Burkina Faso’s climate commitments and the future of land governance
As climate impacts intensify across the Sahel, it is becoming increasingly clear that climate vulnerability is not driven by environmental factors alone. In contexts where livelihoods, food security, and social cohesion depend heavily on land, weak land governance can amplify climate risks and fuel conflict. Burkina Faso’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 3.0 offers an important example of how countries can begin to address these interconnected challenges in a more integrated way.
Climate change and land-related conflict
Burkina Faso’s NDC 3.0 explicitly acknowledges that inequalities in access to land, weak enforcement of land laws, marginalisation of certain groups, and soil degradation are among the factors that heighten vulnerability to climate change. Crucially, it also recognises that climate shocks exacerbate tensions over land and natural resources, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected areas.
This framing marks a departure from more traditional NDCs that focus narrowly on emissions and adaptation measures. By situating land governance within the analysis of climate-related conflict and vulnerability, Burkina Faso’s NDC signals a more realistic understanding of how climate risks manifest on the ground.
Land governance as a foundation for climate resilience
A defining feature of Burkina Faso’s NDC 3.0 is its treatment of land governance as a prerequisite for climate resilience rather than a secondary concern. The NDC emphasises that effective climate action depends on the full and inclusive participation of local communities and the protection of their legitimate land rights.
This approach reflects a growing body of evidence: when communities have secure rights to land, they are more likely to invest in sustainable land management, support restoration efforts, and engage constructively in climate initiatives. Secure tenure also reduces disputes and strengthens trust between communities and institutions, both of which are essential for long-term resilience.
Moving beyond principles: tenure instruments and land data
Unlike many climate commitments that reference land only in abstract terms, Burkina Faso’s NDC 3.0 points to concrete tenure instruments, including Rural Land Possession Certificates (APFR) and Local Land Charters. These mechanisms are framed as tools to secure community land rights, prevent land-related conflicts, and enable climate-resilient investments in rural areas.
The NDC also highlights the importance of land data for climate action. Reliable land information systems are recognised as essential for targeting interventions, avoiding overlapping claims, and ensuring transparency and accountability in climate projects. This linkage between land governance and climate data is particularly relevant for the effective use of climate finance.
Building influence
The inclusion of land governance in Burkina Faso’s NDC 3.0 reflects sustained engagement by national actors, civil society, and land-focused platforms working at the intersection of land and climate policy. While not all proposals were fully incorporated, consistent advocacy and technical input helped shift the framing of land from a peripheral issue to a structural component of climate resilience.
This experience underscores a broader lesson for land and climate advocates: influencing NDCs is often an incremental process. Strategic engagement over time can yield meaningful gains in language, priorities, and inclusivity.
Why Burkina Faso's experience matters
Burkina Faso’s approach offers important lessons for other countries, particularly in Africa and fragile contexts:
- Climate action that ignores land governance risks being ineffective or conflict-inducing.
- Secure land tenure strengthens the sustainability and impact of climate investments.
- Integrating land governance into NDCs enhances policy coherence between climate, development, and peacebuilding agendas.
As countries move from NDC commitments to implementation and prepare future revisions, Burkina Faso’s NDC 3.0 provides a practical reference for embedding land governance at the heart of climate policy.
A call for greater visibility and replication
Ensuring visibility of how Burkina Faso has integrated the land in their climate commitments is not merely a communication exercise. It is a strategic opportunity to influence how climate action is designed and implemented across the region. By sharing and learning from this experience, policymakers and practitioners can advance climate solutions that are not only environmentally sound, but also socially inclusive and conflict-sensitive.
In a region where land, climate, and peace are inseparable, Burkina Faso’s NDC 3.0 reminds us that resilient climate futures begin with secure and inclusive land governance.
