Fifty Years of World Bank Engagement

on Land Tenure Issues

Jorge A. MuñozCamille Bourguignon

Global Land and Geospatial UnitThe World Bank

2015 Land and Poverty ConferenceThe World Bank, Washington, DC

March 23-27, 2015

• Rationale for the reviewLooking Back…and… Looking Ahead

• MethodologyAnalysis of 356 Bank projects

• Historical perspectiveFour periods (1960-2015)

Six project types Stand-alone land administration

projects• Current engagements• Prospects ahead

Outline

Rationale for the reviewThe 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 subjectA single volume will consolidate these multiple

reviewsCollaborative work by Bank staff, consultants, and

partnersTo better position Bank in challenges ahead,

regionally and thematically

MethodologyDesk review of 356 identified projectsCreation of typology of projects:

o Stand-alone land administration (59)o Agro-forestry with settlement activities (52)o Community-driven redistributive land reform (8)o Agricultural sector with land administration

(109)o Natural Resources Management (59)o Others (DPL, ASL, RAS, …) (69)

Analysis by types, regions, and thematic areasFour 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 farming1975 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

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

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

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)Current context

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

Fourth period (mid-2000s to date)World Bank engagements

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

Challenges ahead

Thank You