News on Land

Thousands of pastoralists in northern Ngorongoro district made homeless as homes torched to protect wild game

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania

Simat Rotiken and his family are braving cold nights huddled under a tree after their homestead was burned down in a scheme to protect a disputed wildlife corridor.

They were driven from their pastures by security forces in a government policy aimed at securing the Loliondo Game Controlled Area next to the Serengeti National Park.

Current Status of the Land Resources

Since the dawn of civilisation land and water have been the basic elements of life support system in our planet. Great civilisations flourished where these resources was available in plenty and they declined or perished with their depletion.

When looking to buy a home or other property in the U.S., location is typically at the top of the list—many buyers value properties with access to amenities like schools, parks, and an easy commute. But is that value shared by home buyers in developing countries? University of Illinois economist Hope Michelson looked at property transactions in Kenya near what she assumed would be a highly desirable location and found the real estate mantra, "location, location, location," wasn't necessarily the guiding principle there.

The collapse of the Soviet Union gave rise to a vast archipelago of unclaimed man-made objects and land in Russia and beyond. Thousands upon thousands of roads, bridges, water pipes, gas pipes, power grids, cemeteries, farmland, and more have passed from state hands to no one in the last 26 years. These assets aren’t just lying around. They’re being used.

Pressure to sell their homes to the government has divided families, friends and neighbors, fueling distrust and the stigmatization of those who do sell

TEMACAPULÍN, Mexico, Aug 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Abigail Agredano fears her 96-year-old mother would not survive being uprooted from their hometown in the highlands of western Mexico, where its 400 mostly elderly residents are battling a  government plan to dam the nearby Río Verde.

(Ecofin Agency) - Launched in 2005 with a financial support from the World Bank, Madagascar’s land reform has yielded satisfying results, the Bretton Woods institution said on its website.

“Many other countries could follow Madagascar’s example. Actually, various African nations are already showing interest in the Malagasy land reform as it tackles key challenges and provide technical and legal solutions which are reliable and accessible,” explains André Teyssier, land specialist at the World Bank.

NEW DELHI, Aug 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Upgrading slums and giving tenancy rights to residents is key to climate change adaptation and disaster mitigation in India's cities, an analyst said, as the country braces for extreme weather events of greater frequency and intensity.

With 1.3 billion people and densely populated cities, India is particularly vulnerable to damage wrought by drought, cyclones, floods and extreme heat.

President Koroma today, Monday 21st of August, visited the East-end of Freetown to take stock of flood-hit areas. Meeting flood affected persons from Mountain Cut, Culvert and Wellington communities who are now seeking shelter at Brima Attouga mini-stadium, President Koroma told residents that government would do everything possible to help them rebuild their lives.

Global population is projected for a rise from the present tally of about 7.1 billion to over 9 billion around 2050. This translates into an annual demand of over one billion extra tonnes of extra cereals and 200 million tonnes of livestock products, which means more aggressive agricultural expansion. Is this a problem? There are two ways to view it: we will need to produce more food and more importantly, produce more nutritious food. The latter has lately been a key challenge in the global food sector: eradicate hunger with high-quality food (Sustainable Development Goal 2).

The resettled people of Sampur and Kadarkaraichenai have filed a complaint over land issues to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, submitting over a thousand documents as evidence.

Representatives of the villages went to the Trincomalee regional office of HRCSL to hand over the files of evidence and letters and to register the official complaint.

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