KOIDU, Sierra Leone, May 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A dispute over a bridge in eastern Sierra Leone thought to span diamond deposits has divided a local community with a foreign mining company accused of illegally mining the area after volunteering to rebuild the overpass.

The Congo Bridge in Koidu, the capital of Kono District, was deemed by local authorities to be in danger of collapsing after years of illegal small-scale mining around the base.

Application Closing Date - 02 Apr 2017

Job Start Date - April 2017 to July 2017

Duration - 3 months

Location - Remote

Over the past decade, international investments in land have come to the forefront of public debate. Some argue that investments in land, including by foreign entities, is a critical component of achieving food security. Others argue that large scale land acquisitions, or what some refer to as ‘land grabbing,’ on the contrary, undermines efforts to overcome poverty and hunger by further marginalizing already vulnerable groups, including indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers.

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Mokoro is pleased to share news of the successful completion of fieldwork in the fourth of six phases of our WOLTS pilot study in both Mongolia and Tanzania. WOLTS is a major multi-country strategic action-oriented research project in support of the land rights of women and vulnerable groups. The WOLTS team is well underway with preparing two major reports of our country research findings, to be launched, respectively, in May and June this year.

Brazil says it is pushing ahead with plans to change the law and let foreigners buy farmland, in a move widely backed by investors and opposed by land rights campaigners.

"We will announce the changes in the next 30 days," Brazilian Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said on Wednesday night in an interview with GloboNews television.

Agribusiness is one of the fastest growing sectors of Brazil's economy and Meirelles said its continued success requires more investment.

A embaixada dos EUA em Angola está a desafiar os estudantes angolanos, com diploma de licenciatura, a inscreverem-se no Programa de Bolsas de Estudo Fulbright, que anualmente oferece a mais de 1.800 cidadãos estrangeiros a possibilidade de estudarem nos EUA a custo zero.

De acordo com a mensagem, as vagas existentes referem-se ao ano lectivo 2018/19 e o prazo limite para submissão de candidaturas termina a 14 de Abril de 2017.

The pacific island of Papua New Guinea is one of the world's most resource rich countries, hosting nearly 7 percent of global biodiversity and important reserves of gold, copper and hydrocarbons.

Date: 18 January 2017

Source: Telesur

A peaceful demonstrator was shot dead during a protest in an Indigenous community.

An activist was killed Tuesday in Guatemala during a clash between protesters and police at a demonstration led by Indigenous community members who oppose the construction of a hydroelectric plant in San Mateo Ixtatan, a municipality in the country's western highlands.

The bulk of Cambodia’s economic land concessions (ELCs) – at the centre of numerous land disputes and human rights concerns over the past two decades – generated just $5 million for state coffers last year, with critics attributing the meagre returns to a lack of collection capacity as well as simple corruption.

By: Mary Catherine O'Connor

Date: 14 January 2017

Source: The Guardian 

The outdoor industry is leading the fight to protect America’s public lands from being developed for gas and oil.

By: Luisa Torre, Patrik Camporez Macao

Date: 5 January 2017

Source: Aljazeera News

"They stole our forests and our water. We took our medicine from the forest. Now, they put police and dogs at our door."