• Fires have swept through large swaths of peatland forest in the western part of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island since the start of the year, an area that usually sees much smaller, controlled fires.
• Environmental activists say they suspect the fires might be linked to palm oil companies with plantations in and around the burned areas.
• They warn the burning could get worse in the coming months, with the dry season in this part of Sumatra expected to peak only in August.

JAKARTA — Fires in areas of carbon-intense peatland forest on the

Main photo: A screenshot of a video of villagers in Lang village, Ea Pok town, Cu Mgar district in south-central Vietnam's Dak Lak province who have been proesting since mid-May to reclaim about 40 hectares of arable land from a forestry company. (Protesters' Facebook page).

Hundreds of ethnic minority households from a commune in south-central Vietnam's Dak Lak province are fighting to reclaim their land from a forestry company after 40 years of working on it as hired laborers.

Main photo: the roots of mangrove trees are seen along a river in Pitas, Sabah, Malaysia, July 6, 2018

Pristine parts of northern Kachin State are under threat as demand grows for high-tech devices that rely on rare earth.

Main photo: The leaching ponds at a rare earth mining site in Kachin State, where toxic chemicals are applied to dissolve the metals. (PHOTO: Maran)

Kachin State’s Chipwi Township in northernmost Myanmar is known for its pristine forests and crystal-clear water.

Main photo:

A recent Nepal Rastra Bank report suggests that property price in Kathmandu Valley is increasing at the rate of 27.7 percent a year, doubling the real estate value every 3.5 years. 

In fact, almost every developing area of Nepal is witnessing this phenomenon. Property-price appreciation is starker still in the Madhes province and the Tarai towns of Sudurpaschim province. 

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)  and the Land Portal are launching a new blog series on the governance of land-based investments in the Global South. The series will explore practical strategies and approaches adopted by rights defenders and others to address common challenges surrounding these investments.

• A subsidiary of South Korean paper company Moorim has cleared natural forests a tenth the size of Seoul in Indonesia’s Papua region over the past six years, a new report alleges.
• The report, published by various NGOs, alleges that the cleared areas consisted of primary forests serving as a habitat for threatened species and a source of livelihood for Indigenous Papuans.

Main photo source: China's Ministry of Finance

China’s local authorities saw their income from land sales contract almost 30% in the first two months of the year, showing how the continued housing slump is directly hurting government finances.

Main photo: Aubergines are a staple in Hason Ara's community of Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh. WFP/Sayed Asif Mahmud. 

Main photo banner: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar chairs a meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday. — Screengrab via Govt of Punjab Twitter

LAHORE: The Punjab cabinet on Tuesday approved leasing out of state land for corporate farming under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).