Land and property lie at the center of many of today’s pressing development challenges. Consider that at most 10% of land in rural Africa is reliably registered. At this week‘s annual Land and Poverty Conference here at the World Bank, we will hear how this vast gap in documentation of land gap blunts access to opportunities and key services for millions of the world’s poorest people, contributes to gender inequality, and undermines environmental sustainability. More encouragingly, there also will be many cases on display of how countries, cities, or communities have addressed this challenge in innovative ways. New data sources and technology options greatly enhance the scope for improving land tenure and linking it to land use. They imply that it is now often policy and regulatory constraints that prevent recognition of poor people’s land rights. Removing these constraints and careful piloting of systematic low-cost approaches can allow to quickly expand coverage with legally recognized documentation– with potentially far-reaching benefits for development

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