News on Land

Residents of the northern highlands of Nicaragua were typically overlooked by modern infrastructure development. The Association of Rural Development Workers has changed this, securing access to electricity and clean drinking water for local people for the first time. Today the association is also generating enough profits from hydro power to fund US$300,000-worth of development in the region.

It’s a familiar refrain in environmental circles: to be effective and sustainable, landscape restoration initiatives must be founded on local communities’ desires and needs.

The Chilean delegate recognized that there's still a long way to go and regretted Catrillanca's murder by Carabineros.

Delegations from U.N. member states recommended that Chile should stop discriminatory practices against the Mapuche and other indigenous peoples in the South American country, after the universal periodic review at the Human Rights Council meeting in Ginebra.

The delegations showed concerns for the “discrimination and human rights violations against indigenous peoples” in key issues such as access to education and health.

Only about a tenth of the nearly 93 billion tonnes of materials utilised annually - including minerals, metals, fossil fuels and biomass - are currently put back into service

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - More of the billions of tonnes of materials the world uses each year must be recycled and reused to keep climate change in check, researchers said on Tuesday.

With less than two months before the newly amended Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management (VFV) Law goes into force, millions in ethnic rural areas now face the risk of eviction while others across the country may lose their lands upon return.

Labelled by land rights NGO Land In Our Hands (LIOH) as “burdening and oppressive”, the amended VFV Law worries many, as more conflicts are likely to ensue and could tear the already divided country apart once enforced. 

The move is aimed at ending decades of deadly conflict and granting greater control over land and natural resources

BANGKOK - Nearly three million minority Muslims in southern Philippines voted on Monday in a referendum on autonomy, a move that is aimed at ending decades of deadly conflict and granting them greater control over their land and natural resources.

Those who gathered at Nri, Anambra State on December 28, 2018, did not go for merry-making; they gathered there because of a burning issue that has torn into shreds Ndigbo in the South East and other Igbo-speaking people in other states. The issue is the obnoxious practice called the Osu Caste System.

At Nri, the gathering, which had in attendance traditional rulers from Anioma in Delta State, Imo, Abia and Anambra states among others, abolished the practice.

After a controversial land-reform program transferred many commercial farms from white to black ownership, some of the new farmers have struggled to prove that they own the land. But since the government has replaced title deeds with 99-year leases, uncertainty remains about what “ownership” really means.

BINDURA, ZIMBABWE — On the outskirts of town, Blazio Dengu grows maize, soybeans and wheat on more than 60 hectares (148 acres) of land.

Dengu expects high yields this year, but he worries that he might not be able to profit from them.

A recent Rights and Resources report provides strong evidence on the importance of recognizing and protecting indigenous rights towards mitigating forest-based emissions and curbing global warming. As a Ph.D.

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Acting Kampala Capital City Executive Director, Eng Andrew Kitaka has said over 20,000 land titles in Kampala have not been digitalised in the Land Information System.

The un-digitalised land titles, Kitaka says represents 21.83% of titles held by Kampala land lords. He made the disclosure during a meeting with team from the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development led by State Minister for Housing, Chris Baryomunsi at City Hall on Wednesday.

The suit seeks the legal recognition of the Temiar Orang Asli's land rights

BANGKOK, Jan 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The Malaysian government said on Friday it would sue the local government of Kelantan state for failing to uphold the land rights of its indigenous people, a move that activists said was unprecedented and that could lead to more protection measures.

Native groups are struggling with land encroachment by governments and logging, mining and agribusiness companies

WASHINGTON - Indigenous people from across the globe gathered in the U.S. capital on Friday for a march drawing attention to social and environmental injustices against indigenous communities worldwide, in what organizers said was a first-ever event.