New blog series looks at navigating the challenges of land-based investment
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Land Portal are launching a new blog series on the governance of land-based investments in the Global South. The series will explore practical strategies and approaches adopted by rights defenders and others to address common challenges surrounding these investments.
Mining and land rights in South Africa: how has the Maledu judgement empowered rural communities?
Removal of landowner consent requirement a slap in the face of mining-affected communities
Minister of Environment, Barbara Creecy’s recent revocation of the 2021 Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations Amendment is effectively reversing some of the very important progress communities have made in their ongoing fight for environmental justice and self-determination.
In South Africa on 3 March 2022, mining-affected communities and the broader environmental justice sector woke up to the news that the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, had removed a vital protection for mining-affected communities.
Decoding Centre’s bid to amend Delhi’s land pooling policy
A key provision of the proposed amendment is that once the minimum threshold of 70% voluntary land pooling is achieved in a sector, it will be mandatory for the owners of the remaining 30% land to pool in their land.
main photo: Delhi’s land pooling policy is aimed at meeting its growing housing demand by providing about 17 lakh dwelling units in 95 urban villages located in the city’s urbanised extension. (Representational)
China’s Local Land Sales Plunge Nearly 30% in First Two Months
Main photo source: China's Ministry of Finance
China’s local authorities saw their income from land sales contract almost 30% in the first two months of the year, showing how the continued housing slump is directly hurting government finances.
Mozambique: Cyclone Gombe death toll rises to 53
Tropical Cyclone Gombe has killed at least 53 people since it hit Mozambique a week ago, a sharp rise from earlier estimates.
According to the National Institute of Disaster Management (INGC) on Thursday, another 80 people have been injured and 400,000 affected since the cyclone swept into northern and central areas of the country, flooding towns and destroying houses.
The initial death toll in the southern African country was estimated at seven.
Uganda: 'Stop rich land grabbers'
To scale back large land grabs in the country, the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development Judith Nabakooba has ordered resident district commissioners (RDCs) to routinely monitor, inspect and report every month land acquired by large land investors to ensure that land they acquire is not occupied by tenants or customary landowners.
She urged RDCs and the district security committees to heed President Yoweri Museveni’s recent directive stopping land evictions across the country.
Museveni’s moratorium on land evictions
Uganda: On Feb. 28, President Yoweri Museveni wrote a letter addressing it to Robinah Nabbanja, the Prime Minister. The letter directed her to halt land evictions across Uganda. Museveni said he was using his powers under Article 98(1) and 99(1) of the Constitution that enjoins him to ensure good governance and protect the Constitution, President Museveni directed as follows:
AR urges foreign land ownership limit
In Namibia the Affirmative Repositioning Movement’s chief activist, Job Amupanda, has urged members of parliament to do something useful for their people by passing a bill prohibiting foreign nationals from owning land in Namibia.
Amupanda made this plea on Tuesday when he and his delegation met members of the parliamentary standing committee on natural resources at the National Assembly.
“Who will remember 100 of you (MPs) who have done something significant in dealing with this problem of foreigners owning our land?” Amupanda asked.