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

Outline Rationale for the review Looking Back…and… Looking Ahead Methodology Analysis of 356 Bank projects Historical perspective Four periods (1960-2015) Six project types Stand-alone land administration projects Current engagements Prospects ahead

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

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

Historical perspective (1960-2010) Four periods

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”

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank You