Individualization of tenure through title registration programmes introduced in many African countries after independence with the promise of security of tenure and increased agricultural ...productivity has, instead, had the opposite effect. Informal land arrangements continue to emerge as a result of the slow pace of land adjudication (formalization) and updating of land information systems. The trend towards computerization of land information systems has only put focus on already existing formal land tenure arrangements, leaving out the informal social tenure arrangements. As a result, there are now many efforts worldwide motivated by the introduction of the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM), and freely-available and easy-to-use technology tools to identify, document and map land in support of informal land administration arrangements. Actions are made towards the use of community-generated information to support land administration. Using theories from the interplay between formal and informal institutions, this paper discusses the potential outcomes in adopting Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) in land administration in Kenya. Two case studies are presented that demonstrate the complementary-accommodating, versus the substitutive-competing approaches. These are then compared with the formal land adjudication process in Kenya. It is established that because of the direct involvement of the national mapping agency in land adjudication where VGI is utilized, the outcome is a case of formal adoption of VGI, while in the other case, where there is little or no involvement by the national mapping agency, the outcome is more of competition and substitution. The latter is an example in which the VGI is used just like any other information to inform policy making, rather than taking it as the authoritative source. We argue that since informality is – and will always be – part and parcel of land administration in many African countries as a result of ingrained social relations and power structures, adopting crowdsourced land information into existing formal land administration systems should consider the particular land administration process, satisfying innate demands and requirements, thus re-engineered to accommodate VGI.
The crowdsourced OpenStreetMap mapping platform is utilized by countless stakeholders worldwide for various purposes and applications. Individuals, researchers, governments, commercial, and ...humanitarian organizations, in addition to the engineers, professionals, and technical developers, use OpenStreetMap both as data contributors and consumers. The storage, usage, and integration of volunteered geographical data in software applications often create complex ethical dilemmas and values regarding the relationships between different categories of stakeholders. It is therefore common for moral preferences of stakeholders to be neglected. This paper investigates the integration of ethical values in OpenStreetMap using the value sensitive design methodology that examines technical, empirical, and conceptual aspects at each design stage. We use the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, an existing volunteered geographic information initiative, as a case study. Our investigation shows that although OpenStreetMap does integrate ethical values in its organizational structure, a deeper understanding of its direct and indirect stakeholders' perspectives is still required. This study is expected to assist organizations that contribute to or use OpenStreetMap in recognizing and preserving existing and important ethical values. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to evaluate ethical values methodically and comprehensively in the design process of the OpenStreetMap platform.
The accelerated exploration of sub-surface mineral resources across much of Africa has created the need for proper administration of sub-surface land rights. The trend world-wide is a separate ...cadastre for mining. The reasons advanced for this separation are: the relatively short-term (issued as leases) nature of the mining rights, the mining laws relate exclusively to the right of exploiting minerals and are not modifying the property right; the boundaries of these rights are not linked to the limits of the "property" rights; the need for independence of decision regarding minerals and mining. The link between the mining and surface property cadastre is established during the application process of the mining license, the consent from the owners of the surface land rights is required. The land in question is then identified in relation to the cadastral coordinates defining the mineral right area and this information is kept in the mining cadastre.
The accelerated exploration of sub-surface mineral resources across much of Africa has created the need for proper administration of sub-surface land rights. The trend world-wide is a separate ...cadastre for mining. The reasons advanced for this separation are: the relatively short-term (issued as leases) nature of the mining rights, the mining laws relate exclusively to the right of exploiting minerals and are not modifying the property right; the boundaries of these rights are not linked to the limits of the "property" rights; the need for independence of decision regarding minerals and mining. The link between the mining and surface property cadastre is established during the application process of the mining license, the consent from the owners of the surface land rights is required. The land in question is then identified in relation to the cadastral coordinates defining the mineral right area and this information is kept in the mining cadastre.
Kenya’s vulnerability to climate variability and change has been compounded by dependence on rain-fed agriculture with constrained capacity to adapt, a rapidly growing population, low-mechanized and ...low-input smallholder agricultural systems, and compromised soil fertility. The Ukraine war, COVID-19 and the desert locust invasion have only amplified the prevailing sensitivity to shocks in the agriculture sector, creating an emphasis on the need to strengthen local agricultural production to reduce reliance on imports. This paper seeks to assess the opportunities for improving agriculture adaptation and resilience based on future expected changes in climate, length of the growing period and agro-ecologies. The study uses 2020 as the baseline year and explores changes in agro-ecological zones (AEZs) in “near future” 2040 through two representative concentration pathways, 4.5 and 8.5, representing a medium carbon emissions and a dire emissions future, respectively. Google Earth Engine and R Statistics are used in data-processing. Down-scaled climate projections from CIMP5 are used for future analyses combined with static soil suitability and drainage data. Fuzzy logic is used to normalize inputs and compute the agro-ecological zones (AEZ). Interesting results emerge from the study that validate the hypothesis that the seasons and production potential are shifting. Lowland drylands will experience an increasingly long growing period, creating the potential for diversifying production systems from rangelands to agro-pastoral systems, with the capacity to grow more drought-resistant crops and the potential to take advantage of increased runoff for water harvesting. Midland highland areas, which form part of the food basket areas, have already started experiencing a reduction in the length of the growing period and agricultural potential. In these areas, resilience mechanisms will need to consider the expected future reduction in rain-fed agricultural potential, gendered preferences, convergence of technology and indigenous coping mechanisms, and drought-resilience-focused diversification.
The complexity of tenure claims in the informal settlements has been difficult to incorporate into the formal systems owing to their dynamic and continuously changing nature. Innovative tools are ...therefore required to capture these claims. This requires the development of a cadastral data model specifically for informal settlements that would document such claims to make it easier to manage the current situation as well as prepare for future formalization processes such as regularization or relocation. The main aim of this study was develop a typology of informal settlements in Kenya as a basis for developing a cadastral data model. A data model was developed based on the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) using open source geo-solution (SOLA). The model was found to be generally suitable for all the different informal settlement typologies.
