Washington, D.C. – April 25, 2011 – Representatives from International Land Systems (ILS), Inc. presented last week at the Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, held in Washington, D.C. from March 18-21. ILS delegates presented on the company’s solutions designed to help governments address the challenges of land administration including land registry and recording, cadastre mapping, government revenue management, property appraisal, and economic development.
The purpose of the World Bank conference was to increase awareness of the successful implementation of innovative approaches that are helping not only improve land governance, but also contribute to the well-being of the world’s poorest populations.
Director of Training Services, Nigel Edmead also presented on ILS’ work in Ghana using OpenTitle™ as a means to cost-effectively and efficiently collect and digitize documents related to properties and associated individuals. In the session “Making land administration accessible”, Edmead explained that in much of the developing world, there exists a vital need to formalize land registration processes yet such systems are often inaccessible for a variety of reasons. Using OpenTitle, which is based on the pro-poor land rights recording system – the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) ILS and its local partners in Ghana are developing property folios, a collection of property information that can eventually be used as a land title in order to address such constraints in the region. Said Edmead, “It is often assumed that technology is the major cost of a registration of cadastre system. Yet our results around the world demonstrate that the total cost of land information systems represents only 12% of the total cost of the system.
Director of Sales & Marketing, Christopher H. Barlow spoke about ILS’ work in rural China through the Chinese Rural Land Registration and Certification Program. The session, entitled “Improving Governance of Rural and Natural Resources in China” addressed ILS’ introduction of a model to derive costs and benefits for a systematic land registration and mapping campaign in Anhui Province. The Chinese government is currently experimenting with methods to quickly and accurately register rural households’ lands. This is, in part, to encourage more equitable wealth distribution throughout the country, and also, at a microeconomic level, to protect agricultural lands from rapid industrial, retail, and residential land development. Said Barlow, “With increased urbanization, there’s increasing pressure on agricultural lands. The heart of our project was to help the government, at a micro-level, to develop land registration systems so that village farmers were able to effectively protect their land.”
ILS delegates also sponsored the Land Administration Solutions Workshop to discuss the company’s vision for how land administration solutions are relevant for governments at different stages of economic development. ILS projects in Ghana, Ukraine and South Africa were emphasized.
To read the full-length papers presented by ILS, click HERE.
About ILS
International Land Systems (ILS), Inc. – A Manatron Company is a land administration solutions company that offers the power of land management through application of modern technology and methodologies. Together, ILS and Manatron offer a complete land and property information management solution including integrated taxation, assessment, recording, cadastre mapping, and registry systems. The company has worked in more than 30 countries and implemented over 100 projects worldwide. ILS is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, and has subsidiary offices in Kiev, Ukraine, and Cochabamba, Bolivia. Manatron, the parent company of ILS, has more than 1,600 government clients worldwide, and is a privately-held company and an investment of private equity firm Thoma Bravo, LLC.