Environment

Improved management of natural resources and important ecosystem services not only supports economic growth and strengthens resilience to climate change but also can provide the foundation for sustainable development.

Land Tenure and Property Rights

Secure property rights are a key to economic growth. Equitable access to land is the basis for pro-poor and socially inclusive economic growth, while competition for land often inflames tensions between different groups, resulting in conflict. In the context of climate change and population growth, with greater pressure on scarce resources, secure and equitable access to land is becoming increasingly important. As a result, the international development community is escalating its support for land-related programs around the world.

Over the past two decades, DAI has successfully worked with diverse set of international clients and development partners—including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the European Union, and private partners, to implement land tenure and property right (LTPR) projects worldwide. We’ve built our land practice by using cost-effective methodologies, working through and strengthening local institutions to regularize tenure while placing relevant stakeholders and beneficiaries front and center.

Deploying proven program management framework, we take an integrated approach that brings together:

  • Locally tailored interventions building on local practices and experience.
  • Pilot testing of innovative practices, which then allow for larger roll-out programs.
  • A commitment to ensure that the poor, women, and marginalized groups are included in every aspect of the program.

Our land tenure and property rights work includes securing property rights, policy and legal reforms and regularization, cadaster development, land record rehabilitation and management, land information systems, institution building and information dissemination, participatory land use and resource planning, dispute resolution and mitigation, training, research and communications, and grants management.

DAI holds an indefinite-quantity contract with USAID—Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights (STARR)—through which DAI and specialist partners provide land tenure and property rights services to USAID and its government, private sector, and nonprofit partners around the world. DAI tenure specialists carry out cutting-edge research on the impacts of tenure interventions on economic development, equity, and social stability. We are also a leading provider of land services to the U.K. government, with a successful portfolio of work in Africa and the Caribbean.

For more about our work in this field, see the Land Rights issue of Developing Alternatives.

Our Experts


Kevin Carlucci is a development professional with more than 20 years of experience across a diverse set of disciplines, including finance, natural resource management, economic policy reform, and emerging market economic development.

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Daniel Evans is an environmental scientist, project manager, and international development specialist focused on climate, land, and natural resource management.

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Erin Hespe Cudworth is a development professional with more than 15 years of experience across a diverse set of disciplines, including climate adaptation and mitigation; environmental compliance; private sector engagement and co-creation; and monitoring, evaluation, and learning.

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John Leckie is a land and resource governance professional with more than 22 years of international project experience in Europe, Africa, Central, and Southeast Asia, and South America.

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Christy Owen is a development professional with more than 25 years of experience in the areas of natural resource management, climate finance, private sector engagement, climate adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and governance.

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Our Projects


Zambia—EU Support to the National Land Audit

The Support to the National Land Audit project in Zambia supports the design and implementation of the National Land Audit, working with the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to develop and test audit methodologies that will then be implemented in select districts.

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Pakistan—Land Registration in Merged Areas (LRMA) Activity

The Land Registration in Merged Areas Activity is establishing a land record and registration system in seven districts of northwestern Pakistan so that citizens, families, landowners, investors, banks, and government actors have access to accurate, understandable, and current records of their land rights.

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Tajikistan—Feed the Future Agriculture and Land Governance (ALG)

Feed the Future Tajikistan Agriculture and Land Governance Activity assists the government to sustainably reduce hunger, undernutrition, and poverty among smallholder farmers by developing more productive and efficient agriculture systems, building the resilience of smallholders, and improving the enabling environment to facilitate sustainable and long-term, ag-led growth.

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