Reflecting on the 2019 Open Science Meeting of the Global Land Program and on commentaries since, we argue that the time is ripe for the land system science community to fully embrace the thorny issue of land ownership and control. Beyond land governance and institutions, the issue of who actually owns and controls land, and how land holding and rents are distributed across society, is central to the future of sustainability initiatives, biodiversity protection, social justice, climate change mitigation, and long-term food security and sovereignty. By explicitly tracking and visualizing just Who Owns the Earth, the land system science community could provide much-needed data and insights to inform public debate and advance political action in these arenas.

在反思2019年全球土地计划开放科学会议及其评论之后，我们认为土地系统科学界完全接受棘手的土地所有权和控制权的时机已经成熟。除了土地治理和机构，谁真正拥有和控制土地，以及土地所有权和租金如何在整个社会中分配，这对于可持续性倡议，生物多样性保护，社会正义，减缓气候变化和长期发展的未来至关重要粮食安全和主权。通过明确地跟踪和可视化“谁是地球的所有者”，土地系统科学界可以提供急需的数据和见解，以指导公众辩论并推进这些领域的政治行动。