Sustainable land use planning as key factor

Outcomes from the last three decades indicate that improved pathways are needed for widespread, inclusive, and resilient rural transformation. This is especially true in a global context of increased risk and vulnerability due to climate change, population growth, and the potential of public health and political shocks.

Climate change is a key factor linking land policies to the possibilities of achieving RITI, as it will likely reduce the supply of easily available arable land, increase the variability of yields due to weather variability and put pressure on ecosystem services like freshwater availability, soil fertility, biodiversity and forest carbon storage.

These effects call for intensive efforts to improve land use by improving stewardship and fostering resilience. Achieving these improvements requires bringing both more democracy and more knowledge into local land governance processes. Improving tenure security is a part of this response in some places, particularly where the "tenure gap" between local occupation and formal recognition generates high insecurity leading to vulnerability and unsustainable land use, but it is certainly not the only land policy response.

Land use planning and land governance (decision-making, allocation, enforcement, integration with agricultural and forest policy, etc.) are also critical for climate response. Recognition of rights should be a foundational element of an extensive package of policies and investments for achieving improved land use. Expanded recognition of community and customary lands in Africa, LAC and Asia should be a fundamental part of the creation of this package of policies and investments to foster climate resilient stewardship of land and natural resources.