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Prof. Leon Verstappen steps down as chairman of Land Portal

17 December 2020
Prof. Leon Verstappen

After 11 years of involvement with the Land Portal (www.landportal.org), initially as a member of the Steering Committee and later in 2014 as founder and first chairman of the Land Portal Foundation, Prof. Leon Verstappen stepped back on September 4 this year due to the expiry of the maximum term of office.

In an interview on landportal.org , he talks about his experiences over the past 11 years: ‘I think the major achievement of the Land Portal is that it indeed has become the place to be for data and information on land worldwide. The Land Portal fulfills a central role in the land debate. We connect people with each other via webinars and other digital communication tools. We also connect land information and data in a digital ecosystem. And finally, we connect land information and data with people all over the world. By doing so we made the world a bit smaller. We also improved the way people think about land issues and their understanding of the difficulties of the different aspects of land in society. Whether it is land and gender or land and food security, it doesn't matter, as long as people see that there are so many themes related to land on the Land Portal, and that it is necessary to approach land in a comprehensive way.’

Land Portal
Foundation The Land Portal is an international organization that plays a central role in the debate on land governance worldwide. Data (sets) and information about land governance are brought together and made available on the information platform. The website is powered by more than 2,200 international organizations and local partners in developing countries. The data and information are available in four languages: English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, and can be browsed by country (of all countries in the world) and by theme.

The goal of the Land Portal is to improve land governance, i.e. to promote a better use of land for the benefit of those who have the most insecure land rights and who are therefore in a vulnerable position, especially in southern countries of the world.

This article was published by the Faculty of Law.

Last modified:26 June 2025 12.35 p.m.
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