International Land Policy & Planning

Gerhardus Schultink, Ph.D.
Professor and Associate Director,
LPI International Programs

Professor Schultink conducts research and teaches International Resource Development, Comparative Environmental Policy, Land Use Planning and Environmental Impact Assessment at the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies. He provided international and domestic consultancies for private sector firms, government agencies, such as USAID, the USDA, as well as international organizations, such as FAO, UNDP and the World Bank.  

The Institute's International Land Policy & Planning program mission is to provide development assistance, outreach and applied research support to host-country governments, U.S. and international development agencies, and lending institutions that are involved in urban and rural development projects. LPI's International program mission is to advance knowledge for the economic development and management of communities, agricultural and natural resources to meet human needs and create sustainable prosperity. To that end, MSU and partner resources are mobilized in close cooperation, addressing strategic needs in development program design, implementation and evaluation.

This mission involves: a) applied research to enhance knowledge and develop requisite tools, techniques and skill sets; b) institutional capacity development to sustain effective project implementation; and c) seeks stakeholder engagement to achieve socio-economic equity and environmental sustainability.

The overarching framework for this assistance is the paradigm of sustainable development--integrating natural resources capital with economic and social capital, to define and select land use alternatives that are socio-economically viable and acceptable, while preserving ecological integrity and productivity. These strategic planning initiatives seek to create solutions that are ecologically restorative and socially just, and that promote a reliably prosperous society.

LPI is home to many of MSU's international development, planning and land policy projects that engage international faculty colleagues and students across various colleges and departments. These include hosting visiting scientists, collaborative research with host-country scientists, serving as quest lecturers and providing consulting services to international research organizations, foreign government agencies and private sector firms.

LPI's International program seeks to provide economic development assistance though collaborative initiatives with host country governments. The ultimate vision is to help develop program initiatives that effectively improve prosperity, while addressing social justice and environmental sustainability. To that end, programs are problem-driven and seek to generate knowledge and decision-support systems that help build institutional capacities in land policy analysis and formulation.

The Land Policy Institute collaborates with host-country institutions and development agencies to enhance institutional capacities in natural resource evaluation, asset-based development and planning. In this context, approaches are emphasized that are holistic, multi-disciplinary and sustainable--economically viable and environmentally acceptable. The ultimate goal is to effectively address the various needs and dimensions of quality of life: from basic needs--such as food security, housing and productive access to land and capital, to the mobilization of sustainable development potential. This framework includes the effective production and delivery of natural resources-derived goods and services, infrastructural improvement and land use planning in rural and urban settings.

In this development process, various phases may be identified. They include:

• Bio-physical asset assessment to identify the natural capital--the complex of land and water resource assets that make up the endowment of countries and that denote environmental production capacities and agro-ecological production constraints. In this process land use alternatives are evaluated that can be sustained long-term based on resource production capacities and rates that prevent resource degradation or provide restoration capacity, where needed.
  
  
• Socio-economic assessment to identify economically viable production opportunities of goods and services based on prevailing labor and capital cost, product prices and access to local and international markets. Here local and regional asset-based management is emphasized to identify the comparative advantage of communities and regions to foster natural resource-based development, including the potential of the agricultural, forestry, mining and tourism sectors.
  
  
• Policy analysis and formulation to identify long-term development scenarios and implementation strategies. Comparative needs, constraints, opportunities, risks and trade-offs are identified to select the most appropriate solutions based on economic and environmental performance indicators. Relevant laws, incentives, regulations or other tools are identified at the local, regional and national level that are effective in policy implementation.

Applied Research 

Applied research addresses comparative policies and approaches to economic development, land use planning and environmental management.

Examples of publications include:

• Migration as a Coping Strategy for Environmental Hazard Mitigation on Small Islands: Environmental Risk Modeling of Montserrat's Volcanic Eruptions (June 21, 2008) by Jack Rozdilsky and Gerhardus Schultink 
• RR545 - Impacts of Urbanization on Agricultural Sustainability and Rural Life in West Java, Indonesia.pdf
• RR554 - Wetland Identification and Protection - N - American and European Perspectives -1997.pdf
• RR572 - Guidelines for Wetland Identification and Evaluation - Needs and Opportunities for Local Protection.pdf
• RR587 - Land Use Planning and Growth Management - Comparative Policy Perspectives on Urban Sprawl and Open Space P.pdf

International Development Programs

• Global Policy Initiative to Increase Agricultural Productivity, Food Security, Human Nutrition, Biomass-derived Energy and Rural Prosperity: The Introduction of Subsurface Water Retention Technology
• International Alliance on Land Tenure and Administration (IALTA)
• Equatorial Guinea
• Haiti
• Indonesia
• Mozambique 
• Benin

International Education and Training

• Environmental Planning and Management in Netherlands, Belgium and France - Study Abroad Summer Program
• Environmental Science and Policy in New Zealand - Study Abroad Winter Break Program
• Environmental and Land use Studies in Israel - Study Abroad Spring Break Program

International Collaboration

In addition to active working relationships with various international development institutions, such as U.N. and U.S. agencies, private sector firms and development banks, LPI is collaborating with various U.S. and European universities in international land use policy, planning and economic development programs.

Two recent initiatives include:

• An International Trans-Atlantic Land Use Conference, held September 24-26, 2007, in Washington D.C. was co-sponsored by the Land Policy Institute.

• Collaboration with the Euroleague Consortium of Universities in the Environmental and Life Sciences, specifically Wageningen University, the Netherlands, Hohenheim University, Germany and BOKU University of Natural Resources, Austria

For more information on various international websites, go to the International Links web page.

International Events

• Integrated Assessment of Agriculture and Sustainable Development (AgSAP) Conference (March 10-12, 2009) in Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands
• 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry (August 23-29, 2009) in Nairobi, Kenya

International News

• "Increasing Controversy in Customary Land Use Rights" (August 14, 2009) by Ger Schultink
• "Cambodia: A land up for sale?" (August 12, 2009) by Robert Walker

• "New Water Retention Technology Being Developed By MSU Could Bring Global Initiative Unprecedented Success" (October 17, 2008) by Gerhardus Schultink
• "Global Food Prices - Availability, Affordability and Land Use Impacts" (April 25, 2008) by Ger Schultink
• "Global Food Price Increases Affect 25-Year Old Conservation Reserve Program" (April 25, 2008) by Ger Schultink  
• "Impact Assessment for Development Policy Formulation in Mozambique: A New MSU Initiative in Southern Africa" (April 4, 2008) by Ger Schultink
• "Amazon Rainforest Continues to Shrink Even Faster" (March 28, 2008) by Ger Schultink
• "Global Property Rights and Eminent Domain" (March 21, 2008) by Ger Schultink
• "LPI Pursues Global Land Tenure Alliance" (March 14, 2008) by Ger Schultink
• "First Global Malaria Survey for 40 Years" (March 3, 2008) by Gijs van den Heuvel
• "Amazon Rainforest Shrinking Again" (January 31, 2008) by Dheera Sujan
• "China - Justice and Injustice on the Rise" (January 31, 2008) by Sigrid Deters
• "Recycling Wind Turbines" (September 2007) ScienceDaily