Indonesia’s Climate Ambitions Gain Boost through World Bank-Supported Land Administration and Spatial Planning Reform
WASHINGTON – A series of innovative new land management reforms will help Indonesia achieve its ambitious climate goals. The US$653 million Integrated Land Administration and Spatial Planning (ILASP) project, approved on September 30, 2024, by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors, is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to land conversion, particularly in the Forestry and Other Land Use sector. Doing so is crucial to delivering on Indonesia’s goal of cutting emissions by 31 percent by 2030. The new project contributes to achieving objectives agreed in the Indonesia Country Partnership Framework, and will help Indonesia achieve the Golden Indonesia 2045 vision.
Since 2015, Indonesia has implemented an Agrarian Reform Program through which more than 9 million hectares of land have been registered for community and smallholder ownership. With the ILASP project aiming to secure the rights of more than 11 million individual and collective landholders, it is strongly committed to enhancing land tenure security for local communities to drive social inclusion, economic growth, and land-based emission reductions.
“We appreciate the World Bank’s support in accelerating the Agrarian Reform program, particularly in land registration,” said Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/ Head of National Land Agency (ATR/BPN) Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono. “Through further collaboration in the ILASP project, we expect to improve our detailed spatial planning, which will increase investors’ confidence and eventually impact Indonesia’s economic growth.”
The ILASP project will help Indonesia achieve its climate change mitigation and adaptation goals through more than 500 climate-informed spatial plans that identify areas vulnerable to climate change impacts and critical landscapes for preservation; communities will be involved in the planning processes. ILASP is also expected to narrow the gender gap on land rights by increasing women’s participation in registration and spatial planning processes, decision making, and eventual legal recognition on land records.
The project targets 4.8 million hectares for systematic land registration, building on the participatory village-based method designed and widely deployed under an earlier One Map project. It draws on the expertise of Indonesia’s Geospatial Information Agency’s (Badan Informasi Geospasial, or BIG) in capturing large-scale base maps through tailored remote sensing technologies. Spatial planning and land administration will be integrated through a comprehensive and digital Land Information System.
“Building upon our long-standing support to Indonesia’s land sector in the past 30 years, the World Bank stands ready to further provide technical and financial assistance to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of land administration and spatial planning, particularly in supporting the government’s effort to meet its NDC commitments and creating global public goods,” said Carolyn Turk, World Bank Country Director for Indonesia and Timor-Leste. “Through strong collaboration with the Ministry of ATR/BPN, BIG, and the Ministry of Home Affairs, the ILASP project will proactively work toward creating a positive enabling environment and policy regime that will lead to resilient and low-carbon outcomes.”
The project is expected to enhance and simplify business licensing process, improve infrastructure and public services, and increase resilience to climate-related disasters. Increasing tenure security will improve rural living standards and lead to better management of natural resources, protection of important habitats and agricultural and forest land, and increased productive investment and reduce the number of disputes. Benefits to government entities will include increased revenue through higher property taxes, better information on which to base decisions, and greater capacity and resource building in land administration.