The Alberta Land Institute (ALI) held its biennial Land Use Conference from May 30-31 at the Westin Edmonton. Presented in partnership with Alberta Innovates, Land Use 2018 brought together over 200 provincial and municipal officials, researchers industry and NGO representatives to discuss land use-related issues and relevant policy proposals.
Carrying the banner for the ALI at the conference was UAlberta Law Professor Eran Kaplinsky, who took over as the institute's Research Director in December 2016. One of Alberta's leading experts in property rights and land-use planning and regulation, Kaplinsky currently devotes roughly half his work to ALI.
"Our work is entirely directed towards concrete policy," said Kaplinsky.
"We are an organization with access to amazing expertise across the UAlberta campus and beyond. Our researchers come from Law, ALES (Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences), Planning, Engineering and more, and we don't have a particular agenda other than a shared goal of environmentally and economically sound land stewardship. "
The conference featured panel discussions on a wide variety of topics, including soil health, urban growth and land conversion, community resilience in the face of climate change, green infrastructure and Indigenous land stewardship. Municipal Affairs Minister Shaye Anderson opened the conference with greetings on behalf of the provincial government, with renowned US resource economist and EcoAgriculture Partners founder Dr. Sara Scherr providing a closing keynote address.
For Kaplinsky, Land Use 2018 has been the highlight of a thus far busy year. In February 2018, he attended the annual International Academic Association on Planning, Law and Property Rights conference in Novi Sad, Serbia, courtesy of travel funding from the Dean's Special Fund to Support Research, at which he presented an unpublished conference paper on expropriation entitled "Why We Compensate" and participated in a panel celebrating a new publication entitled Instruments of Land Policy: Dealing with Scarcity of Land..
He also participated in a conference in Groningen, Netherlands in May 2018 where he presented a paper on adverse possession in Alberta, while also participating in a workshop of the European Common Core of Private Law group - again on the issue of adverse possession law. This unusual law, whereby someone occupies the land of another person through sheer length of time - typically ten years or more, has recently become a focal point of in Alberta, making the timing of Kaplinsky's research on the subject fortuitous.
"There's a vigorous debate brewing in Alberta over so-called "squatters' rights". When I initially took on the topic I didn't foresee it becoming a topical issue. You never know when these odd points of law will gain public attention," he said.