World Bank – Land Conference 2025

On May 7, the World Bank Land Conference hosted one session of  IPRA-CINDER. The session was about examples of land registry reforms and their implementation, and how land registries can be useful in addressing climate risks. Presentations were given by Mihai Taus, president of ELRA, Pilar Verdejo of UNECE, Patricia Ferraz of Brazil, and Fernando Manrique, member of IPRA-CINDER. The round table discussion included Carlize Knoesen, Chief of Deed Registries of Southafrica, Ahmad Issa Al Emoush of Jordan, Jacques Vos of Kadaster of the Netherlands, and Maris Kumerdanks of Latvia.

In addition to highlighting the experiences of Brazil, which registers carbon credits in the land registry, the fundamental usefulness of the publicity provided by the registries in certifying ownership, rights, and encumbrances on properties affected by natural disasters, in order to claim insurance and aid, and the EU regulations on standards for this purpose were emphasized. The reforms undertaken by various systems to digitize their Registers and transform them into electronic Registers were also discussed.

It was emphasized that reform cannot involve distortion, that the use of AI must be prudent and with human control always in the final decision, and that digitization presents us with new challenges that must be resolved, always guaranteeing data quality and preventive legal certainty. This means that any digital development process must be parallel to legal development.