This report validates the fact that multi-national and transnational companies are violating the Ta'ang ethnic nationals' fundamental human rights. The confiscation of Ta'ang peoples' land and the exploitation of their natural resources in which they depend for their subsistence and livelihood are outlined in this report. The Myanmar government continues to permit the persistence of business practices which are illegal under national and international laws.

Land grabbing by Myanmar Government in Putaoh village, Kachin State for military base expansion.

The scale of attacks against land rights defenders is particularly preoccupying and should attract our utmost reaction and urgent mobilisation.
The toll they pay, together with their families and communities, is dramatic,
be it killings, forced disappearances, harassment or criminalisation. Caught
in the crossfire between poor land users fighting for the respect of their basic
human rights and powerful economic actors fighting for juicy profits, they
account as one of the most vulnerable categories of human rights defenders.

Around 200 acres of land has been confiscated by platinum mining companies in Tachilek Township, eastern Shan State, despite nascent democratic reforms by the Burmese government, according to report released by the Lahu Women’s Organization (LWO).

"Grab For White Gold" has been produced by the Thailand-based LWO and two other local land activists and was presented at a press conference in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, on Tuesday.

Although Myanmar/Burma has undergone unprecedented political change in recent months, the country is currently grappling with a severe land grabbing and speculation crisis. The DS Director, Scott Leckie, was requested to provide guidance to the Government about how to address these pressing issues, the views of which are contained in a guidance note on land grabbing and speculation which can be viewed here. DS’ landmark study Myanmar at the HLP Crossroads will be released in the coming weeks

Table of Contents: Mangrove Deforestation, Shrimp Farming, and the Survival of the Coastal...
Land Confiscation in Burma: Whose land is it?...
Shwe Gas Pro ect and the Impact on Arakan State...

A Brief History of Rice Agriculture and Chemical Fertilizer Use in Arakan State

Documentary by the Land Core Group Myanmar, where 70% of the Myanmar population are smallholder farmers, about the challenges faced by poor farmers from land grabbing and land dispossession in rural Myanmar...Interviews with land activists and dispossessed farmers in different parts of the country... sections on: resistance to land-grabbing; Myanmar land law and policies (where customary tenure and women's land rights are not explicitly recognised); efficiency of smallholder practice...

Analysis of the social costs of large-scale Chinese-supported rubber farms in northern Burma suggests that the future for ordinary citizens will be affected as much by the country's chosen economic path as the political reforms underway.

This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in January 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Dooplaya District, during the period between August and October, 2011. The villager who wrote this report provides information concerning increasing military activity in Kyone Doh Township, including the confiscation of 600 acres of farmland for building a camp in Da Lee Kyo Waing town by Border Guard Battalion #1021, and the construction of new military camps, one by LIB #208 in Htee Poo Than village and another by the KPF near to Htee Poo Than village.

Table of Contents: Mangrove Deforestation, Shrimp Farming, and the Survival of the Coastal... Land Confiscation in Burma: Whose land is it?... Shwe Gas Pro ect and the Impact on Arakan State... A Brief History of Rice Agriculture and Chemical Fertilizer Use in Arakan State

... This document reports on a study carried out to assess the value of the forest sector to Myanmar's economy, in order to justify and identify niches for developing forest-based payments for ecosystem services (PES) and other mechanisms that can be used to generate financing for forest conservation.

Under support from the DFID PyoePin programme, Dr Kyaw Tint, the head of ECCDI, a leading Yangon based NGO led a research project to understand the current status of Community Forestry in the country, with technical support from Dr. Oliver Springate-Baginski. Field study was conducted in October – December 2010, and we presented our findings at a national workshop.

The three main outputs of the project are available to download here: