Safeguarding Tenure: Lessons from Cambodia and Papua New Guinea for the World Bank Safeguards Review

With a view to operationalizing the recently adopted Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Forests and Fisheries, this paper identifies gaps in existing World Bank safeguard policies with respect to tenure. The paper explores the adverse impacts on security of tenure for vulnerable groups resulting from a land administration project in Cambodia, and explains how oil a series of oil palm projects in Papua New Guinea resulted in a shift away from a flexible and equitable tenure governance system to a more rigid individualized system that has made some land users more vulnerable. In both cases, existing Bank safeguard policies did not effectively avoid and mitigate the adverse impacts on tenure or the consequential harms to affected people and communities. The paper outlines new safeguard measures proposed by Oxfam and Inclusive Development International that aim to prevent and mitigate negative impacts on tenure, whilst promoting greater security across the continuum of tenure forms and more equitable access to and control over land, housing and natural resources.