Discover hidden stories and unheard voices on land governance issues from around the world. This is where the Land Portal community shares activities, experiences, challenges and successes.
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Reflections from the Third Arab Land Conference and the LAND-at-scale Regional Day
Land is more than just a resource—it is the foundation of livelihoods, economic stability, and social justice. Responsible land governance plays a crucial role in sustainable development, conflict prevention, and climate resilience. These themes were central to the Third Arab Land Conference which took place the 18-20th February 2025 in Morocco, where policymakers, experts, and civil society organizations gathered to discuss pressing land challenges in the region.
Photo credit: LAND-at-scale
On February 27, 2025, the Land Portal Foundation hosted an insightful webinar on Exploring Sustainable Financing of Land Registration and Land Governance. As financial sustainability remains a major challenge for land administration systems worldwide, experts from Burundi, Uganda, Somalia, and international institutions shared their experiences and strategies to transition from donor-dependent models to self-sustaining financing mechanisms.
Third Arab Land Conference Session Summary
Women’s secure access to land, housing, and resources is a fundamental pillar of economic stability, social inclusion, and sustainable development. Across the Arab region, however, legal barriers, customary norms, and institutional challenges continue to restrict women’s land tenure rights, limiting their ability to invest, build wealth, and participate in decision-making.
Third Arab Land Conference Session Summary
Third Arab Land Conference Session Summary
The High-Level Session on Land Management in Times of Crisis at the Third Arab Land Conference convened policymakers, experts, and practitioners to explore how effective land governance can mitigate these challenges, prevent future conflicts, and drive resilience.
Third Arab Land Conference Session Summary
Photo: AU UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES. (CC0 1.0 Universal)
As part of a scoping study titled Land Governance for Climate Resilience: A review and case studies from LAND-at-scale projects headed by Richard Sliuzas, Emeritus Professor, University of Twente, IOM explored how climate plays a role in the UN-led Saameynta Joint Programme in Somalia.
In a 2009 TED Talk with over 35 million views, Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaks about the danger of a single story and the simplifications that they promote. Her observations are highly pertinent in the case of the Sahel. Persistent single stories in the media and the international policy sphere portray the Sahel region as an area of intractable conflict, drought, famine and displacement, but lack meaningful explanation.
Scaling is at the heart of both the name as well as the strategy of LAND-at-scale. Scaling and scaling potential are key in the way the program was designed and is reflected in the three pillars chosen to realize the aim of the program. The first pillar is about scaling successful initiatives and projects; the second pillar focuses on land governance innovations with scaling potential; and the third pillar covers knowledge management, with a focus on gaining a deeper understanding on the conditions required to make scaling successful.
This article first appeared in the Review of African Political Economy on the 10th January 2023
Building solutions for long-term sustainable livelihoods in urban contexts