 This conference will now be recorded. Dear participants to the Conference on Land Policy in Africa, my name is Leon Verstappen. I am chairing Foundation The Land Portal since its establishment back in 2014 and before I was part of the steering committee from 2009 to 2014. I am happy to address the Conference on Land Policy in Africa on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of The Land Portal. Since its inception in 2009, a lot has been achieved. If I look back to where we came from, to where we stand now, I can see very clearly that not only the website developed itself from an easy-to-use platform, a knowledge gateway into one of the main actors working to democratize the land data ecosystem globally, but also that the organization behind it evolved itself from a one-person does-it-all project to an independent organization with a team and an internationally and multidisciplinary composed board and advisory committee. We are critical on every step we take in the development of the website instead of jumping into every digital online opportunity that comes along. We are selective in the projects we embark on instead of participating in every action in the land community. We keep pace with developments in the internet through a constant process of adjustment of the website. We collaborate with almost 1,900 organizations worldwide serving them by not only having the website also to their disposal but also to offer services to improve their open data and give them a platform to present their organization to the land community. We help them to create and disseminate land governance data and information through linked and open data technologies. We are open to all organizations in the land community that stay an independent organization. Our ultimate goal is to democratize information making it easy to share and reuse. With a lean and mean organization, we took small steps instead of giant leaps. It proved to be the right policy. I am very grateful to all our funders in the land community who provided the necessary financial means to do all this. I thank all current and past board members that have served the land portal over the years on a voluntary basis. We had some very inspiring and sometimes tough discussions. I am particularly proud that we have a dedicated and skilled team. Without them, nothing goes. And I'm proud to having served the land portal for more than a decade myself. With the increasing importance of trustworthy information and data in our society, an organization as a land portal is indispensable in the land community. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to say some words on behalf of Foundation The Land Portal on the occasion of its 10th anniversary.