News on Land

• Conflict over how best to protect the biodiversity of Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region may be contributing to the rapid loss of its forest cover.
• Habitats of globally threatened species, including the critically endangered Gurney’s pitta and recently discovered geckos, face destruction due to logging, agriculture and other human pressures.
• Researchers fear that entire species may be driven to extinction without ever being documented if habitats aren’t protected fast.

Settlers living adjacent to Adventure Park at 14-Mile in Central Province had their homes demolished yesterday, allegedly without being served a proper eviction notice. It is claimed the demolition exercise is the result of a directive from the National Capital District Commission (NCDC) over the Ilimo Farm land dispute in relation to a state lease on portion 1221. There are more than 400 settlers who have acquired, developed and settled on the land they claimed to have bought from customary owners, who are now the victims of the eviction.

Preah Vihear Provincial Court prosecutor Phy Sithorng issued a summons for four forest activists to appear in court on September 14 over charges of incitement to commit a felony after PNT Co Ltd filed a complaint against them concerning a 2015 land dispute.

The summons ordered Khem Sokhy, 36; So Thal, 45; Vong Sok Khengly, 46; and San Reth, 62, to appear in court. All of the suspects are men and residents of Ruosroan commune’s Russey village in Rovieng district.

China estimates that by 2030, when its population is expected to reach 1.5 billion, it will need to produce an additional 100 million tons of food grains each year.

New Delhi: China faces a daunting task to feed 22 per cent of the world population with only 07 per cent of the global arable land. There are 334 million acres of arable land, of which roughly 37 million acres are non cultivable.

(main photo: Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari says the factory building will be demolished within the next few months)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Selangor government will instruct the factory responsible for the pollution of Sungai Selangor, which led to water disruptions to over 1.2 million people in the Klang Valley, to vacate the land it occupies.

At a press conference, Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said the factory in the Sungai Gong Industrial Area in Rawang had already been closed.

A white former Zimbabwean commercial farmer says most landowners who were dispossessed of their farms during the country's violent land grab programme post-2000 would prefer financial compensation as opposed to land offers by government.

Government recently inked a US$3,5 deal with farmer representative groups in what would see the use of the giant figure to compensate former landowners for infrastructural improvements they made on the properties.

Lesotho Prime Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro reports that the country aims to overhaul its underperforming agricultural sector with the objective of improving both food security and attracting export-oriented investment into the production of high-value crops, such as fruit, vegetables and plant-based medicinal oils.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is providing technical and financial support to the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM) on its Strategic Action Programme (SAP) implementation. A key component of this four and a half  year project is the demonstration of environmentally conscious livelihoods and socio-economic development in the Basin.