Land An Asset Benefitting The Many Or The Few?

Chair: Andrew Bevan (International Justice Mission)

Panelists:
Zoe Hopkins (Mercy Corps),
Dr Jill Robbie (University of Glasgow),
Tom Kirby (Granton Community Gardens)

During 2014, the First Minister of Scotland set out the vision that the nation’s land must be an asset that benefits the many, not the few. Land ownership in Scotland has always been a source of contention. Globally, the historical and current land ownership situations are no different.

By 2020, 1.5 billion of the world’s urban poor will live in informal settlements and slums without any secure right to their property and land. What’s more, an estimated 90% of rural sub-Saharan Africans have no proof of ownership for land where they live and work. Land is vitally important in our world – in many places, it is a matter of life or death.