News on Land

Traditional farming strategies could protect humanity against global warming and prevent deadly wildfires. Yet scientists seem determined to ignore them

Prejudice against indigenous people is visible and ingrained in cultures everywhere, from US football team names (the Washington Redskins for example) to Hindu folk tales where the forest peoples are rakshasas, or demons.

More than 100 families in Takeo province have been given back their land after a dispute with the Sun Hour company and an individual landholder.

The move follows protests and in front of the Ministry of Land Management as families asked the government to resolve their problems.

The 137 families were told officially on Saturday that 915 hectares in Tram Kak district’s Trapaing Kranhoung commune would be restored to them.

NEW DELHI: Over 70 per cent of compensatory afforestation across 10 states has been done on forest land instead of non-forest land in violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act. This was done on community forest land without the consent of gram sabhas, said an analysis released on Tuesday.

Can better weather information help Ethiopians better deal with unpredictable weather?

ARGOBA, Ethiopia, Nov 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Armed with a spear and undeterred by the intense sunlight, Tarekegn Kareto meticulously plucks weeds in his maize field in Argoba village, in southern Ethiopia.

"With both dry weather and unusually heavy rains hitting us in the past year, I've lost over half of my harvest of maize and sorghum," he said, pausing to wipe sweat off his forehead.

• Indonesian President Joko Widodo last month gave several indigenous communities back the land rights to the forests they have called home for generations.
• The total amount of customary forests relinquished to local groups under this initiative remains far short of what the government has promised, and looks unlikely to be fulfilled before the next presidential election in 2019.

SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for the United Nations (UN) Victoria Tauli-Corpuz discussed indigenous peoples’ (IPs) rights in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on October 25 at Leong Hall.

Tauli-Corpuz’s talk emphasized upholding the rights of indigenous peoples (IPs) to achieve SDG 1, which aims to end poverty; SDG 2, which aims to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture; and SDG 10, which focuses on reducing inequality.

The Marathwada region of Maharashtra is known for its drought-stricken conditions. Farmer suicides have been on the rise and families of the farmers are always on the fear that they would be losing their loved ones to the drought.

To add to plight, if the farmer belongs to the Dalit community, the struggles of the individual are more pronounced. The story of Kantabai Ichake entails similar struggles – a 70-year-old Dalit woman who is among many who have spearheaded the fight of Dalit women across Marathwada.

India needs to design its tree-based programmes better to meet climate goals

Recommendation for the Inter-Agency Expert Group on SDGs (IAEG-SDG) meeting (11-14 November 2017, Manama, Bahrain)

The Transparency International Secretariat (TI-S) in Berlin is seeking a consultant to research beneficial land ownership in Sierra Leone, applying and testing a newly developed methodology.

BACKGROUND