Conclusion: Land in a Changing World

The interwoven dynamics of population growth, urbanization, climate change, climate migration, biodiversity loss, and competition and conflict over scarce resources are upending the politics and power dynamics of land, and increasing the necessity of a thinking-and-working-politically (TWP) approach to land tenure programs.

For many years, land reforms were primarily within the purview of the state. But as democratic principles of inclusive participation and equity have flourished around the world, more actors have become involved in land tenure decisions, upending traditional power dynamics and expanding the set of actors involved in land programs.¹

At the same time, responses to the climate crisis are upending land tenure arrangements, broadening the cast of land tenure stakeholders (and introducing new winners and losers), and expanding the potential for land-related corruption. These include calls for ambitious carbon removal targets for forests and other landscapes, the birth of land-based carbon market mechanisms, and initiatives like 30×30, which has promoted the goal of protecting at least 30 percent of the world’s lands and oceans by 2030. New conservation arrangements governing lands that combine environmental protection and commercial profit are now managed by a wide range of actors, including government agencies, communities, and the private sector. Many of the ecosystems that are crucial for both biodiversity and sequestering emissions are on lands sustainably managed by Indigenous peoples and local communities who have tenure rights to more than a quarter of the world’s lands, although much of their land is not legally recognized.²

Effective responses to the challenges and opportunities of climate change rely on secure land tenure, including strengthening women’s resource tenure. This includes legal recognition of Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ rights to their land, territories, and natural resources as well as the formalization of community lands for sustainable landscape opportunities and community benefits from carbon payments. Land rights also can contribute to climate adaptation, resource sharing, and peacebuilding.

The centrality of land issues in a changing world also emerges in the race to extract critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel, graphite, aluminum, and zinc to fuel the green energy transition. Given the prerogatives of the state with respect to mineral extraction and widespread dissatisfaction with the conduct of mining companies, disputes over mining concessions, land rights, displacement, and land degradation have made mining a politically fraught issue for decades. Nevertheless, improving industry standards and internationally recognized best practices such as Free, Prior, and Informed Consent offer opportunities to apply TWP to land use planning and conflict prevention.

These shifting tides and their political ripple effects create more urgency to implement TWP in land approaches. Hence, development practitioners cannot and should not shirk the politics surrounding land governance, especially since they have the tools and expertise to address these realities.

This report underscores the need for practitioners to engage with the complexities of local political contexts and to understand the power structures, interests, and incentives shaping the perspectives and behavior of both the powerful and powerless.

Experience from decades of implementing land tenure projects suggests that continuous learning, flexibility, and an openness to adapting implementation strategies based on evolving political landscapes are essential to aligning interventions with always evolving local political dynamics. Now more than ever, these time-tested approaches are also critical for the success of future land programs.