Why land is key to tackling climate change and infrastructure gaps

While many countries have made impressive progress strengthening their infrastructure, significant gaps remain around the world.

Globally, a billion people live more than two kilometers from an all-weather road, 685 million people are without electricity, and nearly 3 billion people lack internet access. In addition, 2.6 billion people don’t have access to safe drinking water and 3.5 billion people lack safely managed sanitation.

To close these huge gaps, we need better access to land. This will not only enable the construction of basic infrastructure like pipes, electricity lines, and roads, but in the process will also support countries and communities to enhance their climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.

A World Bank-commissioned analysis of Paris Agreement climate action plans found that half of all climate actions are related to land, especially concentrated in rural and forest areas and on the fringes of expanding urban zones. These areas experience higher levels of land tenure insecurity and poverty compared to more established agricultural regions, settlements, and towns.

On top of that, at least 54 percent of the transition minerals needed to reach a net zero emissions economy can be found on or near Indigenous Peoples’ lands and territories. Yet, it’s estimated that at most half of Indigenous Peoples’ land rights are formally recognized, making it difficult to ensure that legitimate landholders are identified and included in investment planning and benefits.

Scaling up investments in land tenure and administration is therefore critical to both closing the global infrastructure gap and for equitably tackling climate change. That’s why the World Bank is expanding our land sector investments, including to secure the land rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, through our new Global Program on Land Tenure Security and Land Access for Climate Goals. 

^{Digital tools can help to improve land administration and planning, enabling more transparent, inclusive, and efficient land markets. Photo credit: World Bank/Evan Abauh.} 

The program, launched earlier this year at the World Bank Land Conference, has four main objectives, which also support the Sustainable Development Goals: 

1. Global land tenure security: To strengthen land policies, laws, and registration to improve the tenure security of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and public and private owners of forested, rural, and urban areas.
2. Women's land rights: To significantly improve women's access to land ownership and control, advancing gender equality and the Stand for Her Land Campaign.
3. Climate sensitive land use: To improve the regularization, planning, and management of urban lands.
4. Access to land for climate action: To improve land administration systems and management of lands to realize bioenergy, afforestation, and renewable energy investments and transition away from coal.

We have ambitious targets for the program. Over the next five years, we aim to ensure 100 million people see greater tenure security, including 40 million women; develop climate-sensitive land use plans in 500 urban areas; and improve land administration and land access for climate action in 20 countries. 

To achieve these targets, the World Bank will invest more to help countries strengthen their land administration systems, land management, and land use planning. For example, in Indonesia we are preparing a $700 million integrated land administration and spatial planning operation that will register over 5 million land parcels, benefiting over 11 million people, and develop hundreds of climate-informed spatial plans. In Côte d’Ivoire, the government has launched a $200 million results-based operation, financed by the World Bank, that will fully digitize rural land administration and deliver formal land records. This new operation will benefit over 6 million people, half of whom are women, to enable more transparent, inclusive, and efficient land markets.

^{Landholders in Dimbokro, Cote D’Ivoire, who were provided with formal documents recognizing their land rights through a World-Bank financed operation. Photo credit: World Bank/Evan Abauh.} 

Working together with governments, civil society, and development partners, the World Bank is also committed to boosting our land sector financing. Over the next five years, we aim to double our investment in the land sector, from $5 billion to $10 billion, and to double the number of countries benefitting from World Bank-financed land operations.

We are also excited to announce that the next World Bank Land Conference will take place in Washington, DC, next year on May 5 to 8, 2025, focused on the foundational role of securing land tenure and access for climate action. This premier forum for the land sector brings together governments, development partners, civil society, academia, and the private sector to showcase best practices, discuss issues, and inform evidence-based policy dialogue.

The World Bank is committed to collaborating with our partners to help countries access the land they need to close the infrastructure gap and to improve land tenure security while ensuring that the climate transition is just and equitable. We don’t have time to waste.