News on Land
Get the latest news on land and property rights, brought to you by trusted sources from across the globe.
Is Cambodia’s thirst for sand putting communities and the Mekong at risk?
The Cambodian government is embarking on a number of ambitious development projects, which critics say come at the expense of the environment and people’s livelihoods
Main photo: Sophea Soung has been cultivating vegetables – such as this water mimosa – in Phnom Penh’s Tompoun Lake for over a decade, but her livelihood is now under threat (Image © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom)
'We will never give them our land': The city for rich that is displacing thousands of indigenous people in Pakistan's Sindh
According to human rights activists, an alleged crackdown is happening against those who are vocal against Bahria Town Karachi and the forced acquisition of lands and evictions.
Last month, while Murad Gabol’s two children were sleeping, police raided his house. “We showed them the papers of our home, but they beat us and locked me up in jail,” Gabol said.
Job Opportunities: Land Portal Seeks Researchers and Analysts for Open Data Project
The Land Portal Foundation and Open Data Charter intend to implement the Open Up Guide for Land Governance in the period 2021 - 2024. As part of this project, we seek to develop State of Land Information (SOLI) reports for 10-12 countries in Africa and Latin America. The SOLI reports will provide an overview of publicly available data and information on key land issues from government and other stakeholders in targeted countries.
Indonesia’s defence minister sued over land grab
Main photo: Indonesia’s Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, left, with President Joko Widodo in October 2019. AP
Singapore/Jakarta | Hundreds of high-ranking retired military officers have taken Indonesia’s Minister for Defence Prabowo Subianto to court in an effort to resolve a long-simmering dispute over land.
Satellite data helped indigenous Peruvians save rainforest: study
Indigenous peoples patrolling the Peruvian Amazon equipped with smartphones and satellite data were able to drastically reduce illegal deforestation, according to the results of an experiment published Monday.
The study, which appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), showed that recognizing indigenous people's rights to their territory can be a powerful force against the climate crisis, the authors said.
Power poles and land dispute delay Ring Road widening work
The Chinese contractor has said it cannot start work on Kalanki-Maharajgunj section until the electricity poles are removed. The work is already delayed by a year.
The second phase of Ring Road widening work involving the 8.2 km Kalanki-Maharajgunj section is still in limbo as the high-voltage power lines in the Samakhusi area have yet to be shifted.
The Department of Roads blames the Nepal Electricity Authority for the delay.
The Taliban conquest of a thin strip of land could change Afghanistan
When a small group of armed insurgents in cars arrived in a village in the Wakhan Corridor, it put a sharp focus on Beijing’s role in this nation shattered by more than four decades of war.
Main photo: A Kyrgyz family in the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of land that connects Afghanistan to China. CREDIT: MARTA PASCUAL JUANOLA
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Top brands failing to spot rights abuses on Indonesian oil palm plantations
- A new report highlights systemic social and environmental problems that continue to plague the Indonesian palm oil industry and ripple far up the global palm oil supply chain.
- The report looked at local and Indigenous communities living within and around 10 plantations and found that their human rights continued to be violated by the operation of these plantations.
Pastoralists Plead With Government To Help In Title Deeds Acquisition
Pastoral communities in Northern Kenya are pleading with their County Governments to allocate resources for community land sensitization and acquisition of title deeds.
The community group ranches drawn from Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu and Laikipia counties met in Laikipia North, in an event organized by Indigenous Movement for Peace Advancement and Conflict Transformation (IMPACT) which campaigns for land rights among pastoralist communities.
The battle for Brazil's indigenous land heats up
Brazil's indigenous peoples are bracing for a legal battle with far-right President Jair's Bolsonaro's government as it seeks to rush laws through parliament to carve away at their land.
Indigenous people, who represent some 0.5 percent of Brazil's population, hold about 13 percent of its land under ancestral rights guaranteed by the country's 1988 constitution.
These have been under threat ever since Bolsonaro came to power in 2019 on the promise of ceding "not one centimeter more" to Brazil's native population.
Global demand for manganese puts Kayapó Indigenous land under pressure
- InfoAmazonia’s Amazônia Minada project has found an unusual rise in demand to mine for manganese last year in Brazil, one of the world’s top producers of the metal.
- Previously, only 1% of mining bids on Indigenous lands were for manganese; in 2020, it was with 15% of all requests, second only to gold.