The vast majority of the world’s poor share two traits; they live in rural areas and lack secure rights to the land they till.

Although many land reform programs have tried to address this problem around the world and some have managed to transformed the lives of millions of families by providing secure land rights, not all such efforts have succeeded.

In this timely and important volume, lawyers from Landesa (formerly the Rural Development Institute) and the University of Washington’s School of Law in Seattle use four decades worth of research on land tenure reform efforts around the world to examine how we might better change the plight of the rural poor.

About the Authors

Roy L. Prosterman is founder and chairman emeritus of Landesa and professor emeritus at the University of Washington’s School of Law.

Tim Hanstad is chief executive officer and president of Landesa, and affiliate associate professor of law at the University of Washington’s School of Law.

Robert Mitchell is program chair and senior land tenure expert at Landesa, where he currently directs Landesa’s India Program and affiliate assistant professor of law at the University of Washington’s School of Law.

What people are saying

“This book … demonstrates the leveraged power of the law as a tool for social and economic progress.” — Bill Gates, Sr.

“I hope this book … will reach ever widening audiences …” — Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Available for purchase at:

University of Chicago Press | One Billion Rising

and

Amazon.com | One Billion Rising