Ben Gunneberg, Technical Lead for the BMRC modules workstream
Over the past five years, land-based investments have been pulled in several competing directions. Food security worries, demand for energy transition minerals, the rapid growth of carbon markets, climate finance, and a stronger push for national control over natural resources have all put fresh pressure on land. These forces are reshaping governance systems everywhere.
Throughout this period, the ALIGN consortium — Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), Namati, and IIED — along with the Land Portal Foundation, has worked closely with partners across Africa and Asia to understand how these changes are playing out in practice. Together, they’ve gathered evidence, tested new approaches, and documented what actually helps make land-based investment governance fairer.
On behalf of BMRC, I listened to the final session of an eightpart webinar series, where ALIGN brought together speakers to reflect on what has changed since 2020, what’s working on the ground, and what we should be paying attention to in the years ahead.
These are my reflections on the webinar.
What’s Changed Since 2020?
ALIGN’s sixyear programme, which worked with 40 organisations in 22 countries, has seen a noticeable shift in investment trends — from agriculture-focused projects to an increasing number of carbon and mineral deals linked to the energy transition.
Across contexts, a recurring theme discussed was that land rights and climate goals are increasingly intertwined.
Recordings of the earlier webinars — covering mining, carbon markets, FPIC, tenure, grievance mechanisms, and the challenges of legal frameworks — can be found on the Land Portal website.
Key insights from the panel
1. Community pressure can drive legal reform
Sonkita Conteh – Sierra Leone / Grassroots Justice Network
Sierra Leone offers a stark example of how outdated laws can harm communities, and how community advocacy can eventually change them. For years, communities were encouraged to “sacrifice” for national development, even when deals were clearly unfair — in some cases receiving as little as USD 2 per acre and being relocated in the process. The result was conflict, protests, and tragic loss of life.
After years of pressure, Sierra Leone passed new laws in 2022 that introduced FPIC, strengthened land protections, and began addressing longstanding issues in both the mining and agriculture sectors. The change came from communities organising, documenting their experiences, and using elections as moments to push for reform.
2. Land Is central to a just energy transition
Nathaniah Jacobs – South African Lawyer, IIED
As South Africa moves away from coal, land issues sit at the heart of the transition. Once marginal, carbon is now more valuable, and land-use decisions are increasingly contested.
Nathaniah highlighted three essentials for a just transition:
- Fair processes — good information, proper consultation, and clarity on tenure rights
- Fair outcomes — a balanced sharing of risks and benefits
- Recognition of history — acknowledging past injustices that shape today’s decisions
And crucially, this was highlighted as dependent on meaningful involvement of local communities.
3. Subnational Pressures Are Growing
Rose Mosie – IIED
Many land governance challenges happen at the subnational level, where national decisions meet local realities. Rose shared examples:
- In Zambia, tensions persist between traditional authorities (who manage land) and national government.
- In Gambia, mining activities overlap with farming areas, raising concerns about food security.
She also shared how community land committees — groups of trained community members — have helped create real channels for monitoring issues and feeding them back to authorities. This kind of bottomup structure has been particularly effective. The discussion also highlighted the importance of clarifying roles between national governments and traditional authorities, and improving understanding of agreements at community level.
4. Indonesia’s Energy Transition and Land Governance Gaps
Hansika Agrawal – Human Rights & Sustainable Development Practitioner
Indonesia’s land governance is complex, especially in areas with nickel and palm oil operations. Even when land tenure appears clear on paper, the situation on the ground can be very different. To speed up investment, some decisions have become more centralised — but this often reduces local input. The discussion also pointed to coordination challenges between different government bodies, and inconsistencies between official land-use maps, which can create overlapping claims and reduce clarity for decision making.
ALIGN partners worked with communities to map land themselves, creating locally owned evidence that can challenge errors in official maps. This has helped strengthen accountability and give communities a stronger voice.
What’s Working Well?
Across the discussion, several approaches stood out as especially effective:
- Supporting communityled processes
- Collecting and using groundlevel data
- Making land-use planning more transparent
- Encouraging communities to take an active role, not a passive one
- Aligning national priorities with local development goals
These approaches were highlighted as helping to build trust and support more durable decision making processes.
Looking Ahead: What to Watch in 2026 and Beyond
1. Communities Want a Bigger Role in Investment Decisions
More communities are exploring alternative, less harmful investments and want recognition of their carbon rights, not just a seat in the consultation room. Speakers also noted that ensuring all community voices are heard, not only those of the most visible actors, is an ongoing challenge.
2. Land Justice Is Becoming Central to Climate Justice
As transitions accelerate, unresolved tenure issues and overlapping land rights will require greater attention.
3. Resettlement and Compensation Need Improvement
Especially in countries like Zambia, expectations are growing for better safeguards when land is needed for mining or infrastructure.
4. Planning Must Combine Central Decisions with Local Knowledge
Even where systems are centralised, good local input makes a material difference — especially in spatial planning.
5. Better Coordination Across Government
Clear roles, shared information, and collaboration across ministries and traditional authorities will be critical as investment pressures increase.
Final Thoughts
The last five years have made one thing clear: improving land-based investment governance is not just about updating laws. It’s about strengthening people’s rights, ensuring they have a real say in decisions that affect them, and aligning investment with climate and development goals.
Communities are increasingly stepping into leadership roles — and when they do, governments and investors can arrive at decisions that are fairer, more transparent, and more sustainable.
Reflections for BMRC
From a BMRC perspective, one possible reflection is the importance of meaningful stakeholder engagement—particularly with local communities and women, whose knowledge and participation are central to sustainable forestry outcomes. There is also clear value in encouraging market actors to spend time in producer markets, to better understand and recognise the legal and sustainable practices already in place to supply responsible timber.
More information about ALIGN, the webinar series
For more information on Advancing Land-based Investment Governance (ALIGN), a partnership webinar series from the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Land Portal Foundation, and Namati, see https://landportal.org/webinar-series/2023/12/advancing-land-based-investment-governance-align-webinar-series
