By Amy Coughenour Betancourt, CEO & President, Cadasta Foundation
The World Bank Land Conference, last held in 2019, took place this May in Washington D.C. It is one of the most important global land sector gatherings of governments, policymakers, civil society, donors, and the private sector. This year, there were notable shifts in the content and participation, with more focus on climate, securing land tenure, and including underrepresented voices and communities in the dialogue. One message was clear–the urgent need for securing land rights for Indigenous Peoples (IPs), Afro-Descendant Peoples (ADPs), and Local Communities (LCs) as a prerequisite for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and global climate and biodiversity commitments. Session after session highlighted the impact of secure land rights, not only as foundational to national economic development and productivity, but also to environmental conservation, climate resilience, and human rights.
In one of the panels under the Land Administration track organized by Kadaster International, the Federation of International Surveyors (FIG), the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and Cadasta, I moderated a discussion on how accepted land administration standards, such as the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM), could potentially bridge the gap between formal and informal land systems to recognize community and customary rights at scale. This model is not widely known or understood by rightsholder communities and yet is considered a key strategy by land administration practitioners for fit-for-purpose land recognition.
The panel, entitled “Empowering Indigenous and Local Community Tenure Rights through Technology, Capacity-building, and Collaboration” featured two speakers from Cadasta partner organizations: Pablo Mis, Executive Director of the Julian Cho Society, an Indigenous-led organization that works with Mayan communities in Southern Belize, and Samunda Jabini, Community Engagement Consultant with the Association of Saamaka Communities (VSG) in Suriname, an organization representing the rights of Afro-descendant forest communities. The panel also included Simon-Peter Mwesigye, a land tenure specialist at UN-Habitat working on customary land tenure in Uganda.
Simon-Peter discussed the elements of STDM and how it has been used to secure Certificates of Customary Ownership in Uganda, serving as a conceptual and operational bridge between government and communities. Pablo described the important work with Mayan mayors and communities to advocate for Indigenous land rights and the need for close engagement to keep governments accountable. Samunda shared the challenges in Suriname, where the government is selling concessions on their land for mining and large scale agriculture. The panelists concluded by expressing interest in STDM as a framework that could be more widely used as a tool for communities to engage their governments in formal recognition processes.
Another important engagement was a multi-sector dialogue on Securing Land Tenure for Climate Action in Washington, D.C., co-organized at the House of Sweden by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), Cadasta, Land Portal Foundation, Landesa, and Forest Trends. I moderated a diverse panel representing rightsholders, donors, governments, and civil society. We discussed the challenges and opportunities in securing land rights for IPs, ADPs, and LCs for climate action, highlighting initiatives such as the $1.7 billion IP and LC Forest Tenure Pledge and the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership, among others.
Despite these efforts, the dialogue revealed that more direct and responsive funding for communities is needed. Samunda Jabini, an Afro-descendant Saamaka human rights activist from Suriname, emphasized the barriers communities face in accessing direct funding due to language and complex proposal requirements. Sandrina Randriamananjara Anjary from Madagascar’s Ministry of Decentralization and Regional Planning highlighted the need for land reforms to adapt to modern realities, including climate adaptation.
Chris Penrose Buckley, Senior Advisor, Land Policy at FCDO, emphasized the upcoming opportunity to consider renewed donor pledges to meet the moment, “There is an opportunity to do a lot more for a bigger, more ambitious, more transparent pledge. But also looking at how we can encourage tropical forest countries to make parallel commitments and to mobilize funding to them as well. That is the opportunity we should all be gathering forces to work towards over the next 18 months.” One example of bilateral support is Cadasta’s Land for Climate and Forest Rights Program, supported by a grant from the UK government’s COP26 climate commitment. This initiative channels direct funding and technical support to 13 local IP, LC, and ADP organizations to document and secure community land and resource rights for 200,000 people living on 1 million hectares of forest land in 12 climate hotspots globally.
Representing the largest philanthropic commitment ever–$10 billion–to fight climate change and protect nature, Cristian Samper, Managing Director, Bezos Earth Fund spoke about their key investments in scaling up the recognition of tenure rights in the Tropical Andes and Congo Basin and the importance of working through organizations with trusted community networks. Commenting on their philanthropic strategy, Samper said, “We have made a collective pledge of US$ 5 billion dollars and have already invested $1.8 billion since Glasgow. Almost 30% of this funding has gone to support Indigenous groups. Not all of it is direct — we could and should do more, but I think we are moving in that direction.” Solange Bandiaky-Badji, President & Coordinator, Rights and Resources Initiative, which is partnering with Bezos, reiterated the importance of these investments: “Without securing the land and resource rights of the world’s 2 billion plus Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and Local Communities, a sustainable and healthy planet is just not possible.”
In closing the panel and reflecting broadly on a pivotal moment in the land sector, I reminded the audience of words from the conference opening plenary spoken by Andrew Steer, CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund. His sentiment serves as a call to action for all of us working toward responsive and inclusive land governance: