Tackling land corruption by political elites

Land corruption may be defined as the abuse of power to claim, register, control or transact land. Corruption perpetrated by high-level government actors, as well as national and international businesses, is referred to as “high-level corruption,” “grand corruption,” or “political corruption.” This type of corruption often dispossesses the poorest and most marginalized members of society, for whom their land is not only their home, but their source of livelihood, food and water security, and connection to community. The impacts are diverse and significant: land corruption may cause widespread tenure insecurity, undermine social and political stability, lead to environmental and ecosystem destruction, weaken national economic growth, and ignite conflict. Despite these impacts, land corruption by political elites has not, to date, been systematically addressed by either anti-corruption professionals, who tend to focus on combatting financial corruption, or by land tenure professionals, who often focus on promoting good governance more generally as well as identifying technical barriers to corruption.

Building on the anti-corruption provisions of the FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, this legal paper defines the multiple manifestations of political land corruption, explores the international and national legal instruments available to address the problem and suggests a three-pronged strategy to tackle corruption, focusing on the role of national authorities, local communities and international actors.