In brief
Roy L. Prosterman, a significant figure in land reform efforts, dies at 89, leaving a legacy of advocating for land rights benefiting millions of rural poor.
Roy L. Prosterman, a groundbreaking lawyer and advocate for land reform who transitioned from a successful corporate law background to improve land rights for the rural impoverished, passed away on February 27 at his Seattle home. He was 89. His death was reported by Landesa, a land-rights organization he co-founded, though no specific cause was disclosed.Over nearly six decades, Prosterman collaborated with governments across approximately 60 nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. His work often involved developing frameworks that granted ownership to peasant families. These initiatives included compensatory expropriation of large land parcels by governments or the direct allocation of government-owned land to impoverished farmers.Prosterman viewed land rights as essential to alleviating poverty among rural populations, advocating for land distribution from both authoritarian regimes in nations like Vietnam and El Salvador and democratic governments in countries such as India. According to Landesa, millions have gained from the initiatives initiated by Prosterman and his organization, which began as the Rural Development Institute at the University of Washington in 1981 and became independent in 1992. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz acknowledged Landesa’s early recognition of the critical role that land access and security play in the lives of the poor in agrarian economies, highlighting Prosterman's influential role in "One Billion Rising: Law, Land and the Alleviation of Global Poverty."
