LandPKS: A New Mobile Tool for Sustainable Land-Use Planning and Management

Research
Published in: Annual World Bank Land and Poverty Conference

One of the major causes of poverty is poor land use planning and management. To address this issue, new technologies are needed that inform more sustainable land use planning and management. The Land-Potential Knowledge System (LandPKS; landpotential.org) provides a new approach to collecting spatial data with mobile phones in order to strengthen and enhance sustainable land use planning, and support sustainable land management. In Tanzania, the LandPKS team has been working with the National Land Use Planning Commission and USAID’s Land Tenure Assistance (LTA) Project. On the biophysical side of land use planning process, Tanzania uses the Land Capability Classification system, which includes 8 classes. Categorizing the land into these classes helps planners to determine which livelihood activities are sustainable in which areas. LandPKS could play a key role in helping land use planners classify land into these eight classes; thus contributing to effective and sustainable land use planning and management.

Key Words: LandPKS; Land Capability Classification; Land Use Planning; Tanzania; Sustainability