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Discover hidden stories and unheard voices on land governance issues from around the world. This is where the Land Portal community shares activities, experiences, challenges and successes.

 

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Displaying 481 - 492 of 1007
4 August 2020
Authors: 
Catherine-Lune Grayson
Western Africa
Mali
Iraq
Global

From Mali to Iraq, people in conflict zones are proving especially vulnerable to climate extremes

An estimated 100,000 people died and livestock were decimated when a long drought hit West Africa in the 1970s.

Isa, a 61-year-old community leader from northern Mali, recalled: “At that time, we only had to search for food. We could move freely with our animals. Now, we can’t even search for food. We are forced to stay in place or move to cities because of the insecurity.”

4 August 2020
Authors: 
Omaira Bolanos
Latin America and the Caribbean

Many Latin American countries recognize the property rights of indigenous and Afro-descendant people, but those laws do little to protect women’s access to land


Latin America’s indigenous and Afro-descendant communities are facing not just one pandemic, but three. Women bear the brunt of them all, which threatens communities’ very survival.


Young champions – hope for Mongolia’s herding traditions
27 July 2020
Authors: 
Ms. Suvd Boldbaatar
Mongolia

“It's hard to find the right life partner in my soum (district). Most of the girls went to school, then to university in the city. Not many of them are good at herding.” 

Like most young women who grew up in the city, I usually think of herders as quiet men with closed faces that are wrinkled and burnt by the sun. Khuukhenduu Naranbold is quite the opposite. He is smooth-skinned with an open face and a big smile. Even though he is only 23 years old, he is self-confident and keen to talk.  

Khuukhenduu’s comments about marriage and herding were recorded in 2016 at the beginning of a five-year action research project on women’s land tenure security, called WOLTS. The project has focused on pastoralist communities affected by mining, and has involved repeated visits and evidence gathering in several communities in Mongolia and Tanzania. I have been a part of the WOLTS team since June 2016.

Khuukhenduu comes from Dalanjargalan in the Gobi Desert – an area of Mongolia where the traditional herding lifestyle is under threat, not only from mining but also because many young herder men are struggling to marry. This is because boys, especially in herding families, are expected to look after the family’s animals, while girls are more likely to finish school and go to university. Once the girls leave to study in the city, few want to return to the harsh herding lifestyle.

Although it is difficult to find a partner, Khuukhenduu is not unhappy. He is a keen horseman and very proud of his riding skills. He is a member of the Mongolian Federation of Horse Racing and Trainers, and he loves racing. Unlike most other herders, who have adopted Chinese motorcycles and modern clothes, he still herds his animals on horseback and often wears a beautiful red deel (traditional costume). 

However the nomadic herding life is difficult, and, although he lives in his own ger (traditional felted tent), Khuukhenduu stays close to his parents so that taking care of animals can be shared. At the same time, he uses social media to keep in touch with his school friends – and with girls.

This contrast between tradition and modern technology illustrates the tensions and rapid changes taking place in today’s herding lifestyle. Khuukhenduu has profound knowledge of nature and how to successfully make a living from the land. He also embraces the internet, and was an eager participant in our WOLTS training programme this year on gender, land rights and the law.

In his small community in Dalanjargalan, Khuukhenduu is already well known. Although he does not have high academic qualifications, he is a skilled manager who knows how to maintain pastureland and raise quality livestock. He is also a confident speaker and a natural leader, so it is not surprising that older participants in the WOLTS programme selected him to become a community champion on gender and land. In some ways in his everyday life he is just like a CEO – taking responsibility, always having to think about the future and plan for both the good times and the bad, while constantly carrying out a whole range of highly skilled herding activities.  

Mongolian masculinity is celebrated in July every year in the Naadam festival of the three ‘manly sports’ of horse riding, wrestling and archery. Khuukhenduu is a participant and fierce competitor in Naadam games – especially horse racing. But his skills, grounded in the country’s herding traditions, will be lost unless the country and the government support nomadic families to thrive. 

I often worry that our country does not put sufficient value on the traditional knowledge and skills of herding people. If the herders go, Mongolia will lose centuries of experience in sustainable land and animal management. If Khuukhenduu struggles to marry and raise a family, what hope is there for other young herders? 

The herding life is not for everyone, but I know that city life also has its problems. I also realise that knowledge often comes from life’s experiences, not only from books and university. As Mongolia looks for ways to develop new industries we need to remember our proud nomadic heritage and make sure we protect herders’ land rights, not only to support tourism but – most importantly – as the foundation for so many Mongolian families’ lives. As trained and respected community champions, thoughtful young leaders like Khuukhenduu are the very people who offer us hope for the future.

 

 

Picture credit. Nadiko Lopei Alim a pastoralist from Kapese inTurkana, Northern Kenya. Trócaire is working on resource rights and community engagement to mitigate the risk of conflict related to the extractives industry in Turkana. (Photo by Garry Walsh)
7 July 2020
Authors: 
Barbara van Paassen
Magdalena Anna Kropiwnicka
Global

For those of us who have worked in development since quite some time certain stories have become a little too familiar.  Whether in Latin America, South East Asia or Sub Saharan Africa, it is women and their special connection to land and water that are greatly impacted when the thirsty mining, hydropower or agribusiness industries move into their communities.  The stories tell of loss of access to land and forests, of contamination of the water used for drinking, cooking and bathing; of the much longer and more dangerous journeys to get water and the increased vulnerability to sextortion and gender-based violence.  

3 July 2020
Authors: 
Ms. Laura Meggiolaro
Global

"Information is power but information sharing is even more powerful." With this statement, during his opening of the side event on blockchain at the LANDac encounter 2020, John Dean Markunas, Power of Chain Consultancy (PoC) cited me. I am now citing him back to explain what I meant.


3 July 2020
Authors: 
Mr. Daniel Manyasi
Kenya

Globally, the UN estimates that 1.6 billion people struggle to find adequate housing. Kenya’s Constitution Article 43(1) (b), provides that ‘every person has the right to accessible and adequate housing and reasonable standards of sanitation’. Kenyans suffer insecurity of tenure and are victims of frequent forceful evictions. This is a country that never follows up on building standards, leave alone rent controls. The current leadership is money-minded and has no interest in public housing.

1 July 2020
Authors: 
Mr. Pranab Choudhury
Mr. Basanta Kumar Kar
Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee
India

Covid-19 pandemic has further worsened India’s hunger and malnutrition woes, more so for the millions of informal workers, now  struggling to meet two ends in their rural homes, post the mass migration from their place of works, during lockdowns. Their embedded informality over labour, land, housing tenure, has uprooted and shaken them with loss of income, occupation and habitat, multiplying their already entrenched nutrition vulnerability. 

1 July 2020
Authors: 
Dr. Founémakan Sissoko
Mali

I recently published a study on urban policy implementation context in Bamako, the capital city of Mali. It was published in January 2020 by African Journal of Land Policy and Geospatial Science.

29 June 2020
Authors: 
Jeet Singh
India


Land Governance in Ethiopia in the Time of COVID-19
26 June 2020
Authors: 
Dr. Ziade Hailu
Ethiopia

In countries like Ethiopia where around 80-85 percent of the population are engaged in agricultural activities, interruption of the land governance system due to the lockdown and social distancing is not only a public health concern but also food and nutrition security.

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