Integrated Urban Land Management for Climate Sensitive Cities : Contraints, Opportunities, and Lessons from Ethiopia

Overview & Synopsis

This report synthesizes lessons learned from the studies and interventions commissioned by the World Bank in Ethiopia from 2022-2024 to support integrated urban land management – highlighting the potential contribution integrated urban land approaches can play in achieving the long-term climate outcomes for fast urbanizing countries facing similar challenges around the globe. The report is structured as follows: Section II sets the scene by describing the climate and urbanization challenges in Ethiopia, detailing the current urbanization trend and its climate and development implications. Section III then turns to the key challenges, gaps and deficiencies in the institutional and policy framework, as well as in implementation, in addressing the climate-urban land nexus, effectively the ‘barriers to action’ that perpetuate and exacerbate climate risks and disincentivize sustainable urban development. Section IV then proceeds to highlight potential solutions to support integrated urban land management in Ethiopia. The first subsection discusses the major policy and institutional reforms underway in Ethiopia to contribute to integrated urban land management, and the co-benefits of such action to achieve climate objectives; the second subsection discusses some tools tested during the World Bank study, and their contributions to climate objectives; while the final subsection provides an outline of potential interventions. Finally, Section V concludes with future directions, highlighting the investments required to continue Ethiopia’s transition towards equitable, livable and climate-resilient urban environments.