1. Fifty Years of World Bank Engagement on Land Tenure Issues
2015 Land and Poverty Conference
The World Bank, Washington, DC
March 23-27, 2015
Fifty Years of
World Bank Engagement on
Land Tenure Issues
Jorge A. Muñoz
Camille Bourguignon Global Land and Geospatial Unit
The World Bank

2. Outline Rationale for the review Looking Back…and… Looking Ahead
Methodology
Analysis of 356 Bank projects
Historical perspective
Four periods ( )
Six project types
Stand-alone land administration projects
Current engagements
Prospects ahead

3. Rationale for the review
The World Bank has been financing land tenure interventions for over 50 years, with little systematic review
A wide range of instruments have been used for different development objectives and mixed results
Engagements varied by region and subject
A single volume will consolidate these multiple reviews
Collaborative work by Bank staff, consultants, and partners
To better position Bank in challenges ahead, regionally and thematically

4. Methodology Desk review of 356 identified projects
Creation of typology of projects:
Stand-alone land administration (59)
Agro-forestry with settlement activities (52)
Community-driven redistributive land reform (8)
Agricultural sector with land administration (109)
Natural Resources Management (59)
Others (DPL, ASL, RAS, …) (69)
Analysis by types, regions, and thematic areas
Four main periods identified

5. Historical perspective (1960-2010)
Four periods

6. First period (1960s-1970s) Integrated rural development projects
Steady increase of land tenure components
(e.g., surveying, titling) in:
Irrigation projects
Settlements projects (“movement of people to areas of underutilized agricultural potential”)
Mostly in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, and Colombia
Variety of settlements schemes, but mostly small scale farming
1975 Land Sector Policy Paper:
“The Bank will … finance projects … concomitant of land reform”

7. Second period (1980s) Limits of integrated rural development
Recognition of limits to overly-centralized, multi-sector approach to rural development
Increased attention to negative impacts on the environment, indigenous peoples, etc.
First Natural Resource Management project with significant land tenure activities
(West Bengal Social Forestry Project)
First stand-alone land reform and titling project (Thailand)
Analytical work on land reform:
Land Policies and Farm Productivity in Thailand (Feder et al. 1988)
What Are the Prospects for Land Reform? (Binswanger and Elgin 1988)

8. Third period (1990s-2000s) Rethinking of land tenure issues
Disappointing or mix results from land reforms
Increased recognition of importance of secure tenure rights and land markets
Collapse of the Soviet block triggers unprecedented land reforms (in scale and scope) in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Huge surge of Bank-financed land administration projects in Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, and East Asia & Pacific
And launching of a beneficiary-driven, decentralized model to land redistribution, linked to productive investments

9. Third period (1990s-2000s) Stand-alone land administration projects
Legal, policy and institutional reforms
Regularization of land rights
Surveying, titling, and registration
Linking cadasters with registries
Development of National Spatial Data Infrastructures
Focus on access to information and service delivery
Valuation and Taxation
59 projects (26 in ECA, 13 in LAC, 13 in EAP)
Over $ 2.2 billion in World Bank commitments in two decades

10. Third period (1990s-2000s) Stand-alone land administration projects

11. Fourth period (mid-2000s to date) Current context
Land Tenure re-emerges as central to development
Three Crisis: Food, Fuel, Financial
Interest in investments in agriculture
Bio-fuels, Climate Change, Carbon
Governance and transparency are key
Global trends and initiatives
Voluntary Guidelines (FAO)
G8 Transparency Initiative
Explosion of geospatial technologies, reduced cost of interventions

12. Fourth period (mid-2000s to date) World Bank engagements
World Bank is largest single-financier of land administration projects (20-25% ODA), with about $1.2 billion in commitments
17 Stand-alone land administration projects
ECA (10), LCR (2), EAP (2), AFR (1), MENA (1), SAR (1)
28 projects with land tenure components
43 Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF)
24 completed, 13 ongoing, 6 prospective

13. Challenges ahead Multiplicity of demands:
Traditional land sector
Extractive industries
Investments in agriculture
Governance, local/territorial development
Rapid urbanization
Regional disparities: Rapid development in ECA, stagnation in Africa
Unrealistic expectations: push for short-term solutions, but tenure reforms take time
Better data and cooperation with partners are fundamental

14. Thank You