Climate Change and Land Markets in Angola

Presentation by Development Workshop's director Allan Cain at the annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty held in Washington DC from March 23 to 27, 2015. The coastal cities of Angola where urban populations have been growing since the displacement provoked by the civil war are experiencing negative impacts of climate change and rising land prices. This region experiences lower rainfall than inland areas but is subject to sudden storms and increasing high annual variation. In urban coastal areas poorer communities of formerly war displaced have purchased and settled on land that is often at risk from flooding and erosion because these are the only affordable locations near to economic opportunities. There is a lack of urban land-use and disaster planning capacity to deal with these issues. Angola’s uncontrolled land markets have direct effects on the urban environment and the quality of life of the city. The capital, Luanda suffers from land market distortions caused by poor land development and management policies, including the slow provision of infrastructure and services, poor land information systems, cumbersome and slow land transaction procedures. For poor families, their housing, and the land they occupy, often represents their accumulated savings and assets, acquired over a lifetime or often over several generations. There is a complex overlap between increasing environmental risks, poverty and access to land.