School of Forest Resources and Conservation		UF / IFAS
	GEOMATICS AREAS OF STUDY
Areas of Study Geomatics Faculty Research Fall Courses Spring Courses Facilities	LAND TENURE AND CADASTRAL STUDIES Land tenure systems define how a community (indigenous group), society or country assigns rights to its land and natural resources. These rules may be defined through formal law or through unwritten custom. Cadastral studies focuses on the cadastral and land registration systems that are used to document and secure land tenure rights. It includes processes such as cadastral (boundary) surveying, principles for resolving boundary ambiguities, and linking these spatial data to legal data describing the nature of the bundle of rights associated with an individual parcel of land. Our research has a significant focus on land tenure and cadastral issues in developing countries, where many landholders do not have formal documentation of their rights and where land administration systems are often overly centralized and bureaucratic. Since land tenure is relevant to a number of disciplines, we work with faculty and students from several other units on campus. Through this collaboration we are carrying out research on the resilience of social-ecological systems in the SW Amazon and elsewhere. We have also begun to examine the role of land tenure in the governance of valuable natural resources, such as wildlife in Southern Africa.
	Last updated: 2/26/08 - Comments and suggestions welcome - webmaster