At the 2025 World Bank Land Conference, the session titled “Strengthening Land Governance for Climate Resilience: Strategies and Lessons from East and Southern Africa”, organized by CTV, GLTN and ZOA, partners from LAND-at-scale, and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), convened experts and practitioners from across the region to unpack a powerful and urgent question: How can securing land tenure help communities respond to climate change?
Drawing on grassroots interventions and longitudinal research from the Land-at-Scale programme, panelists shared compelling case studies from Uganda, Burundi, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Despite their differing contexts, the message was clear: land governance and climate resilience are deeply intertwined—and with integrated community based strategies, strengthening one will strengthen the other.
Grounding Climate Resilience in Land Rights
Opening the session, Imke Greven, Senior Program Advisor at RVO, introduced the Land-at-Scale program, which operates in 12 countries and seeks to integrate tenure security with broader development goals. “Our entry point is land rights,” she said. “And we want to show how strengthening land tenure is a pathway to climate resilience.”
Greven underscored a key theme running through all country presentations: “It’s about community involvement, and the change you want to see in people’s lives.”
This intersection of tenure security and climate action, Greven explained, looks different in every case. But across the board, weak land governance was found to undermine climate resilience, while well-designed, inclusive land interventions could empower communities to adapt and thrive.
Uganda: Wetlands, Women, and Wise Use
Simon Peter Mwesigye, Project Coordinator LAND-at-scale at UN-Habitat and GLTN, presented a vivid case from Butaleja District in eastern Uganda, where 40% of the land area consists of wetlands. Traditionally managed by communities for food and livestock, these wetlands have come under growing pressure from commercial rice farming and in-migration, leading to conflicts, environmental degradation, and loss of biodiversity.
“The Constitution says wetlands are public resources, managed by the state on behalf of the people,” Mwesigye explained. “But in practice, local communities—especially adjacent landowners—still make decisions about how the wetlands are used.”
This ambiguous governance has sparked conflicts between farmers and pastoralists, between ethnic groups, and between old and new settlers. It has also led to ecological breakdowns: buffer zones have been destroyed, floods have increased, and wetland ecosystems are failing.
The Land-at-Scale project intervened by facilitating community based governance mechanisms—specifically, wetland management associations and community wetland management committees. “These governance structures created a new level of accountability,” Mwesigye noted. “For the first time, the community had a system to enforce sustainable practices and resolve disputes.”
Wetland management plans, developed in a participatory manner, were integrated into local government land use planning and used to designate ecological buffers and ensure sustainable use and equitable access to wetlands for local communities. Wetlands were mapped with open geospatial tools to track land use and prevent illegal expansion. “We now have a baseline for sustainable wetland management,” Mwesigye said.
One notable success was the empowerment of women, who play a major role in wetland agriculture but often lacked secure rights or influence. “We didn’t just include women in the committees,” he emphasized, “we empowered them to participate in decision-making and shift social norms that previously excluded them from inheritance and leadership.”
The result? Less conflict, more cooperation, wetland restoration—and a growing sense of shared responsibility for the wetlands’ future.
Burundi: Reconciling Conflicting Interests
In Burundi, the tension between human settlement and environmental protection is especially acute. With high population density, land scarcity, and a history of civil conflict, communities have settled in areas that are legally designated for environmental protection.
Timothée Rukundo, Country Director at ZOA, explained the challenge: “When communities are located within protected zones—near Lake Tanganyika or in forests—we’re faced with a dilemma. Do we secure tenure for the people, or prioritize environmental conservation?”
Relocation, he said, is neither feasible nor desirable. “Land is tied to people’s identity, history, and social networks. Moving them creates trauma and resistance.”
The solution lies in collaborative governance. “We’re advocating for secure user rights for communities, even in protected areas—but with conditions,” Rukundo noted. These conditions include joint responsibilities for environmental stewardship.
The project uses the Participatory Integrated Planning approach,known as the PIP, where households and communities design their own vision for the future, including concrete actions to protect the environment. “We link land registration with climate smart agriculture practices,” Rukundo said. “We promote integrated land use that aligns livelihood security with ecological goals.”
This inclusive model builds both climate resilience and social cohesion. “It only works when communities and government work together, and when local capacity is linked to national policy reform.”
Mozambique: Climate Displacement and Legal Gaps
In Mozambique, the conversation focused on a growing crisis: climate-induced displacement. Borges Chivambo, Legal Expert at Centro Terra Viva, presented a sobering case from Buzi District, where catastrophic floods forced entire communities to flee their homes.
“The water reached above the doors,” he said, pointing to a photo of an abandoned house. “People had no choice but to move.”
But resettlement raises critical questions of tenure and justice. “The people receiving displaced communities—the host communities—also rely on land. If they’re not consulted, land conflict will follow.”
Mozambique’s legal framework for land, Chivambo noted, provides for resettlement related to economic investment, but not for climate-induced relocation. “There’s a legal gap,” he stressed. “The relationship between land governance and climate resilience remains informal.”
Chivambo called for the recognition of this link and the formalization of climate-sensitive tenure frameworks. “We need to move from assumptions to action. Land governance must anticipate climate change and design mechanisms that protect both the displaced and the host communities.”
Importantly, the Land-at-Scale project in Mozambique is also strengthening legal literacy. “People don’t know their rights. That makes them vulnerable. Our goal is to increase legal awareness at the local level, so that people can assert their land rights even in crisis.”
DRC: Family Farming at the Heart of Reform
Back across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Timothée Rukundo returned to the stage to discuss family farming as a cornerstone of inclusive land and agricultural reform.
“In the DRC, most agricultural land is controlled by large landowners,” he said. “Yet 70% of the working population relies on subsistence farming. The disconnect is enormous.”
The ongoing land and agriculture reforms, Rukundo warned, risk favoring agro-industry over smallholder farmers. “We are pushing for a different approach—one that centers family farming, protects rural land rights, and promotes climate smart agriculture.”
Family farming, he argued, is not only essential for food security and poverty reduction; it’s also key to climate resilience. “When people know their land is secure, they invest in the land. They plant trees. They use sustainable techniques. They protect the soil.”
A powerful example came from a woman farmer who shared her story: after securing her land rights and receiving training in smart agriculture, she increased her yields, built a house, sent her children to school, and joined a cooperative. “Now she’s part of a value chain,” Rukundo said. “Before, she was just surviving. Now, she’s thriving.”
This transformation is only possible when reforms are inclusive and rights-based. “We need integrated strategies,” he concluded. “That means aligning grassroots innovations with national policies. And it means ensuring that reform benefits the many, not just the few.”
The Way Forward: Breaking Down Silos
During the closing discussion, participants echoed a common theme: to achieve climate resilience, land governance must become a priority—not an afterthought.
“Land and climate actors often operate in silos,” one participant from Madagascar remarked. “We need a shared vision—one that includes land restoration, secure tenure, and community ownership.”
Greven reinforced this point. “Tenure security contributes to climate resilience—but it’s not automatic. You have to pair it with climate-smart practices. And if you ignore land rights, resilience efforts might fail.”
She also reminded participants that these lessons are being carefully documented through Land-at-Scale’s knowledge management work. “We have longitudinal studies in Burundi and elsewhere. The data shows real change—when we empower communities, respect local knowledge, and build durable institutions.”
Panelists also addressed questions about pastoralism, buffer zones, and legal inconsistencies—issues that underscore the complexity of managing land in changing environments.
Yet despite these challenges, the session ended on a hopeful note. “We are not just working on land,” Rukundo said. “We are changing lives. And that is the heart of resilience.”
Program: LAND-at-scale.
Related projects: LAND-at-scale Burundi: Amahoro at Scale, LAND-at-scale Mozambique: Community land rights and climate resilience, LAND-at-scale Mozambique: Community land rights certification in municipal areas.
Originally published on the Land Portal. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.