News on Land

Main photo: Protesters call in Phnom Penh for government authorities to intervene in land-rights disputes, Jan. 13, 2020 (RFA).

Cambodia’s government is unable to resolve the country’s myriad land disputes because many of them involve senior officials, Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said in a rare acknowledgement Tuesday, as a rights group urged authorities to take action against all perpetrators of illegal land grabs equally.

Minister of Environment Say Sam Al has sent letters to 20 provincial governors telling them to provide relevant documents on land issues in natural resource protected areas.

This, as an inter-ministerial team begins to allocate land to citizens on the recommendation of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The ministry’s secretary of state and spokesman Neth Pheaktra said: “The ministry manages, protects and conserves over 7.3 million hectares located in 20 provinces.

Cambodia’s government is unable to resolve the country’s myriad land disputes because many of them involve senior officials, Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said in a rare acknowledgement Tuesday, as a rights group urged authorities to take action against all perpetrators of illegal land grabs equally.

Speaking at a conference that included provincial governors and local authorities from across the country, Sar Kheng did not disclose the names of the involved officials but said that at least one of the disputes involved one of Cambodia’s deputy prime ministers.

The Yunnan-based company has been criticised as secretive as some question whether it is equipped to run such a project

Main photo: The entrance to Namjin village seen on March 6 (Photo- Chan Thar/ Myanmar Now)

One day in late 2018, residents of Namjin, Kachin state, noticed drones fixed with cameras buzzing above their usually quiet village. Then word spread that some people from China were visiting an area nearby.

THE Municipality of Otjiwarongo has started profiling its informal settlements to better plan and upgrade the areas for their residents.

According to Adelheid Shilongo, the Otjiwarongo local authority's public relations officer, the profiling is important because it will provide the municipality with crucial and accurate data on the informal settlements' demographics, which in turn would enable better planning and the upgrading of the areas.

FORMER farm workers are now the owners of the land where they used to work in Bago City.

This, after they received their certificates of land ownership award (Cloas) from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-Negros Occidental II.

The recipients are 27 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), who now own the 18.0580-hectare landholding formerly owned by Carmelino Mamar.

Situated at Barangay Bacong, it was covered through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp) specifically under compulsory acquisition.

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for the first time conducted a door-to-door distribution of certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) to ensure that farmer-beneficiaries in Laguna would receive their land titles.

Through the “Serbisyong DAR-to-Door,” Secretary John Castriciones last July 1 distributed to 43 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) their CLOAs covering a total of 38.7 hectares of agricultural land.

Namgyal Durbuk knows the steep mountainous terrain of Ladakh like the back of his hand. But in the 45 years he has lived here, along the Indian state’s volatile and poorly defined border with neighbouring China, he has watched Indian land disappear before his eyes.

Land reform minister Calle Schlettwein has urged regional governors to use land as a form of correcting past injustices while creating economic opportunities for disadvantaged Namibians to address inequality.

(MENAFN - The Conversation) The world's fourth-highest emitter of greenhouse gases , Indonesia, is heavily reliant on coal to generate electricity. Its coal-fired power plants produce a third of the country's emissions.

To minimise its future greenhouse gas emissions, Indonesia is gearing up to develop its vast renewable energy resources - including solar, wind, and geothermal.

Indonesia also aims to meet its future energy demand, which is set to grow another 80% by 2030 .

With the COVID-19 pandemic still expanding across the globe, ACT NOW is urging the PNG government to drop its plans to put customary land into the hands of commercial banks.

The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated once again that customary land is a vital and irreplaceable resource for our families and communities.

It should be inconceivable that the government would put customary land at risk by allowing commercial banks to hold the title as security for financial loans.

CHRDA recognizes and applauds the efforts made by the lawmakers in drafting a specific code that enunciates the rights of persons and the family. The code stands as a contemporary legislative document that seeks to promote the fundamental rights of persons and the family. The much-advocated change in the nationality law is reflective in the document as the recent code now recognizes dual nationality in section 81 of the code.