This blog post from Transparency International and the Land Portal is a small preview of the discussion we're co-organizing at the World Bank Land Conference next month. The focus is on moving from awareness to action with strategies to secure land tenure and access, while scaling up initiatives, investments, and policy reforms for climate change mitigation and adaptation - including tools to monitor transparency and corruption. 

Photo: Fungai Nyikadzino in her field where the harsh sun and low rainfall devastated her crops in southern Zimbabawe. She has now received improved seeds and goats from Oxfam and partners in an initiative aimed at improving livelihoods in the arid region. (Picture: Loliwe Phiri / Oxfam)

This blog post is part of the series What to Read. 

Reflections from the Third Arab Land Conference and the LAND-at-scale Regional Day

Land is more than just a resource—it is the foundation of livelihoods, economic stability, and social justice. Responsible land governance plays a crucial role in sustainable development, conflict prevention, and climate resilience. These themes were central to the Third Arab Land Conference which took place the 18-20th February 2025 in Morocco, where policymakers, experts, and civil society organizations gathered to discuss pressing land challenges in the region. 

On International Women’s Day, we reflect on the intersection of land rights and gender equity through a compilation of resources featured on the Land Portal’s platform. Women’s access to and control over land is fundamental to achieving sustainable development, economic empowerment, and social justice. However, despite international commitments, structural barriers continue to hinder women’s full participation in land governance.

Ten years ago, in August 2015, a World Bank report highlighted that open data can “advance most if not all of the 17…U.N.

Photo credit: LAND-at-scale

On February 27, 2025, the Land Portal Foundation hosted an insightful webinar on Exploring Sustainable Financing of Land Registration and Land Governance. As financial sustainability remains a major challenge for land administration systems worldwide, experts from Burundi, Uganda, Somalia, and international institutions shared their experiences and strategies to transition from donor-dependent models to self-sustaining financing mechanisms.

Third Arab Land Conference Session Summary

The Land Portal has been following the news about USAID’s shutdown with much sadness and concern. During its 60-plus years of existence, the agency has acted on many fronts of international development, funding and managing thousands of initiatives to ensure good health, education, food security, women’s empowerment and, not least, good land governance in many countries of the Global South. With that experience, a lot of knowledge, good practices, and tools were developed.

Under the umbrella of the Land Dialogues series, the last  webinar of this year’s series “Navigating Loss and Damage : A Path to Justice for Indigenous Peoples” took place on December 5th, 2024. The webinar drew in a little over 250  participants. The series is organized by a consortium of organizations, including the Land Portal Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Tenure Facility.