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The Online Burma/Myanmar Library (OBL) is a non-profit online research library mainly in English and Burmese serving academics, activists, diplomats, NGOs, CSOs, CBOs and other Burmese and international actors. It is also, of course, open to the general public. Though we provide lists of Burma/Myanmar news sources, the Library’s main content is not news but in-depth articles, reports, laws, videos and links to other websites, We provide a search engine (database and full text) and an alphabetical list of categories and sub-categories, but the Library is best accessed through browsing the 100 or so categories which lead to sub- and sub-sub categories. These tools should be used in combination.
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Displaying 31 - 35 of 1151Myanmar: Asia World and Shwe Padonmar Companies sue returning internally displaced persons for trespass
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) returning to their former villages are being sued for trespass by the Asia World and Shwe Padonmar companies who claim the land was given to them for palm oil plantations…
“The Farmer Becomes the Criminal” - Human Rights and Land Confiscation in Karen State (text and video)
In Burma, where 70 percent of people earn a living through agriculture, securing land is often equivalent to securing a livelihood. But instead of creating conditions for sustainable development, recent Burmese governments have enacted abusive laws, enforced poorly conceived policies, and encouraged corrupt land administration officials that have promoted the displacement of small-scale farmers and rural villagers.
The Recognition of Customary Tenure in Myanmar
The present study on Myanmar focuses on customary tenure among upland ethnic
nationalities, where colonial and state land administration systems have been poorly integrated,
allowing customary systems to be sustained over time. Much like under British colonial power, the
state has an ambiguous attitude towards customary systems: they are not formally recognized in
law but in practice they are tolerated. Customary land is not titled and therefore at risk of
alienation. The expropriation of many thousands of acres of farmers’ land during the military junta
The impact of swidden decline on livelihoods and ecosystem services in Southeast Asia: A review of the evidence from 1990 to 2015
Abstract: "Global economic change and policy interventions
are driving transitions from long-fallow swidden (LFS)
systems to alternative land uses in Southeast Asia’s uplands.
This study presents a systematic review of how these
transitions impact upon livelihoods and ecosystem services
in the region. Over 17 000 studies published between 1950
and 2015 were narrowed, based on relevance and quality, to
93 studies for further analysis. Our analysis of land-use
transitions from swidden to intensified cropping systems
Land Rights Matter! Anchors to Reduce Land Grabbing, Dispossession and Displacemen
A Comparative Study of Land Rights Systems in Southeast
Asia and the Potential of National and International Legal
Frameworks and Guidelines....."Land rights systems in Southeast Asia are in constant
flux; they respond to various socioeconomic and political pressures and to changes in statutory and customary
law. Over the last decade, Southeast Asia has become
one of the hotspots of the global land grab phenomenon,
accounting for about 30 percent of transnational land
grabs globally. Land grabs by domestic urban elites,