LocationsProgress through partnerships
Unlocking the potential of landlocked countries
July 31, 2025
Mongolia is striving to ensure protection and the sustainable use of biological resources in line with its national development goals.
Photo: UNDP Mongolia
The world’s 32 landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) face specific challenges. Their reliance on imports and lack of coastlines and infrastructure has created vast margins of inequality.
According to the World Bank, LLDCs’ trade costs are more than twice that of coastal countries and those costs are increasing. While they represent 7 percent of the world’s population landlocked countries’ share of global exports is just 1.1 percent.
There are other geographical challenges. More than half of landlocked countries are drylands, adversely affected by desertification and drought. Many are mountainous, suffering from melting glaciers, water shortages and declining biodiversity.
As a consequence, more than half are experiencing serious food crises. And only 35 percent of people have access to the internet—significantly below the world average of 66 percent.
The Third International Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC3) is being held in Awaza, Turkmenistan in August under the theme “Driving Progress Through Partnerships”.
It aims to break the cycle of poverty, foster social mobility, and plan investments in education, healthcare and livelihoods. The focus will be on trade, regional integration and support for small businesses.
Landlocked countries' economic resilience and inclusive growth must rest on healthy trade, regional integration and support for small and medium businesses.
Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan
UNDP Afghanistan's ABADEI programme supports small businesses, with a focus on agri-businesses and regenerative agriculture.
Photo: UNDP Afghanistan
Breaking the cycle of poverty
UNDP believes that LLDCs can break the cycle of poverty, foster social mobility, and build more resilient, prosperous communities for all by investing in education, healthcare, and income-generating initiatives.
With an annual investment of approximately US$1.4 billion, UNDP is enhancing its support for the 32 LLDCs, aligning efforts with global agendas such as the 2030 Agenda, Paris Agreement, and Sendai Framework.
Trade and regional cooperation
Landlocked countries' economic resilience and inclusive growth must rest on healthy trade, regional integration and support for small and medium businesses.
In Afghanistan, the ABADEI programme offers financing and capacity building to 75,000 women-led businesses and organizes women-only market days as safe spaces to sell their products and connect to supply chains.
The ABADEI programme improves women’s access to essential services and promotes opportunities for community-based economic activities and skill development.
Photo: UNDP Afghanistan
Nature positive approaches
To ensure lasting progress, it is essential to empower LLDCs with tools to not only raise the ambition of their climate pledges but also embed nature-positive approaches such as ecosystem restoration, sustainable land management, and biodiversity conservation into their national agendas.
In Paraguay, the programme ‘Zero Emission Public Transport in the Asuncion’s Metropolitan Area’ is upscaling urban transport decarbonization. In five years, it is expected to increase its electric fleet from 548 to 5,000 vehicles.
Biodiversity and land
Climate instability, biodiversity loss, and land degradation are interconnected issues requiring integrated solutions. Aligning climate and nature goals allows LLDCs to achieve adaptation, mitigation, and community well-being benefits.
In Zambia, the Antoomwe Campaign is aimed at addressing the dual crises of severe drought and increasingly dangerous encounters between communities and wildlife living in and around the Mosi Oa Tunya National Park.
It is essential to empower LLDCs with tools to not only raise the ambition of their climate pledges but also embed nature-positive approaches into their national agendas.
Photo: UNDP Zambia
Connectivity
Increasing connectivity is a crucial way to transform landlocked countries into land-linked countries. Accelerating investment in digital and transport infrastructure can help to overcome trade barriers and unlock e-commerce.
Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, and North Macedonia have embarked on digital readiness assessments to identify key entry points and opportunities for near- and longer-term investments a coordinated approach and partnership between government, civil society, and the private sector.
E-mobility in Rwanda is already a reality. By 2025, 30,000 motorcycles will be retrofitted to become carbon neutral, as part of Rwanda’s Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement.
Moldova has embarked on digital readiness assessments to identify key entry points and opportunities for investments.
Photo: UNDP Moldova
Risk-informed development
Risk-informed development in LLDCs is key to building resilience to shocks and crises. Progress on the SDGs will remain elusive unless risk considerations are integrated into the socio-economic development process to ensure that disasters do not continue to reverse development gains.
In South Sudan, UNDP has set up the National Coordination and Operations Center (NCOC) to enhance disaster preparedness, resilience building, and response management. The NCOC will focus on coordination, information dissemination, early warning and response. This will improve the capacity to respond to emergencies effectively while building long term resilience.
South Sudan's National Coordination and Operations Center, launched in partnership with UNDP, is a central hub for information dissemination, early warnings, and coordinated responses.
Photo: UNDP South Sudan
Financing
Effective financing is essential to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation. LLDCs need affordable development finance from both domestic and external sources.
Through the BIOFIN project, UNDP supports the government of Mongolia to improve the implementation of the Law of Natural Resource Use Fees and the establishment of the Mongolian Conservation Trust Fund.
In Mongolia, UNDP establishes sustainable cashmere value chains under the Green Commodities Programme, which focuses on systemic change to improve the incomes of farmers.
Photo: UNDP Mongolia
Sharing experiences
South-South and triangular cooperation offers LLDCs opportunities to share experiences and resources with other countries facing similar challenges. This can help LLDCs build resilience, diversify their economies, and expand access to global markets.
UNDP’s trilateral partnership involving South Korea and Kazakhstan focuses on enhancing digital connectivity in public administration systems as a means of achieving the Vienna Programme of Action objective of regional transformation.
Mineral resources
UNDP helps LLDCs utilize their mineral resources to drive domestic development and support small businesses and help provide jobs, boost economic growth and ensure local communities benefit from the mining and use of these valuable resources.
In Uganda and Zambia, the Development Minerals Programme by Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, financed by the European Union and UNDP is empowering Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Enterprises by creating digital platforms to improve market access, providing grants for formalization, youth employment, and supporting technological development.
Protecting soil is a vital concern for landlocked countries. More than half are drylands, adversely affected by desertification and drought.
Photo: UNDP Turkmenistan
Looking forward
Between 2023 and 2050, the population in LLDCs is projected to increase more than 400 million, and to surpass one billion by 2050.
The Awaza Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries, which was adopted in 2024, lays out a framework which advances digital transformation, disaster risk reduction, nature-climate solutions, sustainable energy and trade facilitation, market integration, financing for development, gender equality, and inclusive, sustainable growth in LLDCs.
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