What landmark Kwazulu-Natal court ruling means for land reform in South Africa
By Ben Cousins, Emeritus Professor, Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape
* This article originally appeared in the The Conversation on 22 June 2021
Pakistan’s ‘Biggest Land Grabber’
By Nilesh Kunwar
Originally posted by Eurasia Review at: https://www.eurasiareview.com/03052021-pakistans-biggest-land-grabber-oped/
Photo: Pakistan's General Qamar Javed Bajwa
Turning the Tide on Sri Lankan Corruption
by TISrilanka (TISL) for Transparency International
Originally posted at: https://www.transparency.org/en/blog/turning-the-tide-on-sri-lankan-corruption#
By challenging favouritism in Sri Lanka’s land department, a resident is undermining public officials’ corruption that damages many people’s lives
A Legal Empowerment Approach to Achieving Women’s Land and Natural Resources Rights
When Namati's Community Land Protection project in Sierra Leone's Paki Massabong Chiefdom came to a close, a 'handing over' ceremony was held. Along with village chiefs and local officials, a number of female community members stood to speak. Here are excerpts from what a few of these women shared.
Entrevista con el profesor Leon Verstappen sobre su experiencia con el Land Portal
Leon Verstappen, profesor de derecho privado en la Universidad de Groningen y juez adjunto del Tribunal de Apelaciones de La Haya, ha dejado el cargo de la presidencia de la Junta del Land Portal, cargo que ha ocupado desde la creación de este en 2014. Leon relata su compromiso con el Land Portal desde su inicio como un proyecto de más de una década y su evolución hasta el día de hoy.
Land and compensation in Zimbabwe: frequently asked questions
The debate about compensation of former white farmers in Zimbabwe continues to rage. The compensation agreement signed in July agreed a total amount of US$3.5 billion to pay for ‘improvements’ to the land that was expropriated. After 20 years of discussion, this was a major step forward. However, there seem to be multiple positions on the agreement and little consensus, along with much misunderstanding. However, some things are happening, and a joint resource mobilisation committee has been established with technical support from the World Bank and others.
Why The Gambia’s quest for a new constitution came unstuck – and what next
The constitution-drafting process aimed at ushering in The Gambia’s third republic has reached an unfortunate dead-end. More than two years after the process began, and after a highly acrimonious and polarised parliamentary debate, the proposed Constitution Promulgation Bill, 2020 was recently rejected in the national assembly.
Safeguarding tenure rights in land consolidation
I was assigned to lead the preparation of the assessments and amendments to the land consolidation legislation in 2016. That appeared to be a burdensome task. The first two land consolidation projects in North Macedonia were initiated according to the existing Land Consolidation Law and the implementation was blocked. The Law simply had no legal solutions for the identified field situations. The problems were many and each was ascending the other in its magnitude and sensitivity.
Multi-purpose land consolidation in support of sustainable development
The increasing number of salmon in the Skjern River in Denmark is a positive sign, as the Danish salmon is the only strain of wild salmon left in Danish rivers. Before the Skjern River Nature Restoration Project, the salmon had almost gone extinct owing to the state of the environment. The project area now offers ideal conditions for flora and fauna and has already acquired great natural value. In fact, it has already grown into a bird site of national importance.
Land consolidation or…. can land markets solve land fragmentation?
It happened on the 29th of January 2020 in Bitola in North Macedonia. More than 200 landowners from Egri village gathered in Bitola’s theatre, taking turns to vote on the Land Consolidation Plan. The serious faces of men and women, old and young, were a sign that they may have been as nervous as we were ourselves. The voting on the first majority based land consolidation ever in the country was coming to an end. And then the result was there….. 83% in favour of land consolidation! The villagers were cheering. Our team was overwhelmed by emotion.