Funding the Future: Mobilising Land Finance in an Era of Donor Fatigue

Across the globe, the urgency to secure land tenure and reform property systems continues to grow. From climate-induced displacement to urban inequality, the pressure on land governance is immense. Yet the financial resources needed to address these challenges are under threat. With growing donor fatigue, competing crises, and significant reductions in U.S. funding — once the bedrock of global land tenure support — the question now is: how can stakeholders mobilise the funding required to safeguard land rights at scale?

This article explores emerging models, cross-sectoral financing strategies, and realistic pathways for ensuring sustained investment in global land governance amid shrinking aid flows.

1. The Landscape of Fatigue: Why Traditional Aid Is Shrinking

In recent years, humanitarian crises, global pandemics, inflation, and geopolitical tensions have stretched donor budgets. U.S. foreign assistance to land-focused programs — once robust through USAID’s land tenure and property rights initiatives — has faced major cuts, reflecting a broader shift in development priorities.

Similarly, many European donors are focusing more narrowly on migration control, defense, and domestic recovery. As these priorities shift, the land sector — often seen as technical and long-term — risks losing visibility and funding traction.

2. Tapping the Untapped: Climate, Food, and Gender Finance

Land tenure intersects directly with climate adaptation, food systems, and gender equality — all areas currently attracting global funding. Framing land rights within these narratives unlocks new financing opportunities.

The Green Climate Fund, Global Environment Facility, and Adaptation Fund all include tenure security within their adaptation criteria. Similarly, gender-responsive funding mechanisms (e.g., UN Women’s programmes) and agricultural resilience initiatives by IFAD and WFP are actively seeking projects where land rights support broader outcomes.

Strategic cross-sectoral alignment is critical: land actors must speak the language of donors — whether carbon, resilience, or gender parity — and package tenure interventions accordingly.

3. Regional and South-South Mechanisms

Amid declining northern donor flows, regional development banks (AfDB, ADB, CAF) and South-South cooperation models are emerging as key funders. The India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) fund, China’s Belt and Road climate partnerships, and the African Union’s land policy frameworks all offer regionalized funding with less conditionality and more cultural alignment.

Civil society and grassroots initiatives have had success accessing support from the African Union’s ALPC, ASEAN’s rural development programs, and regional land observatories. These offer practical entry points for new funding and technical support.

4. The Rise of Pooled and Blended Finance

To overcome scale and risk barriers, actors are increasingly embracing pooled funds and blended finance. These include: multi-donor trust funds, results-based financing, and public-private partnerships.

Examples include the Tenure Facility, which regrants to indigenous groups via pooled philanthropic and government funding, and the Global Donor Working Group on Land, which aligns donor efforts through shared impact goals.

Development finance institutions can also blend public and private capital to incentivize land tenure programs in commercial agriculture, urban development, and disaster risk reduction — especially where land risks deter investors.

5. Strengthening Local Fiscal Systems

Another critical, often overlooked strategy is enhancing domestic resource mobilization. Land taxation, value capture, and land-based financing (e.g., leaseholds, municipal bonds) can offer sustainable public finance for land reform.

In Rwanda and Colombia, property tax reform and geospatial valuation tools have increased revenues that fund titling, urban infrastructure, and tenure security. These models show that local governments can generate and reinvest land-based wealth — reducing donor dependency.

6. Actionable Recommendations

• Position land within climate, gender, and food systems proposals

• Engage new donors — regional banks, South-South funds, climate mechanisms

• Strengthen local fiscal capacity through land taxation and valuation systems

• Explore results-based and blended finance models

• Build alliances for pooled, multi-donor programming

• Document impact with robust MEL systems to retain and grow support

7. Conclusion: A Call for Resilience and Creativity

In a turbulent funding environment, innovation, collaboration, and adaptability are essential. The land sector must reframe its value, rethink its funding asks, and re-engage new partners and narratives.

At LPN Global, we are committed to telling the stories, surfacing the solutions, and connecting the actors that can keep land rights funded and future-ready. Because land isn’t just about territory — it’s about equity, survival, and hope.