Thematic Areas
Land Governance
Land is one of the most valuable resources a rural family can own to secure its livelihoods. Secure land holding can contribute to social inclusion, help protect human rights and support climate change adaptation and mitigation. Without secure land tenure, families and communities in rural, peri-urban and urban areas are vulnerable to conflict, displacement and expropriations, and may experience a variety of challenges to access natural and financial resources, markets, and other services.
The Global Donor Working Group on Land (GDWGL) was established in April 2013 by the global donor community during the Donor Roundtable Meeting in Washington. The group was formed on the margins of the annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, in response to: (i) the sharp and volatile increases in food prices that began in 2008; (ii) following the endorsement of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) and; (iii) the experience of donor coordination to support those important negotiations.
Thematic Areas
Land Governance
Land is one of the most valuable resources a rural family can own to secure its livelihoods. Secure land holding can contribute to social inclusion, help protect human rights and support climate change adaptation and mitigation. Without secure land tenure, families and communities in rural, peri-urban and urban areas are vulnerable to conflict, displacement and expropriations, and may experience a variety of challenges to access natural and financial resources, markets, and other services.
The Global Donor Working Group on Land (GDWGL) was established in April 2013 by the global donor community during the Donor Roundtable Meeting in Washington. The group was formed on the margins of the annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, in response to: (i) the sharp and volatile increases in food prices that began in 2008; (ii) following the endorsement of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) and; (iii) the experience of donor coordination to support those important negotiations.
Three reasons why we engage
One out of four people feel their land tenure is insecure according to the Prindex Comparative Report in 2024.
The situation is worse for women and widows are further disadvantaged.
The consequences of land insecurity are far-reaching.
It can lead to higher risks of conflict, an inability to mitigate climate change, and a weakened rule of law for a variety of groups who are disadvantaged and marginalized.
We seek to bolster opportunities and help advance inclusive and sustainable resource governance.
Working together for improved food security and nutrition, enhanced economic growth, and better private sector integration. Most importantly, land rights can help human rights.
Talking about Land Governance
Talking about Land Governance
Land is synonymous with identity, culture, power, development, food, and human security. Good land governance is essential for sustainable use of our land, our environment, our shared prosperity, and our common future, for a world in which all groups and multi generations live, thrive and prosper on land in equal stature.
Land is synonymous with identity, culture, power, development, food, and human security. Good land governance is essential for sustainable use of our land, our environment, our shared prosperity, and our common future, for a world in which all groups and multi generations live, thrive and prosper on land in equal stature.
Improved land rights for all and sustainable land use are absolute preconditions for achieving the SDG targets on food & nutrition security, climate resilience, rule of law, peace & stability, inclusive growth and gender equality. This requires coordinated multi-stakeholder action aligned with people’s priorities and (sub)national policies.
Improved land rights for all and sustainable land use are absolute preconditions for achieving the SDG targets on food & nutrition security, climate resilience, rule of law, peace & stability, inclusive growth and gender equality. This requires coordinated multi-stakeholder action aligned with people’s priorities and (sub)national policies.
There remains an enormous implementation gap to close around land rights, to address discriminatory social norms and support the equal rights of women, youth, indigenous people and migrants to access, use and benefit from land. We have the opportunity to work collaboratively for another 10 years of progress on good land governance.
There remains an enormous implementation gap to close around land rights, to address discriminatory social norms and support the equal rights of women, youth, indigenous people and migrants to access, use and benefit from land. We have the opportunity to work collaboratively for another 10 years of progress on good land governance.
The Thematic Working Group Organizational Structure
The GDWGL is a network of twenty-nine bilateral and multilateral donors and international organizations cooperating on land-related issues worldwide. The group is facilitated by the Global Donor Platform and is currently chaired by The Netherlands. The Chair is held on a rotating basis by one of the Group’s member organisations.
The Group routinely hosts side events during high-level conferences and forums. Physical meetings are held twice a year, usually in March during the World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty and in October during the Committee on World Food Security. Between these face-to-face meetings, the group also holds regular conference calls to discuss engagement in specific processes, to agree and report on annual activities, and exchange information on country-level programmes, amongst other items.
Our priority areas
Land Tenure and Resource Governance
Country-level Coordination
Land Governance and Food Systems
© IFAD/Chris McMorrow
© IFAD/Guillaume Bassinet
Highlights
The Land Projects Database was updated in 2023 by the GDWGL and the Land Portal Foundation, in continued efforts to improve access to data and information on land governance issues. The database includes 3871 projects that combine data from Land Portal’s projects database, focusing on projects that have been manually added over the last 5 years, the former GDWGL’s Land Governance Programme Map and the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), focusing on land governance projects. Users can click through the map to access information. The map is regularly updated from the IATI dataset. Read more.
The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT). The GDWGL has been a key player in advocating the use of the VGGT as well as in supporting dialogue spaces where land and development experts can share their lessons learnt from the implementation of the VGGT. A landmark result of this effort was the endorsement of the VGGT by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in 2012. The VGGT is the first internationally negotiated and agreed upon soft-law instrument on the governance of land tenure. Read More.
The SDGs Land Indicators 1.4.2 and 5.a.1. The GDWGL advocated for the inclusion of land indicators under the Sustainable Development Goals, to alleviate poverty, enhance gender equality, and promote sustainable cities and communities. This has been instrumental in the process of raising the importance of the indicators from Tier II to Tier I. Read More.
State of Land Tenure and Governance Report: In 2019, on the sidelines of the African Land Policy Conference, the GDWGL endorsed a concept note for a Global Land Governance Report. The key objective is to produce an evidence-based report on the status of land tenure and governance issues for policy makers and others, one that links land to critical agendas such as implementation of VGGTs, SDGs, sustainable food systems, climate change, gender equality and biodiversity among others. The working group has also supported the development of a detailed outline for the report based on extensive key informant interviews and a review of existing data sources. Having supported this important early work, the GDWGL is encouraged to note that the report will move forward with the support of FAO, GLTN and UN-Habitat, the International Land Coalition and other partners.
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Land Events
Group Members
Group Members
