# Addressing land corruption in Africa: Recommendations based on the African Union's Land Governance Strategy URL: https://www.transparency.org/en/publications/addressing-land-corruption-africa-recommendations-african-unions-land-governance-strategy Type: Publication or report Published: 2024-09-30 Updated: 2025-04-29 --- 30 September 2024 With a land area of 30.4 million square kilometres, Africa is the second largest continent on earth – large enough to accommodate the United States, India, Mexico, Japan and several European countries. 1 Comprised of 55 countries, the continent has a population of nearly 1.5 billion people, which is the fastest growing globally. By 2050, it is estimated that “one in four people on the planet will be African”. Africa boasts of “24 per cent of the world’s agricultural land, and 17 per cent of the arable” land, yet is, paradoxically, the hungriest continent in the world. It is also at the “forefront of the land grab crisis in the Global South” for agricultural purposes, as well as the new “green grabs” in which governments and big corporations are acquiring large tracts of land for “dubious tree planting, carbon sequestration, and biofuel and green hydrogen schemes”. These scenarios point to one major reality: the centrality of African land to the continent’s broader development agenda. These processes are taking place in a context where the continent’s land governance is “increasingly seen as a major challenge”. The weakness of governance institutions, “further reinforced by high levels of corruption”, is at the core of land governance challenges in Africa, alongside land grabbing and a disregard for human rights, among other issues. This policy paper examines the land governance situation in Africa, with a focus on efforts by the African Union (AU) to address land corruption. The union is the principal intergovernmental body on the continent, through various regional initiatives, the latest being the AU’s 2023 Land Governance Strategy. ### Related publications ## [Protecting civic space in extractives governance: Towards enhanced EITI engagement on civic space](https://www.transparency.org/en/publications/protecting-civic-space-in-extractives-governance) Publication • 05 October 2026 This brief evaluates the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative's (EITI) existing approach to addressing civic space challenges arising in EITI implementing countries and… ## [Ending Debt Secrecy: Recommendations to the G20 on Anti-Corruption in Sovereign Borrowing and Lending](https://www.transparency.org/en/publications/ending-debt-secrecy-g20-recommendations) Publication • 04 September 2026 Recommendations to the G20 to strengthen transparency, accountability and integrity in sovereign borrowing and lending ## [Annual Report 2025](https://www.transparency.org/en/publications/annual-report-2025) Publication • 17 July 2026 In 2025, Transparency International pursued its mission to stop corruption and promote transparency, accountability and integrity at all levels and across all sectors of society. ## [Getting Political Finance Right: Preventing corruption with UNCAC CoSP Resolution 11/7](https://www.transparency.org/en/publications/getting-political-finance-right) Publication • 15 May 2026 Resolution 11/7 is the world’s furthest-reaching consensus yet on preventing and combating corruption enabled by money in elections and politics. ## Priorities - [Land corruption](https://www.transparency.org/en/our-priorities/land-corruption) ## Countries - [Algeria](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/algeria) - [Angola](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/angola) - [Benin](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/benin) - [Botswana](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/botswana) - [Burkina Faso](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/burkina-faso) - [Burundi](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/burundi) - [Cameroon](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/cameroon) - [Cape Verde](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/cape-verde) - [Central African Republic](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/central-african-republic) - [Chad](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/chad) - [Comoros](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/comoros) - [Republic of the Congo](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/republic-of-the-congo) - [Democratic Republic of the Congo](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/democratic-republic-of-the-congo) - [Djibouti](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/djibouti) - [Egypt](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/egypt) - [Equatorial Guinea](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/equatorial-guinea) - [Eritrea](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/eritrea) - [Ethiopia](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/ethiopia) - [Gabon](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/gabon) - [Gambia](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/gambia) - [Ghana](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/ghana) - [Guinea](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/guinea) - [Guinea-Bissau](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/guinea-bissau) - [Kenya](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/kenya) - [Lesotho](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/lesotho) - [Liberia](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/liberia) - [Libya](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/libya) - [Mali](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/mali) - [Madagascar](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/madagascar) - [Mauritius](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/mauritius) - [Mauritania](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/mauritania) - [Malawi](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/malawi) - [Morocco](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/morocco) - [Mozambique](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/mozambique) - [Nigeria](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/nigeria) - [Niger](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/niger) - [Namibia](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/namibia) - [Rwanda](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/rwanda) - [Sao Tome and Principe](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/sao-tome-and-principe) - [Senegal](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/senegal) - [Seychelles](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/seychelles) - [Sudan](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/sudan) - [South Sudan](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/south-sudan) - [Somalia](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/somalia) - [Sierra Leone](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/sierra-leone) - [South Africa](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/south-africa) - [Togo](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/togo) - [Tunisia](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/tunisia) - [Tanzania](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/tanzania) - [Uganda](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/uganda) - [Zambia](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/zambia) - [Zimbabwe](https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/zimbabwe) ## Regions - [Sub-Saharan Africa](https://www.transparency.org/en/region/sub-saharan-africa) - [West Africa](https://www.transparency.org/en/region/west-africa) ## Projects - [Land corruption and urban land governance](https://www.transparency.org/en/projects/urban-land-governance) - [Land corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa](https://www.transparency.org/en/projects/land-corruption-sub-saharan-africa) ![](https://images.transparencycdn.org/images/TI_Policy-Position_AU-Land-LGS-Land-Corruption_SMu3_Page1.jpg?auto=compress&fit=crop&fm=webp&w=1200) [Download](https://images.transparencycdn.org/images/TI_Policy-Position_AU-Land-LGS-Land-Corruption_SMu4.pdf)