News on Land

Sandwiched between China and India, the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan is feeling the squeeze as its giant neighbours square up for supremacy.

A close ally of India, Bhutan got a shock when China made sudden new claims in the summer - over a wildlife sanctuary in the east of the country, on land that had not been considered disputed.

Most Bhutanese commentators don't want to discuss this in detail, but many believe Beijing is trying to drag the Buddhist majority nation - population 750,000 - into the territorial stand-off with India.

In a new study, researchers say that land inequality is rising in most countries. Worse, new measures and analysis proves that land inequality is significantly higher than previously recorded, with data reporting a 41 percent increase compared to traditional census data.

FG has secured $2m each for the 36 states of the federation through a World Bank-funded programme to develop their land information system.

The Nigerian government has announced that it has secured the sum of $72 million from the World Bank for the 36 states of the federation to develop a land information system.

Authorities in Koh Kong province are searching for the individuals who set up border posts on nearly 200ha of protected forest, with officials and activists claiming that powerful tycoons had hired local people to encroach on the land.

On Sothearith, governor of Koh Kong’s Thma Bang district, told The Post on November 22 that after protected forest land was allocated to people who had lived in the district’s Russey Chrum commune for many years, some people came in to claim the conservation areas with the intent to sell the land to businessmen.

Environment, forest and climate change minister Md Shahab Uddin on Sunday directed the country’s eight divisional commissioners for taking measures not to lease out forestlands to individuals and businesses and to evict the grabbers of forestlands.

At a routine meeting with the divisional commissioners at his office, Shahab Uddin asked the officials to pass on the order to all 64 deputy commissioners not to lease out anymore forestland in protecting the country’s forests.

• Indonesia’s environment ministry has issued a new regulation allowing protected forest areas to be cleared for a “food estate” program.
• The program is aimed at boosting domestic crop supplies, but critics say it prioritizes the interests of agribusiness at the expense of small farmers and the environment.
• Indonesia degazetted 26 million hectares (64 million acres) of its forest over the past 20 years, primarily for large-scale agriculture, and today has 29.7 million hectares (73.4 million acres) of protected forest, an area the size of Italy.

Attempts by the Agricultural Land Reform Office (Alro) to revamp its regulations to allow Sor Por Kor landholders to use their plots for non-agricultural purposes have raised real doubts about possible foul play, as illegitimate windfalls could be handed over to the rich and unscrupulous politicians.

Under its new policy, non-farming activities to be allowed under the new regulations being vetted in parliament include running apartment buildings, gas stations and food-processing plants, among others. Illegal occupants will be made tenants of state land.

Measures put in place to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus could lead to a massive disruption to food supplies. Following a Call to Action for World Leaders, the FOLU community is working to protect food supplies, farmers, others involved in the production of food and vulnerable communities, as well as support a sustainable recovery to grow back better.

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) on Thursday launched the P24.625 billion World Bank-funded Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project, which aims to improve land tenure security and stabilize property rights of 1,140,735  agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) nationwide.