News on Land

On Facebook, Instagram, moderation is effective, content monitored. The user can still find diamonds for sale. The origin of these stones remains difficult to prove. Normally, the Kimberley Process allows for solid certifications, avoiding the circulation of blood diamonds. But our investigation reveals that behind a post is at the other end of the chain Russian mercenaries.

The 7th annual West Africa Peasants’ Seed Fair, hosted by the West African Committee for Farmers’ Seeds (Comité Ouest Africain de Semences Paysannes ­– COASP), was held in Zoungbonou, Benin, from 9-11 March 2023, bringing together 75 exhibitors from 25 countries, predominantly from the West African community but also including farmers from East Africa, government officials and academics.

Robin Palmer sadly died on February 19th. Historian, lecturer, land campaigner, NGO worker and consultant, he was the original scholar activist. The large numbers of tributes that have been shared on many platforms (see here and here) are witness to his influence on many over several decades.

The Ethiopian government is striving to enhance responsible agricultural investment that can meet nationally, regionally, and internationally accepted principles, according to Ministry of Agriculture.

The Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic of Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implemented Responsible Governance of Investment in Land (RGIL) project has organized the third Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue (MSD) on Responsible Governance of Investment in Land (RGIL) at the national level from 21 to 22 March 2023 here in Addis Ababa. The National MSD aims at enhancing general awareness of responsible agricultural investment in Ethiopia, discussed the key challenges in the large-scale agricultural investment facing Ethiopia and proposes potential policy and legal solutions to the identified bottlenecks in the sector.

Al Jazeera infiltrates large gold-smuggling rings and reveals a giant money laundering scheme in which  billions of dollars’ worth of gold is smuggled every month from Zimbabwe to Dubai, allowing criminals to whitewash dirty money through a web of shell companies, fake invoices and paid-off officials.

World leaders are currently coming together in New York from 22 – 24 March for the first water UN Water Conference in more than 40 years: their aim, to avert a global water crisis. But for farmers in Eastern Africa facing catastrophic food insecurity due to the sixth failed rainy season, or pastoralists who have lost over eleven million animals since drought started in 2020, the crisis is already here.

With USAID support through the Land for Prosperity Activity, the Colombian government has begun delivering land titles as part of a far-reaching project to transform the territory and meet the Peace Accord commitments

Land Portal Publishes New State of Land Information Report for Malawi

During the colonial era, data and information was largely treated as confidential in Malawi. According to Mambulasa (2016), many statutes in Malawi dating back to colonial times promote government secrecy and the withholding of public information. This has resulted in lingering land administration and management challenges. Land-related problems have been a constant feature of Malawian society, including the pre-colonial, colonial and post independence period starting in 1964.

Malaysian states that offer land in strategic locations for free or at a nominal premium rate will be given priority by the government in the construction of people’s housing projects

Lao villagers worry that compensation for Pak Beng Dam will be too low

Just 38 indigenous communities out of 455 have received communal land titles since the government first made them available in 2009, with indigenous activists and rights groups bemoaning the notoriously slow process.