Land Trusts Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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A land trust is a legal agreement by which one party holds ownership of a piece of land on behalf of another party. The laws by which such agreements are regulated vary across different countries and change over time. Land trusts may be divided between broadly public sector and broadly private sector agreements. The latter are most commonly used as a means of maintaining the integrity of a patch of family-owned land or as a way of minimizing tax requirements. The former are more typically organized by a state agency as a means of protecting environmentally important areas and of influencing the commercial and residential development of areas previously used for agriculture or not brought under human use.

Land trusts in a recognizable form have a long history and examples date back to at least the time of Henry VIII of England, when land ownership formed the basis of taxation and military corvee. However, a claim might be made that the land set aside for former soldiers and colonists in, for example, the Roman and Chinese empires also represented forms of land trusts in that the state could revoke ownership if certain responsibilities were not discharged appropriately. Many states awarded land to newly created aristocratic elites or religious orders on similar bases.

In the modern world, international organizations such as the United Nations have been able to designate certain areas as places of outstanding historical interest and hold them on behalf of local people to prevent unwanted or unplanned development. Most developed countries have schemes that aim to protect wildlife or water resources or else to maintain a “green belt” around urbanized areas to provide recreational and aesthetic opportunities for residents.

In countries where such schemes are not operational or not well policed, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) may aim to purchase or otherwise acquire land for similar purposes. Since there is often a conflict between the intentions of developers and conservers, the use of land trusts can be contested, controversial, and even subject to coercion of various kinds.

There is considerable scope for increasing the use of land trusts internationally, especially in those countries where inadequately maintained and supported legislation prevents the poor from registering and obtaining leverage from those assets that they do have. Incentives to improve land would be much greater for many such people if they could have confidence that they would be able to reap the long-term benefits for themselves and their families. However, providing common land for people is always subject to the free-rider problem that created the original economics conundrum called the Tragedy of the Commons. Consequently, strict regulation and maintenance of use is required to guard against such an occurrence.

Bibliography:

Richard Brewer, Conservancy: The Land Trust Movement in America (University Press of New England, 2003);
Mike McQueen and Edward McMahon, Land Conservation Financing (Island Press, 2003);
Jeffrey Sundberg, “Private Provision of a Public Good: Land Trust Membership,” Land Economics (v.82/3, 2006).