News on Land

Corporations globally have made hundreds of commitments on deforestation. But what do these pledges really mean and why do scandals keep happening?

[JURIST] Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment John Knox [official profile] called [press release] on Mongolia Wednesday to protect the environment.

The app will provide weekly satellite deforestation data in 17 tropical countries including Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A mobile app launched on Tuesday will allow indigenous people, forest managers and law enforcement officials in remote areas to monitor deforestation and fires regardless of connectivity, according to developers.

The following is an English-translation of a Spanish-language article by Jazmín Acuña, originally published by Kurtural.

The Chaco region, which stretches across parts of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, has the world's highest rate of deforestation, caused by logging for the production of charcoal and the expansion of grazing land for livestock.

Land rights activists gathered in protest outside Government House on Monday, demanding a solution to land conflicts that have arisen as a result of government policies.

The People’s Movement for a Just Society (P-Move) led the demonstration to demand government action, saying they had been campaigning on this issue for four years but there had been no improvement. Many people who have been involved in land conflicts across the country joined in the protest.

Kajal (24) is in no hurry to cook dinner for her children who are running around as she sits with her husband, talking and complaining about their ‘neighbours’.

Her husband Santosh, in turn, is in no mood to react to what his wife tells him.

“I have bigger things to worry about. I want the government to make houses for us here,” he says, pointing to the pavement and the adjoining piece of land on the Bathinda-Goniana road.

Land rights defenders from 29 countries call for greater vigilance in ensuring governments comply with laws

MUMBAI, Sept 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Dozens of land rights defenders from 29 countries have written to the United Nations to draw attention to the increasing violence they face from states and corporations, and calling for greater vigilance in ensuring governments comply with laws.

Land Portal Foundation and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) launch thematic portfolio on Land & Food Security

Approximately 40 percent of the world’s land is used for crop production and pasture, but 800 million people remain food insecure and as many as 2 billion are malnourished. In the coming years, ensuring the world’s poor and vulnerable have access to and control over land will be critical to prevent devastating food shortages and starvation.

Deadline: 01/10/2017

“Protecting our land for a prosperous future”

State governments are rushing to build land banks, using both private and common lands, in an effort to attract investment in manufacturing and infrastructure.

State governments are building land banks, using both private and common lands, to attract investment in manufacturing and infrastructure, but at the cost of people’s rights.

Monrovia – The Civil Society Organization (CSO) working group on Land Rights in Liberia, in collaboration with the National Civil Society Council of Liberia has alarmed that the current Land Rights Act passed by the House of Representatives and currently before the Senate is not in the interest of ordinary Liberians.