News on Land

Forest Advisory Committee decided this while suggesting that instead states with deficient green land should divert their non-forest land for afforestation to companesate for use of forest land in development projects

States with more than 75 per cent forest cover won’t be required to provide non-forest land for forest diversion projects, decided the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) in a meeting on April 23, 2019.

Recent studies find that the prevention of irreversible climate catastrophes require the world’s population to commit to transformative change within the next decade. On 12–14 May, the Global Landscapes Forum Kyoto (GLF Kyoto) event entitled “Climate, Landscapes and Lifestyles: It is Not Too Late” focused on making this commitment a reality.

While gridlock is keeping the Taliban and the United States from reaching a political settlement to the war in Afghanistan, a lacklustre peace process represents just one of many issues confronting the country. 

Decades of civil wars and invasions have exacerbated the consequences of deforestation and desertification in Afghanistan, where environmental issues tend to take a backseat to counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. 

MOST people have heard of the historic 1992 High Court Mabo Decision and the Native Title Act 1993.

However, many people may not be aware of the NSW State Government Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (ARLA) and its impact.

Sometimes too, there is confusion between the two acts, but they are two very different pieces of legislation.

The United States government announced on Monday it will invest another $160 million in Colombia’s ongoing peace process.

The announcement came during an event with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), where Director for International Development Administrator Mark Green told reporters in Bogota that the funds are meant for the “implementation of peace” and to formalize land ownership of small farmers.

• A new modeling study finds that largely unrestricted “business-as-usual” Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado deforestation could result in the loss of an estimated 606,000 square kilometers of forest by 2050, leading to local temperature increases of up to 1.45 degrees Celsius, in addition to global rises in temperature.
• Under a Brazil Forest Code enforcement model, researchers predict deforestation would be limited to 79,000 square kilometers, with reforestation occurring over 110,000 square kilometers, leading to an average local increase of just 0.02 degrees Celsius.<

We need to frame policy that addresses the complex drivers of gendered vulnerabilities to climate change.

Women are often portrayed as suffering ‘victims’ inherently vulnerable to changing climatic conditions, or as the unrecognised ‘saviours’ of the planet upon whose shoulders lies the burden of responsibility in avoiding climate breakdown. 

“Climate change is hitting hardest those who have done least to cause it, especially the world’s indigenous peoples from the Arctic to the tropics,” said renowned actor and activist Alec Baldwin speaking at the 18th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York on 23 April 2019.

Studies reveal that community-forest management can reduce deforestation and poverty

Washington: Researchers observed that giving local communities the opportunity to manage their forests reduced deforestation and poverty. According to the study published in the journal of Nature Sustainability, community-forest management led to a 37 per cent relative reduction in deforestation and a 4.3 per cent relative reduction in poverty.

Abrupt climate change some 8,000 years ago led to a dramatic decline in early South American populations, suggests new UCL research.

The study, published in Scientific Reports, is the first to demonstrate how widespread the decline was and the scale at which population decline took place 8,000 to 6,000 years ago.

The right of foreign investors to sue governments in international tribunals is one of the most extreme examples of excessive power granted to corporations through free trade agreements and investment treaties.

For decades now, corporations have used this power to demand massive compensation for public interest regulations and other government actions that may reduce the value of their investments. Widespread outrage over this “investor-state dispute settlement” system is among the key issues in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The Global Landscape Forum (GLF) Kyoto event will explore landscape-based solutions for the climate challenge on 13 May. Sign up online or register for the free digital edition.