"Brazil's ‘monster dam’ has been under construction for a year now, and the impact is already starting to show on the land and the communities.

Controversy has raged over the Belo Monte Dam in the Amazonian state of Para, Brazil for over two decades. Residents of the region, NGOs and the Norte Energia consortium, who won the construction of the project, have fought a long battle over its development.

"Although some detailed exposés of India’s nefarious role in purchasing or leasing agricultural land in other countries — notably in Africa — have been surfacing in the last few years, the full picture of what some critics term a land grab and new form of colonialism has only emerged during the Rio+20 environmental meet in June. The Washington DC-based think tank, the Worldwatch Institute, released a report based on data put out by the Land Matrix project, a consortium of 45 NGOs, which has collated difficult-to-obtain information from investing and recipient countries.

An article to get a positive aspect, for once, on government policies and land rights. Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Rural developement in India, chooses to prioritise land and people development instead of private industries in Odisha.

The Namibian Government has put in motion plans to change the Local Authorities Act and to ban town councils from selling land through auctions or tender processes that prevent many low-income earners from owning properties due to inflated prices. The proposal is to change the sections of the Act which gives town councils the power to sell and lease urban land without consulting the line ministry. Read more. http://allafrica.com/stories/201209070989.html

The State of Chhattisgarh in India, a tribal state called India's "rice bowl", has been told by its own High Court to regulate the way it is dealing with land acquisitions. To read more click on the link below.

With the release of its concluding observations addressed to Mexico, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) expresses concern about harmful cultural practices and violence directed at indigenous rural women, as well as their lack of access to land, property and justice and asks for better implementation of women's rights in the country.

Both the Congress Party and the BJP, the two main political forces in India at the moment, are taking a left turn by putting land reforms in the agenda of the campaign. It seems that land reforms can not avoided anymore, at least in the discussions... To read more click below.

An article describing a program soon to take place in Seattle with women activists and professionnals from around the world to learn about women's land rights and advocacy. Read more on the link below...

The reform of marriage laws disposses the chinese women of their rights to property, including land rights. An analysis and some examples. To read more click below.

On August 26th, The New Indian Express published an article on the latest developments of the dialogue between social movements, including Ekta Parishad, and the India government, expressing the fact that land reforms ar now on the political agenda, one month before the start of Jan Satyagraha 2012, March for Justice (beginning on October 2nd). To read more click on the link below