Washington, D.C. was the venue of the World Bank's 20th annual "Land and Poverty Conference 2019" from March 25-29, 2019. This year's leitmotif was to support innovation. The international environment-related event did not go unnoticed by the FES project team members, the vice-dean for the development of the faculty Kateřina Černý Pixová and long-time collaborator of the World Bank Michal Lodin. Every year, 1,500 land management professionals from governmental, academic, nonprofit and private organizations and companies participate in this top event. Thanks to this, the FES representatives could personally meet and discuss environmental issues with potential partners from the World Bank and from various countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Uzbekistan among others.
The main topics of the conference included land policy and political economy, urban expansion, land use and valuation, human rights in relation to indigenous peoples, large-scale land acquisition for agriculture or infrastructure, and the use of modern analytical techniques (eg. remote sensing) and public data provision.
Land, its use, ownership and protection are in the long-term viewpoint of experts from the FES, especially from the Department of Land Use and Improvement. The leading teams across Czech University of Life Sciences combine the newly established Center for Soil, Water and Landscape. Outside framework of the Czech Republic, Michal Lodin has devoted a long time to the property structure of land and cadastre development in the World Bank projects. By participating in the conference, FES confirmed its interest, vision and ambition in working with one of the world's leading global players in the field of environmental protection.
