Land exchange

A land exchange or land swap is the exchange of land between two parties, typically a private owner and a government. These parties may include farmers, estate owners, nature organizations, and governments. Land swaps may also take place between two sovereign nations for practical, geographical or economic reasons.

The exchange of land is undertaken for a variety of reasons, among them the conversion or rehabilitation of a parcel of land to nature. For example, after the Netherlands designated the Dutch National Ecological Network, provincial governments in the country established programs offering financial and organizational assistance for the acquisition of agricultural land and its restoration to more natural habitats.

Examples

Bangladesh and India

• India–Bangladesh enclaves

Jordan

• Jordan transfer desert lands to Saudi Arabia in exchange to land south of Aqaba in 1965 so Jordan can extend its only sea access.

Kosovo and Serbia

• Proposed land swap Kosovo–Serbia land swap

United Kingdom

• The township of Boycott (in the parish of Stowe), transferred to Buckinghamshire.
• The parish of Swineshead was an exclave of the county surrounded by Bedfordshire, 1278 acres (517 ha). In 1896, the parish was transferred to Bedfordshire in exchange for the parish of Tilbrook.

United States

• United States–Mexico Rio Grande Border Finalization
• Anglo-American Convention of 1818

References

• Bakker, Martha M.; Alam, Shah Jamal; van Dijk, Jerry; Rounsevell, Mark D.A. (February 2015). "Land-use change arising from rural land exchange: an agent-based simulation model". Landscape Ecology. 30 (2): 273–286. doi:10.1007/s10980-014-0116-x.

Further reading

• Brown, S.J.M. (2000). "David and Goliath: Reformulating the definition of the public interest and the future of land swaps after the Interstate 90 Land Exchange". Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation. 15: 235–.
• Stengel, Amy (Summer 2001). "Insider's game or valuable land management tool-current issues in the Federal Land Exchange Program". Tulane Environmental Law Journal. 14 (2): 567–596. JSTOR 43292609.
• Yue, C. (June 2010). "Research into Chongqing's Securitized Land Exchange System". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)