As the demand for food, fuel, urbanization and other uses drive up the pressure on land resources across the globe, governments around the world are finding it vital to strengthen land governance.
Indeed, better land governance encourages investment, steers urban growth and improves social welfare. It also helps countries overcome a legacy of inequality, dispossession and conflict, and ensure that new land investments offer benefits shared by the public.
The issue is important because many countries were caught unprepared by the sudden increase in demand for land. Many are grappling with how to prevent deals that would harm local people and sow the seeds of conflict.