Neil Sorensen joined the Land Portal as its Communications Specialist in October 2015. He has extensive experience leading communications for international organizations and developing relationships with civil society, donors, intergovernmental agencies, the media and the private sector. Previously, Neil worked for the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) as a Governing Bodies Officer and Strategic Adviser to the Secretary of IFAD. He has also led communications for three international organizations, including the International Land Coalition, the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). He holds a Master’s degree in Global Diplomacy from the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) as well as a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in German and Sociology from St. Cloud State University.
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India: farmers displaced for a car factory regain control of land
Prosecutors in Brazil looking to hinder illegal gold mining in the Amazon
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Officials in Brazil's largest state are facing mounting pressure to crackdown on illegal gold mining in the Amazon rainforest where thousands of workers are destroying ecologically sensitive land, according to the Amazonas state prosecutor's office.
Since 2007, thousands of miners have descended upon Apui in northwestern Brazil in the so-called "New El Dorado" hoping to strike rich but in the process destroying 14,000 hectares of jungle by cutting down trees and poisoning rivers with mercury.
Consultancy: Tracking Land-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the Land Portal
In a joint initiative between the Land Portal Foundation and the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) called Enhancing Land Portal as an Effective Tool for Strategic Promotion and Campaigning Around SDG Land Monitoring Initiatives, the Land Portal is looking for a Consultant to review and develop content on land and the SDGs as well as presenting it online in a clear and communicative way.
The Land Portal Foundation is looking for a Drupal Developer
Organizational profile
The Land Portal is an independent non-profit based in the Netherlands, delivering a clear strategy to draw together reliable and trustworthy evidence for use in program development, advocacy campaigning and policy formulation for better land governance.
We work to create a better information ecosystem for land governance, working through a core and trusted platform and wide-ranging partnerships. Our work is based on an open development approach.
Balancing the Scales: Community Protocols and Extractive Industries
With the start of a commodity boom cycle in the early 2000s, many resource-rich countries reaped benefits as prices for commodities increased over the ensuing decade. Many of these countries see mining as a central element of modernising their economies, and actively promote investment in the mining and extractives sector. Indeed,between 2000 and 2012, investment spending by global oil, gas, and mining companies increased five-fold, especially in Latin American and sub-Saharan Africa.
UK Land Policy Forum
The fourth UK Land Policy Forum will take place at the Overseas Development Institute on 26 April, 1:00pm – 5:00pm.
For those planning to join in person:
USAID Land Tenure and Property Rights Course
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Rights to land and resources are at the center of our most pressing development issues: poverty reduction, food security, conflict, urbanization, gender equality, climate change, and resilience. Secure Land Tenure and Property Rights (LTPR) create incentives for investment, broad-based economic growth, and good stewardship of natural resources.
The human cost of Rio's growth
"I would come back to live here if I could," said Altair Guimarães, plucking a guava from a fruit tree that survived the re-development of Rio de Janeiro's once-thriving Vila Autodromo community, all but razed by the 2016 Olympics project.
Guimarães, 61, was evicted from his home two years ago and today the trees, a church and two rows of small white houses are all that remain of the neighbourhood on Rio's western fringe.