Land Property Research Articles

Rights of nature, indigenous communities and land property: legal perspectives from Latin America

Abstract This article presents some dialogues between the recognition of rights of nature, indigenous communities and land property rights in the context of Latin American legal innovations in recent years. To do so this paper is framed within a socio-legal perspective that involves the analysis of a corpus of documents made up of regulatory texts at national and local level, including constitutions, laws, and ordinances related to the topics as well as relevant court rulings.

The economics of pandemics: Some useful lessons from the past

The mortality crisis induced by historical pandemics has had relevant effects. It expressed a regulatory role in the balance between population and available resources. It reduced the human capital available to work, making greater its bargaining capacity, resulting in an increase in wages. The disappearance of some of the landowners favoured a process of unification of landed properties and a concentration of wealth. The regulatory function of economic processes fostered by the mortality crisis is attenuated with the start of the Industrial Revolution, to the point of almost extinguishing itself in today's pandemic crisis. This notwithstanding, the strategies to combat mortality impose high economic costs and intervene to alter the functionality of a globalized economy. Pandemics continue to represent an element of caesura between historical periods, with a clear distinction between a before and an after. This article describes past pandemics and identifies possible lessons that can be drawn in the economic field from those events, being aware of how distant our connected and globalized world is from those times. Covid-19 has so far caused the deaths of more than two million people. In relative terms the figure is very low in comparison to previous pandemics. The much lower mortality is matched by an incomparable economic damage.

Are Prevailing Policy Tools Effective in Conserving Ecosystem Services Under Individual Private Tenure? Challenges and Policy Gaps in a Rapidly Urbanizing Region

Forestlands worldwide provide vital ecosystem services (ES) essential for human well-being yet are facing rising threats from land-use/land-cover change. Land ownership patterns and property rights significantly influence land management practices and the protection of ES. Family forest owners (FFOs) are the targets of numerous conservation policies and programs, many of which are built around economic incentives and market-based instruments. This study combines a mail-administered survey with land use-land cover change modeling results to better understand whether FFOs plan to convert their properties, what motivates FFOs to adopt prevailing policies, and what other conservation policy models might be attractive. Our research focuses on FFOs whose parcels are identified as having high conservation values in a rapidly urbanizing watershed. Survey results show strong motivations among FFOs to protect biodiversity, wildlife habitat, and ES while expressing concerns about property taxes, regulations, and land-use threats. Our analysis indicates a relationship between anticipated land transfers or residential development and predicting factors including parcel size, government regulations, and tax concerns. Results reveal a gap between the design of existing conservation programs and FFOs’ interest in adoption. Limited interest in conservation easements and carbon markets underscores the need for more flexible conservation tools aligned with landowner preferences. Moreover, FFOs’ considerable awareness of existing conservation programs, alongside ongoing forest loss in the study region, underscores enrollment obstacles such as minimum-size eligibility requirements, thereby highlighting inadequacy of current frameworks in incentivizing long-term conservation outcomes. The findings from the studied watershed may have broader relevance for regions with similar land ownership patterns, land use dynamics, and political contexts worldwide.

Modulating metal-centered dimerization of a lanthanide chaperone protein for separation of light lanthanides

Elucidating details of biology's selective uptake and trafficking of rare earth elements, particularly the lanthanides, has the potential to inspire sustainable biomolecular separations of these essential metals for myriad modern technologies. Here, we biochemically and structurally characterize Methylobacterium (Methylorubrum) extorquens LanD, a periplasmic protein from a bacterial gene cluster for lanthanide uptake. This protein provides only four ligands at its surface-exposed lanthanide-binding site, allowing for metal-centered protein dimerization that favors the largest lanthanide, LaIII. However, the monomer prefers NdIII and SmIII, which are disfavored lanthanides for cellular utilization. Structure-guided mutagenesis of a metal-ligand and an outer-sphere residue weakens metal binding to the LanD monomer and enhances dimerization for PrIII and NdIII by 100-fold. Selective dimerization enriches high-value PrIII and NdIII relative to low-value LaIII and CeIII in an all-aqueous process, achieving higher separation factors than lanmodulins and comparable or better separation factors than common industrial extractants. Finally, we show that LanD interacts with lanmodulin (LanM), a previously characterized periplasmic protein that shares LanD's preference for NdIII and SmIII. Our results suggest that LanD's unusual metal-binding site transfers less-desirable lanthanides to LanM to siphon them away from the pathway for cytosolic import. The properties of LanD show how relatively weak chelators can achieve high selectivity, and they form the basis for the design of protein dimers for separation of adjacent lanthanide pairs and other metal ions.

The Evolution of Real Estate: Digital Marketing's Influence

Digital marketing has become an essential trend for real estate firms in India, driven by improved network infrastructure and the widespread use of smart phones. This research examines the various digital marketing strategies employed by real estate companies and evaluates their effectiveness. With potential clients increasingly conducting their own research online, digital marketing has become a vital component of overall marketing efforts. Enhancing brand image and facilitating efficient customer communication are imperative for real estate organizations, and this requires fortifying their online presence on search engines, corporate websites, and social media platforms. Digital marketing, particularly through social media platforms, has a significant influence on the real estate industry, just like it does on many other sectors. In today's real estate marketing, websites, Face book, Integra, and YouTube have become indispensable resources. There is little study that focuses especially on social media management within India's real estate business, despite the fact that economic growth and population increase are the driving forces behind Indonesia's real estate market. Major segments in the real estate market include land, residential, commercial, and industrial properties, as well as real estate investment trusts, undeveloped land, and vacation homes. In the fiercely competitive real estate landscape, agents must do more than merely acquire a license—they need to embrace the digital innovations reshaping property transactions. Integrating digital marketing fully into real estate services is imperative. To meet the increasing demand for sustainability, real estate firms must develop digital expertise and skills to deliver impactful and efficient digital marketing solutions.

Fanya Juu terraces improve soil properties of cultivated land in erosion-prone semi-arid area of Ethiopia

Soil erosion is a major process that affect soil fertility and agricultural productivity. To reduce soil erosion by water, physical soil and water conservation measures such as Fanya juu have been widely introduced. However, the study on the performance of those measures against its target is limited. Objective of this study was to assess the effects of physical soil and water conservation (SWC) measures (e.g., Fanya juu) on selected soil physico-chemical properties. Soil samples were collected at 0–20 cm depth of fields treated with Fanya juu and non-treated (without any physical SWC) and analyzed following standard laboratory procedures. Paired sample t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze data. The results of the analysis revealed that clay, silt, sand, soil pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorous (Pav.), and available potassium (Kav.) differed significantly (p < 0.05) between 8-years conserved and non-conserved land. This could be due to the positive effect of conservation measures in reducing erosion. In addition, in the intra- Fanya juu areas clay, sand, Kav., TN, and SOC were significantly varied (p < 0.05), with greater clay, SOC and nutrients at above Fanya juu (deposition area) than below Fanya juu (loss zone), which can be due to the downward movement of organic matter and surface soil and the protection ability of Fanya juu against erosion. In erosion-prone areas, lacking physical SWC measures could degrade essential soil properties as compared to farm fields with physical SWC measures. The spatial variation in intra-Fanya juu area should be amended by integrating additional soil fertility management practices for better effect.

Prioritization of Source Data Necessary for the Valuation of Real Estate with Mineral Deposits: The Case of Poland

Real estate valuation with mineral deposits in Poland can be conducted using comparative, income, and cost approaches. When determining the value of such real estate, a property valuer must obtain information from multiple sources. These sources not only help to establish the legal status but also allow for determining the type of geological and mining asset of the deposit, characterizing and assessing the quality of the deposit, describing the deposit's resources, and evaluating the exploitation potential. Analysis of the source documentation also enables the assessment of the environmental state post-exploitation and helps determine the external conditions related to the liquidation of deposits after exploitation. The need to include the above information in the appraisal report requires the property valuer to gather a large amount of source information scattered across private and institutional resources. Therefore, this study aims to identify and prioritize the source data necessary for the valuation process of land properties with mineral deposits in Poland using selected business techniques. As part of achieving the research goal, the method of valuing the subject special property will be recognized, and the source materials will be identified. Their prioritization will be performed using two business techniques: the MoSCoW method and the Action Priority Matrix. In the final stage of the study, utility classes of the source materials for the valuation of the subject property will be developed

Global property rights and land use efficiency

The study investigates the global impact of land property rights on land use efficiency (LUE), as measured by the key indicator for United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11.3.1, namely Land Consumption Rate to Population Growth Rate. By utilizing human-land change data from 165 countries spanning the period between 1990 and 2020, we have developed a fixed effects model and employed legal origins as an instrumental variable to examine the influence of land property rights security on LUE. Our findings demonstrate that the security of land property rights significantly influences LUE, with common law countries exhibiting higher levels of LUE compared to civil law countries while controlling for other variables. Stability in property rights encourages long-term investments in infrastructure and sustainable land management practices, thereby enhancing land productivity and mitigating urban sprawl. Furthermore, safeguarding property rights limits governments’ power to expropriate lands, facilitating rational and efficient land transactions that contribute towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

Different groups’ grazing technique preferences in the Miombo woodlands of Eastern Tanzania

Grazing in Miombo woodlands is essential for the livelihoods of the pastoral and agropastoral communities that live adjacent to these fragile ecosystems. However, Miombo woodlands offer not only fodder for livestock but also fertile land for crop farming; hence, they are equally important to the farmers residing in these areas. Due to the importance of the Miombo woodlands for the livelihoods of several groups, the consumption of and competition for Miombo resources has increased over time and now threatens the overall health of the ecosystem. This study aimed to identify the grazing techniques practiced by different livelihood groups in Miombo woodlands; their preferences for different practices, as well as the factors that influence these preferences, so as to understand how sustainable grazing can be achieved for better ecosystem health. The study was conducted in Handeni, Kilombero, and Kilosa districts and covered pastoralists, agropastoralists, and farmers. We carried out focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and a survey of 246 respondents. Un-patterned rotational grazing was the most preferred grazing technique by all three groups, and the only technique the three groups shared a preference for. All the groups took a neutral stance in relation to continuous grazing. Their preferences for other grazing techniques differ. The study highlights the need to raise awareness amongst pastoralists about land ownership and management and recommends enhancing land property rights for all groups in order to harmonize livestock keeping and other land uses for achieving sustainable grazing and overall ecosystem health in the fragile Miombo woodlands of Tanzania.

Effects of soil amendments and coverings on the kenaf yield and soil physicochemical properties in saline-alkali land

In order to investigate the effects of various treatments on the growth of kenaf in saline soil, this study employed a comprehensive experimental design incorporating a dual approach of soil amendment and mulching techniques. Soil treatment of saline and alkaline land, as well as biological material mulching treatment after sowing kenaf, were conducted. The growth dynamics of kenaf were assessed before the mid-term investigation, and the harvest period was examined. Soil physicochemical properties were measured and analysed at different periods. The results show that in the analysis of red sesame yield traits, the differences mainly appeared between soil treatments. There is no significant difference between the different mulching treatments within each soil treatment. In the mid-term study, significant differences were observed in kenaf plant height. Plant height was the most affected by soil conditioners, while other yield traits did not show significant variations. During harvest, only stem thickness and dry weight of a single plant did not show significant differences, whereas other yield traits did. The application of soil conditioners resulted in a 58.15% increase in dry hull yield compared to organic fertilizers and a 22.66% increase compared to regular fertilizers. Soil conditioners also led to higher levels of effective phosphorus, quick-acting potassium, organic matter, and total nitrogen throughout the kenaf growth period compared to organic and regular fertilizers. This is beneficial for enhancing soil quality and reducing soil alkalinity. Combined with the results of kenaf yield and soil physical and chemical properties analysis, it has been proven that the application of soil conditioner has the best effect, followed by the application of compound fertilizer, with organic fertilizer treatment being the least effective.

Advocacy and credibility of land tenure in Ethiopia: Mitigating conflicts and threats

Social inequality resulting from war, exploitation, and land property is very evident in Ethiopia, which has a significant influence on the economic, social, and political situation of various groups of people. As a result, the primary objective of this study was to assess the significance of the Credibility Thesis in resolving land conflicts via the Formal, Actual, and Targeted (FAT) Institutional Framework. Moreover, this study was conducted to identify the key features and the role of credibility analysis in mitigating land conflicts by employing the Credibility Scales and Intervention (CSI) Checklist. To achieve this goal, a comprehensive literature review including land tenure studies from 1979 to 2020 was conducted. This review used original databases to ensure a comprehensive and extensive exploration of relevant scientific works. The results showed that the land problem in Ethiopia is not only related to the dynamics of social change and inequality at different global, regional, national, and transnational levels, but also provides access to land resources, the foundations of authority, livelihood, property, and citizenship. Furthermore, the lack of land security for non-indigenous minorities contributes to substantial ambiguity for land rights. Therefore, measures to increase land security and transfer land tenure can have an important influence on productivity and should be prioritized by policymakers. These measures may include elements from active land certification initiatives, but they should also specify the legal credit of certifications issued in the system and how to execute them.

Taxation without Indemnification

Whether by reevaluating previously underappreciated factors or by uncovering new source material, historical scholarship occasionally makes immediate and simultaneous interventions in both academic and public-facing conversations.1 Andrew Kahrl's The Black Tax is one such work, and actually accomplishes these two tasks admirably. In the last two decades, scholars have investigated African American ownership of real property in land and homes, as well as the ways that governmental and private actors, policies, and practices have impaired Black people's ability to acquire and accumulate wealth in this country.2 This body of scholarship, alongside the work of public intellectuals, has served to jumpstart discussion around the issue of reparations.3 Prior to the release of Kahrl's illustrious book, however, no one had identified property taxes as lying at the very center of race-based structural inequality.4

Organic renewal of property plots in Chinese cities: Sustainable development of built environment via property value enhancement and digital twin construction

As the urbanization process in China continues to advance, urban residential property plots have commenced their transition to an organic renewal model. Nevertheless, achieving the sustainable and high-quality organic renewal of urban residential property plots poses a significant challenge for planning. This study postulates that the crux of organic renewal for urban residential property plots lies in the impacts on improvement for sustainable built environment, with the main obstacle being the organization and implementation of intricate renewal activities. A potential solution is to enhance land property value, while establishing a digital twin to optimize the design of renewal strategies and implement renewal activities precisely and efficiently. This study scrutinizes the characteristics of the property value composition of urban residential property plots, investigates basic strategies of organic urban renewal and proposes a theoretical framework to elucidate dynamic property value change, property value enhancement and incremental value allocation during the renewal process. Additionally, a theoretical concept was developed to efficiently promote property value in organic renewal through digital twin construction. A comprehensive case study showcases the pronounced benefits of property plot renewal, including a 1.17-fold increase in floor area and a 50% rise in residential floor area unit prices. The research framework proposed in this study is conducive to promoting the optimization, fair allocation and efficient implementation of property value in organic renewal. Furthermore, it is conducive to practicing ‘human-centric’ decision-making.

A Non-Uniform Grid Graph Convolutional Network for Sea Surface Temperature Prediction

Sea surface temperature (SST) is an important factor in the marine environment and has significant impacts on climate, ecology, and maritime activities. Most existing SST prediction methods consider the ocean as a uniform field and use a uniform grid to predict SST. However, the marine environment is a complex system, and factors such as solar radiation, differences in land and sea thermal properties, and ocean circulation lead to uneven spatial distributions of SSTs. We propose a non-uniform grid construction method based on an SST spatial gradient to encode SST data, as well as a Non-uniform Grid Graph Convolutional Network (NGGCN) model. The NGGCN consists of two spatiotemporal modules, each of which extracts spatial features from the GCN module, captures temporal correlations through the GRU module, and performs feature restoration and output results through the fully connected module. We selected data from the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea to validate the effectiveness of the NGGCN in predicting SST at different time scales and prediction steps. The results indicate that our model shows a significant improvement in prediction performance compared to other models.

Property, nature, and the freedom to roam

ABSTRACT This paper explores if people should be able to enjoy a freedom to roam, understood as the right of every person to stay on landowners’ properties, regardless of the will of the landowners. I make two interest-based arguments that tell against more exclusionary and in favour of less exclusionary property rights regimes with regard to land. The first, anti-proprietarian, argument, proposes that some, highly exclusionary proprietary preferences are problematic from a standpoint of public lawmaking, and that we ought to design laws and background institutions such that citizens will adopt less rather than more proprietarian attitudes. The second, amplification, argument, proposes that the freedom to roam serves an important interest in providing access to diverse and unique aspects of nature. These two arguments, taken together, tell against highly proprietary property rights arrangements with regards to land and in favour of less proprietary institutional arrangements. I also tackle two objections that purport that general exclusion rights to property in land are necessary for two key interests: (a) our capacity for ends-setting and (b) the preconditions of self-authorship, and that we should therefore not institute a right to roam. Both, I argue, fail.

Changes in the physical properties of fallow lands during their regeneration

The change of physical and mechanical properties of soil depending on the methods of its cultivation has been studied. The experiments were carried out in the Novosibirsk region from April to September 2023. To study the structure of the soil, a soil section was made to a depth of 0.7 meters. It was determined that the soil at the experiment plots was gray forest, the thickness of the turf layer was on average 10 cm, the depth of the humus horizon 25–27 cm, a layer of sandy loam was observed under the humus layer. Fallow land cultivation was carried out by the tillage combine AKP-2.5N with MTР-80L tractor and the working width of 1.8 meters. The working body of the AKP-2.5N was made in a form of a straight rack with a blade measuring 410 mm, in addition, a small screen was installed on the rack. The unit provides for the installation of the rollers with a size of 600 mm. To determine the operating modes of the unit, studies were carried out in the soil channel. It was found that the operating speed of the unit with installed screen should be no more than 2.22 m/s or 8 km/h. The conditions of the experiment: gray forest soil, air temperature not lower than 10 0C; air humidity no more than 70%; relative humidity of at least 18%, wind speed not higher than 2 m/s; the average length of the rut is not less than 70 m and without stones on the field. It has been concluded that the most rational way to introduce fallow gray forest soils into agricultural circulation is to treat them with AKP-2.5N units with working bodies equipped with blades. After three treatments, the content of soil particles less than 10 mm is up to 93.1%, the soil absorbs moisture faster and reduces the hardness to 15 kg/cm2, which corresponds to the hardness of the soil of the field in rotation. Equations of regularity of changes in the fractional composition of soil with a size of less than 10 mm and more than 50 mm depending on the timing and number of treatments have been obtained.

Soil protection and land property law in France: On the way to a functional approach to soil?

BackgroundIn France, soil is the last physical environment not to have any legal protection of their own considering its ecological functions. They are rather considered as land, and they are managed by Urban Law. The question answered is whether this urbanistic legal seizure is efficient to protect soil as a biological environment or if other public policies and/or legal tools are needed to address the issues of soil environmental management. ResultsIt appears that Urban Law could be a good legal tool to protect soils environmental functions through ancient and classic urban policies as urban planning or the new disruptive ‘Zero Net Artificialization’. However, such laws are clearly insufficient to address the full scope of the threats caused by humans’ activities on this very fragile environment. ConclusionsNew legal tools are to be developed in France, and at the European Union level, to ensure a real and effective protection of soil as ecosystems: creation of a new title entitled ‘Land and Soils within the Second Book ‘Physical Environments’ of the French Environmental Code, extension of environmental crimes to soil (pollution, ecocide, etc.), better bonding between the ‘Zero Net Artificialization’ urban policy and biodiversity conservation, etc.

Effect of different organic amendments and fertigation on growth, yield, quality of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.) and soil properties of Theri land (Red sand dune) of southern Tamil Nadu

Effect of different organic amendments and fertigation on growth, yield, quality of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.) and soil properties of Theri land (Red sand dune) of southern Tamil Nadu

IMPLEMENTATION OF COLLATERAL HIBAH IN MALAYSIA

Collateral hibah is among the hibah products that was created as an instrument for Islamic wealth management. The problem of Muslims unclaimed property can be mitigated by implementing collateral hibah. This study examined several of current concerns regarding the implementation of collateral hibah in Malaysia by reviewing studies of the literature that previous researchers had written on the subject. This is pertinent since hibah is increasingly being employed by Muslims in Malaysia as a primary Islamic wealth management technique and todays community owns most intangible assets, including homes, land, and other properties, through loan financing from financial institutions. This concept paper attempted to analyse the problems from several perspectives as presented by earlier researchers. The results of the literature analysis indicated that a number of problems, including legality of collateral hibah both national and Islamic law, various rulings from Syariah courts regarding the validation of collateral hibah, conflict of jurisdiction between Shariah and civil court, lack of unified legislation regarding hibah procedure and many more, needed to be resolved to improve the collateral hibahs current implementation in Malaysia. Therefore, this concept paper addressed the problem of Islamic wealth management as it relates to collateral hibah and may serve as an outline for further research.

The Transformation of Traditional Peasants: An Age–Period–Cohort Analysis of the Modernity of Peasants in China

Using the data of Chinese General Social Survey from 2010 to 2018, this study measured the modernity of Chinese peasants from four dimensions: equality and autonomy, positive attitude, general confidence, and open-mindedness. Hierarchical age–period–cohort models were introduced to assess the effect of age, period, and cohort on modernity and to further explore the heterogeneities in the effect of education and off-farm work experience on modernity among various birth cohorts. Age effects consistently show significance, with the level of individual modernity decreasing as age increases. However, the rate of decline gradually slows down. Period effects are generally significant and contribute to the advancement of modernity. Cohort effects are significant in most cohorts. The modernity of peasants born between 1941 and 1960 show a consistent decline, reaching its lowest point in the cohort 1961–1970 and then increasing steadily among those born after 1970. Possible explanations were proposed from the perspective of changes in the land property system and household registration system in China. We also found that the positive effect of education is stronger for younger cohorts, whereas the positive effect of off-farm experience is stronger for older cohorts. This study enriches Inkeles’s research on individual modernization and reveals the transformation process of traditional peasants in developing countries.