Secure land rights for all—women and men, regardless of ethnicity or religion, or civil, economic, social, or political status—are foundational for achieving a world free of poverty, hunger, and systematic gender discrimination. So, in 2015, we celebrated when world leaders recognized the critical importance of land rights within Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. Member States’ ambitious written commitments, however, have not been followed by on-the-ground action.

Este informe examina cómo las políticas de gestión de riesgos ambientales y sociales (ESRM, por sus siglas en inglés) de los principales bancos que financian la extracción de petróleo y gas en la Amazonía no abordan plenamente los impactos adversos de su financiamiento en las personas y la naturaleza. Durante los últimos 20 años, solamente seis bancos: Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Itaú Unibanco, Santander, Bank of America y HSBC son responsables de casi la mitad (46%) de todo el financiamiento directo para las operaciones de petróleo y gas en la Amazonía.

The need for further discussion on territoriality in the context of rural development, driven by the political forces of globalization and the economic and social transformations within nations, comes as no surprise. It arises from the necessity to adapt methodologies, instruments, and activities to meet the new demands imposed by these changes and their unintended consequences. Ultimately, it fosters a fresh perspective on territorial issues, actively involving rural populations in the formulation of novel development outlooks.

Countries face severe local and global climate risks with grave social, economic, and environmental costs. Given a significant portion of global emissions are a result of agriculture, forestry, and other land-based investments, governments can mitigate climate risks by ensuring these investments contribute to, rather than undermine, national and global climate goals.

In 2021, Transparency International and the Equal Rights Trust published Defying Exclusion: Stories and Insights on the Links between Discrimination and Corruption. Bringing together a diverse group of case studies from across the globe, it documented and illustrated the mutually reinforcing links – the vicious cycle – between discrimination and corruption. Defying Exclusion marked the first attempt to systematically explore the phenomena we termed “discriminatory corruption”.

This study addresses the significant issue of land fragmentation in Ethiopia, which is characterized by  small, irregular, scattered parcels  with no or adequate road access. With landholders owning multiple small and dispersed parcels, averaging 1.5 hectares, the situation demands urgent policy intervention.

After 30 years of an authoritarian regime, Sudan reached a power-sharing deal between the military and the civilians that brought a transitional government to power in 2019. Their agenda was to lead the country towards a democratic transformation for no more than three years. This period of relative stability provided the space for democratic reform and increased transparency in Sudan, reversed by the return of political instability in 2022.

This report is a contribution of the knowledge management component of the LAND-at-scale programme (LAS) which is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and implemented by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland - RVO). LAND-at-scale is a seven-year programme (2019-2026), that aims to contribute to fair and just tenure security, access to land and natural resources for all.

LAND-at-scale (LAS) is a land governance support program for developing countries from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, which was launched in 2019. The objective of the program is to directly strengthen essential land governance components for men, women and youth that have the potential to contribute to structural, just, sustainable and inclusive change at scale in lower- and middle-income countries/regions/landscapes.

This report on the land data ecosystem in Madagascar is the first step towards providing a baseline and diagnostic tool to inform conversations around land and data governance. It aims to complement existing initiatives to improve the accuracy and extent of land data in Madagascar and identify opportunities to improve public access to all forms of land information.