.

By creating an accessible digital record of land, property, and resource rights, we help empower individuals, communities, organizations, governments, and businesses with the information they need to make data-driven decisions and put vulnerable communities and their needs on the map.

For more information about Cadasta’s work visit: https://cadasta.org/

About Esri

Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, offers Esri Geospatial Cloud, the most powerful geospatial cloud available. Since 1969, Esri has helped customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Today, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations including the world’s largest cities, most national governments, 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial information technology, Esri engineers the most advanced solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. Visit us at esri.com.

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