As attempts to water down the Endangered Species Act have accelerated, public support for the act has stayed high. Then why do politicians keep trying to weaken the act?
Many rural farmers in India lack clear ownership of the land they work and live on.
AP Photo/Anupam Nath
Nir Kshetri, University of North Carolina – Greensboro
Without secure records of property ownership, many poor people around the world have trouble improving their economic situations. Several countries are already trying blockchain-based land registries.
The latest World Bank report on South Africa identifies land reform as critical factor of addressing the country’s economic challenges.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Creating a reliable, up to date land register is important for African countries. Drones can help collect and record the necessary data.
The authorities don’t need a conviction or even for a suspect to be charged with a crime before seizing a car, cash or even a house.
Photographee.eu/Shutterstock
To create property systems that are as dynamic as the landscapes we occupy, we might need to start thinking about ourselves as belonging to and answerable to the land, not the other way around.
Our land-title system originated in the mid-19th century when Sir Robert Richard Torrens campaigned to reform Adelaide’s chaotic deeds-based land system.
National Library of Australia
Sir Robert Richard Torrens – the man behind Australia’s ‘Torrens system’ of land-title registration – was an economic liberal who might have approved of privatising title registries.
While some councils wish to take a long-term view of what can reasonably be done in the face of sea-level rises, private property owners just want their homes protected.
AAP/Dan Peled
Many properties are at risk from rising sea levels, with owners and councils at odds over the costs of defending these. NSW law reform may lead to more forward-looking climate change adaptation.
For many people, renting is preferable to buying, but many of Australia’s institutions don’t reflect that choice.
April Fonti/AAP
Australia is the world capital for property speculation. Australians play property like Monopoly: buying, selling, demolishing, rebuilding, extending, renovating, always with the promise of appreciation…
Private land disguised as public space. Even London’s City Hall is rented back from the private sector.
Toby Melville/PA
When a public utility is acquired by a private equity firm, there is no doubt what kind of process is underway. The take-over of provision of services and, by extension, ability to profit from them is…
Sun and wind are intangible. It’s hard to sell them. But the State can make big money if it owns fossil fuels.
Rory MacLeod
While Australia aims to produce a fifth of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, non-renewable energy is still flourishing. But non-renewable energy sources such as coal and gas have a significant…
Argentina, like many other Latin American economies, could learn much from Australia’s economic resilience.
Luis Fdez
In 2009, I launched a book titled Drifting Apart: The Diverging Development Paths of Argentina and Australia, which I co-authored with Fernando Tohmé from Universidad Nacional del Sur in Argentina. We…