The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) gathered representatives from 31African Countries, the private sector, national and international organizations, and youth ambassadors in Kigali, Rwanda, to participate in its Fifth Annual Partnership Meeting.

They have a common goal: tobeginrestoring100 million hectares of land by2030.The hybrid event was a first of its kind for the partnership and featured thelaunch of a documentary film,AFR100 Presents: The Grand African Green Up,which highlights local action for restoring biodiversity, food systems, and theclimate.

The government has launched 'Mero Kitta' and Nepal Land Information System (NELIS) in a bid to facilitate realty sector in the country.

The land details from across the country will now be stored in the central server, NELIS.

This will make it easier to access the service provided by the survey offices and get the details of revenue collection, the Department of Survey has stated.

Similarly, with the Mero Kitta (my land), which is an online platform, one can submit land revenue details and print the sketch of his/her plot of land.

Introduction

In May 2021 the Land Portal conducted its fourth Annual Visitor Survey (AVS). The AVS is an important tool to assess impact, track progress and engage with the community, measuring the level of trust across visitors and partners, assessing the alignment with the current strategy, and identifying areas of improvement. With over 380 respondents from 80 different countries, this round of the Annual Survey provided plenty of results, insights, and ideas. The main points are summarised below.

Key Results

Nepal has stepped into yet another and very important milestone in guaranteeing security of tenure and access to land for all. Following the promulgation of the new Constitution in September 2015, the Government of Nepal amended the Lands Act of 1964 through enacting a Lands (Seventh Amendment) Act in 2018 which provided a legal framework for implementation of Article 40 (5) of the Constitution on the provision of land to landless Dalits.

In a bid to expedite the distribution of land ownership certificates to the landless people and decentralise the federal responsibility, the government has formed committees of the Landless Squatters' Problems Resolution Commission in all the 77 districts of the country. Each of the seven-member committees will include a chairperson and two others appointed by the government, with the remaining members representing the district Land Revenue Office, Survey and Forest Offices and the District Coordination Committee.

In May 2021, the numbers of households whose land rights have been secured with the support by the Global Programme Responsible Land Policy have reached a peak: Thanks to the hard work of our partners and project teams, 110.163 households had their land legally documented by then, corresponding to about  550.000 people directly benefitting.

The Bangladesh Forest Department has recovered 2,468 acres of forest land from grabbers in the last eight months.

Officials of the forest department shared this information at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on environment, forest and climate change affairs ministry at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

Ruling Awami League MP and chief of the parliamentary watchdog Saber Hossain Chowdhury presided over the meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

The European Investment Bank has large investments in Nepal, with four projects in its energy sector, but has done little to stop rights violations.