News on Land

As more than 1,000 global leaders in land rights gather in Washington, D.C., next week for the annual World Bank Land and Poverty conference, there will, no doubt, be much discussion focused on gathering data to measure global progress toward documenting and strengthening land rights for all women and men.

THE Whanganui River has been granted the same legal status as a human being by New Zealand’s House of Representatives.

Explaining the world-first decision, the country’s Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson said the river would “have its own legal identity with all the corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a legal person.”

Scientists speculate that the era of never-ending global coral bleaching may have already arrived, decades early.

It is not just an ecological imperative, it opens up business opportunities as well. Market mechanisms need to improve

On March 22, we will celebrate the 24th World Water Day. The theme this year is ‘Waste Water’. This day is generally observed to spread awareness among the general public and focus on its importance in sustainable development.

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a grant-giving non-profit organization that supports independent global journalism, is seeking applications for data-driven journalism projects related to land rights and property rights. 

We are eager to see proposals that use open data to reveal new perspectives on property rights issues related to land tenure, indigenous land rights, transparency in land transactions and concessions, resource rights, or overlapping land use rights—just to name a few. 

MONROVIA, Montserrado – Agnes Gardia, a farmer in Montserrado, believes that existing laws on land ownership put farmers at a disadvantage because they have no regard for community ownership of land.

“Recently, while carrying out my farming works, the land I am gardening on was sold to another person by a member of a family claiming ownership. The new owner has asked me to remove my crops because he is ready to carry out his construction works,” she said. “Where then do I go, and how possible is it to relocate my crops when it’s not even ready for harvest?”

Over the past decade, international investments in land have come to the forefront of public debate. Some argue that investments in land, including by foreign entities, is a critical component of achieving food security. Others argue that large scale land acquisitions, or what some refer to as ‘land grabbing,’ on the contrary, undermines efforts to overcome poverty and hunger by further marginalizing already vulnerable groups, including indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers.

First, they were removed from their lands, then, recent years, the enormous deforestation of the area they live in practically destroyed the wild fauna and flora that are the basic means of traditional subsistence. Marilin Rehnfeldt

The national conversation about land, always simmering in South Africa, has come to the boil again. What’s often missing is a voice for the unrepresented party – the land. I’d like to be that voice.

Thousands of Native Americans and allies took their fight against the Dakota Access pipeline to the White House last week. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Native nations hosted the Native Nations Rise march to highlight “the necessity to respect Indigenous Nations and their right to protect their homelands, environment and future generations.”

A major task of Zimbabwe’s new Land Commission will be to undertake periodic audits of land and its use nationwide. This is a tricky technical and political challenge.

A major task of Zimbabwe’s new Land Commission will be to undertake periodic audits of land and its use nationwide. This is a tricky technical and political challenge.