News on Land

Earth’s cornucopia of life has evolved over 550 million years. Along the way, five mass extinction events have caused serious setbacks to life on our planet. The fifth, which was caused by a gargantuan meteorite impact along Mexico’s Yucatan coast, changed Earth’s climate, took out the dinosaurs and altered the course of biological evolution.

Indonesia - In Kalibiru, a national park in the Menoreh mountains to the west of Yogyakarta, tourists scale precarious-looking ladders up timber trees to take Instragrammable photos of themselves on treetop wooden platforms overlooking lakes and lush forest.

• The Wampis is an indigenous group comprised of thousands of members whose ancestors have lived in the Amazon rainforest of northern Peru for centuries.
• Mounting incursions by loggers, miners and oil prospectors, as well as governance changes that favored industrial exploitation, left the Wampis increasingly worried about the future of their home. Representatives said they realized that only by developing a strong, legal organizational structure would they have a voice to defend their people and the survival of their forest.

Peru - To legally obtain title to their community lands, indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon must navigate a maze of legal paperwork and technical steps that can take as long as a decade to complete. The process is frustrating not only for the villagers, but also for the government officials, as discovered in a study by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

The impacts of climate change are already being felt across the Pacific, considered to be one of the world’s most-at-risk regions. Small island developing states are mandated extra support under the Paris Agreement. Many are classified as least developed countries, allowing them special access to development funding and loans.

JAKARTA, Indonesia — When Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was elected in 2014, he ran on bold promises to ensure higher economic growth, reduce environmental impact, reform land laws, and improve both human rights and public health in Indonesia. Elected as the country’s first outsider president — not connected to the military or the founding aristocracy — there was much optimism that he could fulfill his promises.

A quarter of a century ago, Cameroon passed a law which gave people living on the edge of forests the right to own and manage forest areas. These communities depended on the forest for livelihood activities, like agriculture, hunting, fishing and non-timber forest products – like fruits or medicinal plants.

Agriculture makes up only about 1 percent of Singapore's land area, but urban farming - including vertical and rooftop farms - is fast becoming popular

SINGAPORE - Rain or shine, every day for the past year, Kanti Kagrana walks a short distance from his son's flat to Singapore's HortPark, a national park where he grows chillies, eggplant and spinach in his allotment garden.

As the climate shifts and population grows, land in the Choke Mountain watershed is becoming degraded, causing problems here and further downstream on the Nile

CHOKE, Ethiopia - Sloping fields of barley and potatoes stretching far into the distance are a common sight in the mountains of Ethiopia's northwestern Amhara Regional State.

Local farmer Babel Tena, in a faded jacket and head scarf, has been cultivating low-yielding varieties of barley, beans and potatoes here for more than 40 years.

Waorani people accuse Ecuador of violating their rights and putting their territory up for international oil auction.

Puyo, Ecuador - More than 200 indigenous Waorani people and their supporters marched to the court in the Amazon city of Puyo on Thursday to begin their high-stakes hearing against the Ecuadorian government.

Oxfam is a global movement of people working together to end the injustice of poverty.

That means we tackle the inequality that keeps people poor. Together we save, protect and rebuild lives. When disaster strikes, we help people build better lives for themselves, and for others. We take on issues like land rights, climate change and discrimination against women. And we won’t stop until every person on the planet can enjoy life free from poverty.