News on Land

Collaborative social work is preparing communities for the historic task of untangling land ownership in a municipality plagued with conflict and displacement.

Land ownership in Tumaco, Colombia, is like an onion. When a layer of history is peeled back, another layer lies beneath it. Over time, these onions—these parcels that once belonged to agro-industrial farms, latifundista families, and indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities—have been abandoned and reclaimed, again and again.

The government today dissolved the Land Related Problem-Solving Commission that was formed by the KP Sharma Oli government on 22 March 2020.

The commission was formed to provide land to landless people across the country and to manage informal settlers. It had a tenure of three years.

The commission was headed by Devi Prasad Gyawali, who had lost Bharatpur Metropolitan City's mayoral race to CPN-Maoist Centre candidate and CPN-MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal's daughter Renu Dahal.

The global thirst for palm oil has never been more ravenous. Caught between it and a multigenerational war on Thailand’s poor are the farmers of the Southern Peasants’ Federation, who simply want a piece of land to call their own.

Main photo: Palm tree jungles and the mountains of Surat Thani Province in southern Thailand.

Many look beyond the city for land

Short of money to renovate her ancestral house in Punakha, a villager in Babesa sold 50 decimals of her wetland. With Nu 3,000 a decimal, it was a good deal in 1996 when construction  on wet land was not allowed. The land, which a Thimphu hotelier bought then had become a prime area today. Price for a decimal has reached Nu 1.5 million (M).

Adama Soro, vice-président chargé des relations du Groupe Endeavour pour le Burkina Faso, est le nouveau président de la Chambre des mines du Burkina (CMB) depuis le 25 juin 2021. Dans cet entretien accordé à Sidwaya, il décline ses ambitions pour le secteur minier burkinabè sous son mandat. Sans langue de bois ni faux-fuyant, il met le doigt sur les problèmes qui minent le secteur, propose des solutions pour réconcilier les burkinabè avec leur secteur minier. 

The Cambodian government is embarking on a number of ambitious development projects, which critics say come at the expense of the environment and people’s livelihoods

Main photo: Sophea Soung has been cultivating vegetables – such as this water mimosa – in Phnom Penh’s Tompoun Lake for over a decade, but her livelihood is now under threat (Image © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom)

The Land Portal Foundation and Open Data Charter intend to implement the Open Up Guide for Land Governance in the period 2021 - 2024. As part of this project, we seek to develop State of Land Information (SOLI) reports for 10-12 countries in Africa and Latin America. The SOLI reports will provide an overview of publicly available data and information on key land issues from government and other stakeholders in targeted countries.

According to human rights activists, an alleged crackdown is happening against those who are vocal against Bahria Town Karachi and the forced acquisition of lands and evictions.

Last month, while Murad Gabol’s two children were sleeping, police raided his house. “We showed them the papers of our home, but they beat us and locked me up in jail,” Gabol said.

The Chinese contractor has said it cannot start work on Kalanki-Maharajgunj section until the electricity poles are removed. The work is already delayed by a year.

The second phase of Ring Road widening work involving the 8.2 km Kalanki-Maharajgunj section is still in limbo as the high-voltage power lines in the Samakhusi area have yet to be shifted.

The Department of Roads blames the Nepal Electricity Authority for the delay.

Main photo: Indonesia’s Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, left, with President Joko Widodo in October 2019.  AP

Singapore/Jakarta | Hundreds of high-ranking retired military officers have taken Indonesia’s Minister for Defence Prabowo Subianto to court in an effort to resolve a long-simmering dispute over land.

Indigenous peoples patrolling the Peruvian Amazon equipped with smartphones and satellite data were able to drastically reduce illegal deforestation, according to the results of an experiment published Monday.

The study, which appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), showed that recognizing indigenous people's rights to their territory can be a powerful force against the climate crisis, the authors said.