"As African countries seek to achieve inclusive economic growth to combat poverty, unemployment, inequality and informality, among other challenges, it is imperative that their policies recognize and realize the potential of urbanization. Cities, if well planned and managed, can become engines of structural transformation through the expansion of the productive sectors of the economy, including industries and services. " These were the views expressed by the Head of the Data Centre of the Central Africa Office of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Ms.

NAIROBI - Chiefs across Liberia are petitioning lawmakers while activists prepare for a sit-in protest in the nation's capital as they push to secure ancestral land rights, regarded as key to averting renewed bloodshed in the resource-rich country.

About 100 women marched on the presidential palace last week to kick off a campaign to amend the Land Rights Act (LRA), a watered-down version of which was passed by the House of Representatives in August, after years of delay, activists said.

Winner of "Green Nobel" prize says illegal mining is a scourge as it pollutes rivers with toxic mercury and cuts down forests

BOGOTA - Colombian environmental activist Francia Marquez has faced death threats and been forced from her home in her battle against the mines that she says are polluting rivers and ruining land.

But she has no intention of giving up the work that this week earned her a prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, known as the "Green Nobel", which honours grassroots activism.

Protecting the land and resource rights of indigenous peoples will not only provide security for historically exploited groups but also help the global fights against climate change and biodiversity loss, said speakers on Monday at the annual United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

European Union Ambassador condemns the killing of a member of the Sengwer community and underlines that both indigenous people's rights and Kenya's water towers need protection

Today, the European Union Ambassador to Kenya Stefano A. Dejak condemned the reported killing of a member of the Sengwer community and shooting of another by Kenyan Forest Serviceguards yesterday in Kapkok Glade.

Application Closing Date - 14 Jan 2018

Job Start Date - As soon as possible

Duration - 3 months or longer, depending on type of internship pursued (see below)

Pay Scale - EUR 450 per month

Location - Berlin, Germany

Dashboard tracks land and the Sustainable Developing Goals (SDGs)

The end of the native title claims era is in sight, forcing a rethink of how indigenous land rights councils will operate when their primary role winds up.

Heralding the shake-up, the Cape York Land Council in north Queensland has pulled Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion into a “strategic discussion” with traditional owners on the agency’s fut­ure once the carve-up of native title is complete.

A land claim over more than half the peninsula is now in train, and when determined it will exhaust the stock of territory that can come under native title there.

Investment in urban infrastructure such as new roads, public utilities or parks invariably increases real-estate prices. In Pakistan, stories of riches earned overnight due to new highways passing through agricultural lands are common.

The government this week reaffirmed its commitment to indigenous peoples living in Cambodia, promising to protect their traditional ways of life ahead of International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

Prime Minister Hun Sen issued an open letter on Tuesday ahead of the international day that is set for August 9 and which the government plans to observe.

ELENERAI, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Norah Chepkulul, a single mother of two young sons, stands outside her home, a grass thatched hut surrounded by cactus-like euphoria trees on the dusty Maasai Mara road in Kenya's Rift Valley.

She has just finished milking her four cows and has asked the boys to keep an eye on the goats corralled in the little compound.