The Policy Practice is cross-posting some of the Ground Rules blogs, an initiative of the Land Facility Decision Support Unit that explores how ‘thinking and working politically’ can support more adaptive and effective programming in land governance and beyond. The series was curated in collaboration with the Land Portal Foundation.

Quick read:

• Climate change is a ‘risk multiplier’; it puts new pressures on people and governments, intensifying land governance challenges across sectors (e.g. infrastructure, energy, mining).
• Technical models should ‘look below the surface’ to align with the changing social and economic processes impacting land governance across contexts.
• Political economy analysis (PEA) is a practical approach for land programmes to understand why some problems persist and which actions are most likely to succeed.
• Understanding power dynamics can help programmes to more effectively incentivise climate action, sustainable land use, and inclusive land tenure.

As climate change intensifies the fragility of governance systems and access to resources, a new imperative is emerging in the land sector: look beyond technical solutions and confront the underlying political economy. That was the focus of “Navigating Political Economies to Strengthen Land Governance for Climate Action,” a well-received session organised by the Land Facility, a global programme funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Held on May 6 at the World Bank Land Conference 2025, the session brought together practitioners, reformers, and thinkers who are reshaping how land governance is approached in an era of urgent climate action.

Moderated by Tony Burns, Executive Director of the company Land Equity International, the panel explored how Political Economy Analysis (PEA) is not simply an academic exercise but a practical tool for navigating the invisible forces—interests, incentives, ideologies, and power asymmetries—that shape the success or failure of land reform.

“Land tenure policy is the foundation of a society’s ability to meet the competing needs of population growth, food security, biodiversity, and climate action,” Burns said. “But there is no one-size-fits-all model. Each country faces its own political circumstances and historical burdens.”

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Mapping the hidden terrain of reform

Claudia D’Andrea, political economy analyst for the Land Facility, opened the session with a grounding in the concepts and tools of political economy. Representing the Land Facility, D’Andrea argued that PEA helps development actors look “below the surface” of technical land challenges to reveal why some reforms stagnate while others succeed.

“Climate change is a risk multiplier. It exacerbates fragility, deepens social fissures, and adds urgency to already complex land governance problems,” D’Andrea explained. “Yet most reform failures are not due to bad policies—they’re due to power, resistance, and conflicting incentives.”

She described PEA as a set of methods to analyse stakeholders, institutional barriers, informal rules of the game, and power asymmetries—particularly along gender and customary lines. “We must ask: who benefits from the current system? Who loses from change? And where are the ‘loose bricks’ in the wall of resistance that can become entry points for reform?”

Importantly, D’Andrea emphasised that PEA is not about publishing reports. “It’s about actionable insight. It’s about identifying politically feasible pathways for inclusive tenure reform that supports climate goals,” she said.

"[PEA] is about actionable insight. It’s about identifying politically feasible pathways for inclusive tenure reform that supports climate goals.” - Claudia D’Andrea

Legal empowerment and bottom-up change in Sierra Leone

Erin Kitchell, Managing Director of Land, Environment, and Climate at the nonprofit, Namati, followed with a compelling case study from Sierra Leone. Namati’s “legal empowerment” approach equips local communities with legal knowledge to assert their land rights and creates pathways to translate local struggles to solve lived problems into broader structural reforms.

Kitchell traced a decade-long journey from the passage of Sierra Leone’s National Land Policy in 2015 to the landmark Customary Land Rights Act (2022), one of the most progressive land laws in Africa.

“The law recognises full collective and customary land rights, gives communities the power to reject or accept investments through free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and mandates protection of ecologically sensitive zones,” she said. “But it didn’t happen by accident—it was a strategic campaign.”

Kitchell explained how community paralegals not only documented rights violations but built public leadership among community members, fuelling a national campaign. During the 2018 elections, Namati mobilised every presidential candidate to sign the Our Land, Our Future pledge. The resulting political pressure set the stage for the law’s to be adopted.  

“We anticipated opposition from both the private sector and traditional leaders,” Kitchell noted. “So we built coalitions of unusual allies—from progressive Paramount Chiefs to businesses who saw benefit in clarifying tenure rights.”

Today, Namati is working to ensure implementation: “It’s not enough to pass a law. It must be activated in practice. That’s the power of the legal empowerment cycle—moving from knowing and using the law to shaping it, and then back again.”

Changing norms, not just policies

Christopher Tanner, Principal Consultant at Mokoro Limited, shifted the focus to customary law and gender, arguing that land governance is inherently a matter of political economy.

“When you work in land, you are automatically working in political economy. It’s about power over a key resource, and customary systems are very much part of that,” he said.

Tanner cautioned against the trend of discarding customary institutions in favour of formal systems. “To erase customary law is to erase legitimacy and proximity. Reform must work with—not against—existing norms,” he said.

Drawing on Mokoro’s work in Tanzania, Mongolia, Mozambique, and Timor Leste, Tanner described how community-led dialogues can shift entrenched gender norms and promote inclusive tenure.

“When you work in land, you are automatically working in political economy. It’s about power over a key resource, and customary systems are very much part of that” - Christopher Tanner

“It’s not about ticking boxes—how many women attended a meeting. It’s about recognizing women as agents of change, as decision-makers with voice and power,” Tanner emphasised.

He praised participatory landscape planning in Mongolia and peer-to-peer engagement in Tanzanian villages, where trained champions catalyse behaviour change by engaging their neighbours. In Mozambique, where implementation of a progressive land law has been obstructed by political elites, communities created a “People’s Cadastre” to assert their rights from below.  

“Customary practices are not immutable. They can evolve—but that evolution must be driven by communities themselves,” Tanner concluded.

Embedding PEA in national reform in the Mekong Region

John Meadows, Land Governance Adviser for the Land Facility, closed the panel with lessons from the Mekong Region Land Governance Program (MRLG), covering Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar.

Meadows described how PEA was used not just as a research tool, but as a strategy to build reform coalitions. A key finding in Laos, for example, was that over 3,000 villages were living within state forest zones without any legal tenure security.

“Phase one of the MRLG generated rich academic analysis. But the risk was that reports would gather dust,” said Meadows. “So, in phase two, we turned the PEA findings into action.”

Through stakeholder workshops, power mapping, and targeted engagement, Meadows’ team identified key blockers and champions. They worked closely with Laos’ Ministry of Lands and Forestry, presented findings to the 164-member National Assembly, and built donor consensus.

“We found that practical, country-specific PEA—shared through safe, non-public channels—can bridge the gap between civil society and state, and ultimately change laws,” Meadows said. The result: new legal provisions recognizing community tenure in forests, and a shift in national discourse around land and climate.

PEA as process, not just product

The session concluded with rich reflections and audience questions, ranging from transitional justice in the Philippines to carbon markets in Latin America.

Claudia D’Andrea emphasised that PEA is not one thing—it can be national, sectoral, or problem-based. It is not a dataset, but a “map of incentives, alliances, and entry points for change.”

Christopher Tanner added that PEA must disrupt silos. “In Mozambique, the land administration tried to monopolize reform. We had to open the tent—to bring in tourism, defense, finance, and women's ministries.”

Erin Kitchell stressed that political savviness must be distributed—not just at the top. “We involve communities in political analysis. We ask them: who has influence? Who listens? And what messages resonate?”

John Meadows offered a final word of caution and hope: “PEA is inherently sensitive. But when done with care, and applied iteratively, it can turn fragile openings into durable change.”

“PEA is inherently sensitive. But when done with care, and applied iteratively, it can turn fragile openings into durable change.” - John Meadows

Conclusion: Power, politics, and the path to just climate action

This session was a clarion call for politically intelligent land reform. Climate goals—whether tied to REDD+, carbon markets, or forest restoration—will falter without secure land tenure. And tenure security, in turn, will remain out of reach unless we confront the deeper drivers of exclusion, informality, and resistance.

“In the end, political economy isn’t just about understanding how power works; it’s about figuring out how to make power work differently.” - Claudia D’Andrea

Political Economy Analysis is not a luxury—it is a necessity. It helps us ask better questions, avoid blind spots, and design reforms that stick. It shows us that power can be shifted not only through policy, but through paralegals, champions, and coalitions.

The Land Facility and its partners have shown what is possible. Now the challenge is to replicate, scale, and institutionalise this political intelligence in every land project that claims to serve the climate, equity, and justice.

“In the end, political economy isn’t just about understanding how power works,” said D’Andrea. “It’s about figuring out how to make power work differently.”

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This blog post was produced with the assistance of AI. The content has been reviewed by panellists as well as members of the Land Portal team who attended the session. In some cases, summaries are based on event recordings, and transcripts are created and carefully reviewed to ensure each speaker's interventions are accurately represented.

This material has been funded by UK International Development from the UK government; however, the authors’ opinions in the ‘Ground Rules’ blog series do not necessarily represent the UK government’s official policies, nor the Land Facility programme’s view on political economy. Rather, these blogs are part of the Decision Support Unit’s mandate to facilitate global learning and knowledge exchange that can inform best practices across the land and development world.

This blog has been cross-posted by The Policy Practice to ensure the Land Facility Decision Support Unit outputs remain accessible once the project closed in 2026. The full blog series can be found here.