LEGEND Analytical Paper 1: Tackling corruption in land governance

International surveys such as the Global Corruption Barometer and the East African Bribery Index have shown that institutions responsible for land management are among the most corrupt. The paper analyses the causes, types and effects of corruption in land governance and provides evidence-based recommendations on how governments, donors and the private sector can address land corruption, with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. It identifies prevalence of discretionary power within land administration, the role of parallel institutions for land management, including overlapping formal and customary institutions and the partial or non-recognition in law of established customary rights, and extensive state powers and non-transparent procedures for the allocation and privatisation of public land, and the capture of land titling programmes by elites as systematic enablers of corruption. In large-scale agri-investments, corruption risks are greatest at the stage where deals are brokered and partnerships formed. Where corruption becomes systematic and large-scale, politicians and high-ranking public officials use land assets and concessions as means of patronage to consolidate power and influence. On the investor side, opaque company ownership structures and a lack of transparency in accounting and contracting create corruption risks