COLOMBO (IDN) — As land forgery continues unabated in Sri Lanka, something has to be done to prevent the prevalent rate of land fraud, with legal owners and innocent buyers unknowingly falling into these traps.

According to news sources, the Registrar General N C Withanage had said, as far back as March 2019, that 40 to 50 per cent of land deeds in Sri Lanka are forged documents.

But unfortunately, things continue to go from bad to worse.

Local residents of Gaur, Rautahat, have lamented the failure of police administration to arrest people involved in a plot to capture the land of Gaur Rice Mills, including a government employee who confessed he forged official documents.

Set up in 1946, the mill was closed after 22 years due to various reasons. As the mill could never resume operation, its land was being used as playground and programme venue for political parties and other organisations.

Failed government leadership, the lack of accountable partnerships between aid partners and the government, rampant corruption, and psychological dependence on aid have kept Somalis on life support.

SAN IGNACIO DE VELASCO, Bolivia — On Feb. 12, 2021, Bolivian conservationists joyfully celebrated the creation of the Bajo Paraguá Municipal Protected Area. Located in the municipality of San Ignacio de Velasco in the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz, the new reserve was established to protect 983,006 hectares (2.4 million acres) of Amazonian and Chiquitano forest.

embers of parliament have called for a full forensic audit of the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) and for the entity to be placed under administration by the land reform ministry over its history of “delinquency” in failing to meet public finance management standards.

In 2014, the Kavango region was divided into two regions – East and West. At the time, the Namibian government, during president Hifikepunye Pohamba's tenure, justified the move saying the region was too large and dividing it would enhance service delivery. This remains to be seen: Kavango West remains the most rural and one of the poorest regions in Namibia.

The population of the Upper Sanaga division, in the centre region of Cameroon, have been going through a night mare to find what to eat on a daily basis.

Their crime is that a Chinese agro industry took interest in the agricultural potentials of their farming sites. They were then forced to watch the pieces of land that served them to farm and hunt being snatched away from them.

With almost 24 years passed since the signing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord, its lack of implementation has reached alarming levels and human rights violations persist. In addition to the ongoing deployment of military and paramilitary forces, land grabbing of Indigenous territories continues apace. Communities have no possibility of complaining about non-compliance because the agreement does not have the status of an international treaty.

In Cameroon, large numbers of people are leaving the countryside in the hope of a better life in towns and cities. 

This exodus is driven by high poverty in rural regions and is further exacerbated by the ongoing conflicts in many parts of the country.

When they get to cities such as the capital, Yaounde, or the economic hub, Douala, people often want to buy land and have a place to call their own.

Activist Okiya Omtatah has moved to court to challenge a section of the law that limits the period within which victims of historical land injustices can make compensation claims.

Mr Omtatah argues it is not practically possible that the National Land Commission (NLC) will have addressed the victims' grievances captured in reports such as Ndung’u, Akiwumi, Kiliku, Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) and the standard gauge railway (SRC) by May 2022 when the 10-year limit lapses.

The timelines began running from the commencement of the NLC Act on May 2, 2012.

Khamdang-Ramjar Member of Parliament (MP) Kuenga Loday has been sentenced to five years in prison by the Trashiyangtse dzongkhag court yesterday for illegal construction of a road in a restricted area.

The court also sentenced his brother, the Khamdang Mangmi, Sangay Tempa to four years and three months in prison for his involvement.

The other four men,  three are Mangmi’s sons, were also convicted for their involvement in the case and sentenced to three years and nine months each in prison.

In July 2021, a French court ruled against a group of Indigenous Bunong farmers from Mondulkiri in Northeastern Cambodia. Represented by French Laywer Fiodor Rilov, and with civil society support, the group accused the French Bolloré Group and their subsidiary company, Compagnie du Cambodge (controlled by Socfinasia) of illegal land seizures and the wanton destruction of Bunong sacred forests and their way of life.