LANDac International Conference 2022 Session Summary

Just over a decade ago, Shajahan Bepari made a living by farming paddy and jute on a small scale and selling poultry reared on his 0.15-acre land in Shariatpur's Zajira.

But then, the government came calling as plans for the construction of a hitherto elusive bridge over the Padma gained steam.

Shajahan soon parted with his land and a place to call home for a sum that was one and a half times higher than its market value.

• Much of the landscape of Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province has been transformed, its formerly vast forests razed for logging, monocrop agriculture and open-cast coal mining.
• A recently published study analyzes how waves of extractive industries have affected the inhabitants of one village in the province
• The cumulative impacts of these industries were found to be severe, but also to vary depending on multiple factors including ethnicity, gender, wealth and age.

• Fires have swept through large swaths of peatland forest in the western part of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island since the start of the year, an area that usually sees much smaller, controlled fires.
• Environmental activists say they suspect the fires might be linked to palm oil companies with plantations in and around the burned areas.
• They warn the burning could get worse in the coming months, with the dry season in this part of Sumatra expected to peak only in August.

JAKARTA — Fires in areas of carbon-intense peatland forest on the

Main photo: A screenshot of a video of villagers in Lang village, Ea Pok town, Cu Mgar district in south-central Vietnam's Dak Lak province who have been proesting since mid-May to reclaim about 40 hectares of arable land from a forestry company. (Protesters' Facebook page).

Hundreds of ethnic minority households from a commune in south-central Vietnam's Dak Lak province are fighting to reclaim their land from a forestry company after 40 years of working on it as hired laborers.

ZANZIBAR's Land Commission plans to survey 2,000 plots, prepare 3,400 maps and conduct valuation on 400 areas in the next fiscal year.

Land and Settlement Development Minister Rahma Kassim Ali told the House of Representatives here on Monday that the commission will as well prepare 2,000 titles on land use rights; 140 land rent contracts; and 100 identities for three-acre use.

Main photo: the roots of mangrove trees are seen along a river in Pitas, Sabah, Malaysia, July 6, 2018

Pristine parts of northern Kachin State are under threat as demand grows for high-tech devices that rely on rare earth.

Main photo: The leaching ponds at a rare earth mining site in Kachin State, where toxic chemicals are applied to dissolve the metals. (PHOTO: Maran)

Kachin State’s Chipwi Township in northernmost Myanmar is known for its pristine forests and crystal-clear water.