News on Land

Five civil society organisations urged the government to take action against Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL), a Vietnamese agribusiness firm, for alleged land clearing activities on areas allocated to indigenous communities in Ratanakkiri province’s Andong Meas district.

However, provincial authorities denied the accusation, saying the local community welcomed the money that had poured into the area due to the presence of HAGL.

A Kampong Chhnang radio station owner was convicted for incitement on Tuesday and sentenced to 20 months in prison for reporting on an ongoing land dispute between villagers and the military in the province.

True to its reputation, Pakistan’s Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) is once again trying to forcibly occupy a prime land which has been given on lease to Teerath Singh, a Sikh resident of Nankana Sahib.    

According to highly places intelligence sources, the officials of ETPB in connivance with local police built the walls and laid the roof on the plot which was on lease with Teerath Singh.  

• Once covered in vast tropical forests, East Kalimantan, in the Indonesian half of Borneo Island, is today the most intensively mined province in Indonesia.
• Surface mining for coal has left behind vast expanses of barren land across the province.
• Under Indonesian law, mining companies are responsible for rehabilitating their mining concessions.

Dear Friends,

The Preah Sihanouk Provincial Administration and the O’Oknha Heng commune authority are investigating a land dispute involving 500 families living in O’Oknha Heng and O’Ta Sek villages that recently erupted into violence. In their initial conclusion, the authorities said the villagers are not squatters as alleged.

Main photo: young oil palms await planting on land deforested by South Korea’s Korindo in the Indonesian province of Papua (Image: Mighty Earth)

In 2019, South Korea imported 745,000 metric tonnes of palm oil, up from 194,000 metric tonnes in 2005. It is one of the fastest-growing markets for the commodity in the world, driven by government policies to boost palm oil as a lucrative green industry and to secure food and energy supplies from overseas.

The Kampot provincial authorities will grant land titles for 2,500 plots covering 6,649ha in Preah Monivong Bokor National Park to local residents who applied for official occupation and usage permits, according to the provincial Department of Environment director Suy Thea.

Thea told The Post on December 21 that titles will be issued to 2,138 families who applied for the eligible plots after officials survey and demarcate the land.

Some 400 families have agreed to relocate to the Run Ta Ek Eco village development zone in Run Ta Ek commune in Siem Reap province’s Banteay Srei district in exchange for vacating land they currently occupy along the Siem Reap River between Dragon Bridge and Angkor Bridge in Siem Reap town.

Hy Say, director of the provincial Department of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, said the authorities need to move forward with a plan to build scenic pathways along the historic river as a tourist attraction.

Police are still investigating the murder of a pagoda chief monk who was found dead on the morning of December 20 in Vihear Luong commune in Kandal province’s northernmost Ponhea Leu district.

The body of Chey Rith, the chief monk of Preah Chedei Thmey pagoda in Chedei Thmey village, was found in his room with bruises on his face and mouth and a rope had been tied around his neck.

The victim’s relatives claim that land titles and other valuable property have gone missing and were possibly stolen in the incident.

A wave of land occupations took place during Tunisia’s revolution 10 years ago. A date plantation is one of the few enduring success stories

 As revolution swept Tunisia 10 years ago, the people of Jemna saw their chance to settle a colonial-era score - seizing a 185-hectare (460-acre) date plantation just outside the oasis town.