Abstract
Existing studies on blockchain within land administration have focused mainly on replacing or complementing the technology for land registration and titling. This study explores the potential of using blockchain technology to enhance the transparency of all land administration processes using an integrative review methodology coupled with a framework analysis. This study draws on the Ghanaian land administration perspective to make this insightful. It appears possible to apply a permissionless public blockchain across all land administration processes. This integrates all departments, processes, and stakeholders of land administration to enhance openness, improve availability and accessibility to information, and foster participation for transparency simultaneously. This can change the transparency variation in land administration to be more equal and homogenous regardless of land type. This, however, depends on the standardization of processes across the divisions, as well as negotiation and consensus amongst all stakeholders, especially with chiefs. Limitations include: limited storage and scalability, as well as huge electricity consumption for operation. This study’s policy implications are a review of all paper-based land transactions, a comprehensive digitization of land administration processes, public–private partnership on blockchain-based land administration, and professionals and stakeholder education on the technology.
Highlights
Land administration involves ‘the process of determining, recording and disseminating information about the relationship between people and land’ [1] (p. 2), [2]
Through this network, which is made of computers that operate on a blockchain system to execute transactions and are termed as ‘Nodes’, blockchain technology works, based on what is technically referred to as ‘Blocks and Hashes’
This paper aimed to identify the essential elements and relations between the blockchain technology and transparency of land administration in the existing literature, and to assess the potential of blockchain to improve the transparency of land administration processes—based on the context from Ghana
Summary
Land administration involves ‘the process of determining, recording and disseminating information about the relationship between people and land’ [1] (p. 2), [2]. UNECE defined it as involving the recording and dissemination of information about ownership, value and the use of land, as well as the associated resources, while implementing the land management policies [3] This relationship between people and land, and the functions performed with regard to ownership, value and the use of land require transparency. Land administration transparency enables landowners and prospective purchasers to know the exact status of their land rights and interests, as well as the relation that they have with other individuals concerning pieces of land. This enhances peoples’ confidence to invest in land which improves economic conditions [9]. Transparency is noted as one of the key principles for good land governance [10]
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