News on Land

Emmanuel Okas Wike is the President, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers. He spoke to ANN GODWIN in Port Harcourt on how the Land Use Act has undermined professional practice, measures that could transform the real estate sector, and the role of estate surveyors in developing the economy.

• Lawmakers in Indonesia want to question pulp and paper company PT Arara Abadi about its dispute with an Indigenous community in Sumatra that resulted in a member of the community being jailed on dubious charges.
• The company has held the concession to the land since 1996, but the Sakai Indigenous tribe have lived and farmed there since 1830, and claim ancestral rights to the area.

Oxfam International warned Thursday that up to 12,000 people could die each day by the end of the year as a result of hunger linked to the coronavirus pandemic—a daily death toll surpassing the daily mortality rate from Covid-19 itself.

April saw the highest global daily mortality rate for Covid-19 thus far with just over 10,000 deaths per day.

The impact of COVID-19 has been felt across the globe in a wide range of countries and very different environments. The pandemic has already affected countries in every region, making this a truly global situation where every country must take steps to prepare and respond.

The Preah Vihear Provincial Court has dropped all charges against eight ethnic Kuoy villagers who were in a land dispute with the Hengfu Group Sugar Industry Co Ltd since 2014.

Wednesday’s decision was made by the judge who tried the case on June 10. The eight were accused of detention and illegal confinement.

Defence lawyer Sam Tithseyha told The Post on Thursday it was the right decision because they are the victims and this decision shows their innocence as they are not guilty of the charges and have good names in society.

Kampong Speu province is set to reclaim land in the Kirirom National Park after accusations from locals that environmental officers had encroached on 2ha of it.

The statement came from provincial governor Vei Samnang who vowed to get to the bottom of the matter.

The dispute began when a letter containing the thumbprints of nearly 20 residents was sent to a commune chief claiming that the signatories are witnesses in Chambak commune’s Thmei Village.

Main photo: Protesters call in Phnom Penh for government authorities to intervene in land-rights disputes, Jan. 13, 2020 (RFA).

Cambodia’s government is unable to resolve the country’s myriad land disputes because many of them involve senior officials, Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said in a rare acknowledgement Tuesday, as a rights group urged authorities to take action against all perpetrators of illegal land grabs equally.

Minister of Environment Say Sam Al has sent letters to 20 provincial governors telling them to provide relevant documents on land issues in natural resource protected areas.

This, as an inter-ministerial team begins to allocate land to citizens on the recommendation of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The ministry’s secretary of state and spokesman Neth Pheaktra said: “The ministry manages, protects and conserves over 7.3 million hectares located in 20 provinces.

Cambodia’s government is unable to resolve the country’s myriad land disputes because many of them involve senior officials, Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said in a rare acknowledgement Tuesday, as a rights group urged authorities to take action against all perpetrators of illegal land grabs equally.

Speaking at a conference that included provincial governors and local authorities from across the country, Sar Kheng did not disclose the names of the involved officials but said that at least one of the disputes involved one of Cambodia’s deputy prime ministers.

The Yunnan-based company has been criticised as secretive as some question whether it is equipped to run such a project

Main photo: The entrance to Namjin village seen on March 6 (Photo- Chan Thar/ Myanmar Now)

One day in late 2018, residents of Namjin, Kachin state, noticed drones fixed with cameras buzzing above their usually quiet village. Then word spread that some people from China were visiting an area nearby.

THE Municipality of Otjiwarongo has started profiling its informal settlements to better plan and upgrade the areas for their residents.

According to Adelheid Shilongo, the Otjiwarongo local authority's public relations officer, the profiling is important because it will provide the municipality with crucial and accurate data on the informal settlements' demographics, which in turn would enable better planning and the upgrading of the areas.

FORMER farm workers are now the owners of the land where they used to work in Bago City.

This, after they received their certificates of land ownership award (Cloas) from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-Negros Occidental II.

The recipients are 27 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), who now own the 18.0580-hectare landholding formerly owned by Carmelino Mamar.

Situated at Barangay Bacong, it was covered through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp) specifically under compulsory acquisition.