Land conflicts in 2013 continued to occupy an important position in the socio-economic and political agenda in the North Caucasus. North Caucasus, Dagestan Republic

An Act to provide for measures to curb organized attempts to grab lands whether belonging to the Government, wakf or the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments, local authorities or other statutory or non-statutory bodies owned or controlled or managed by the Government.

Forced displacement affects over 5 million people in Colombia. The process of mobility experienced by displaced implies the weakeningof the linkages with their relational environment and may involve the deprivation of the right to decide at socio-political level. The sense of community, the community engagement and the psychological empowerment display a strong potential to understand both the adaptationprocess in destination community, and the increase in community involvement.

The new book Forests under Pressure: Local Responses to Global Issues is the third major publication produced by the Special Project World Forests, Society and Environment (WFSE) of the International Union of Forest Research Organization (IUFRO). The book was launched at the WFSE Technical Session during the IUFRO World Congress, October 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, and is the result of the collaborative work of over 140 scientists and experts, as well as over 60 reviewers.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the detrimental impact of land tenure insecurity on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. It is related to recent controversies about the detrimental impact of land laws on deforestation, which seem to legitimize land encroachments. The latter is mainly the result of land tenure insecurity which is a key characteristic of this region and results from a long history of interactions between rural social unrest and land reforms or land laws. A simple model is developed where strategic interactions between farmers lead to excessive deforestation.

The most controversial aspect of the census recently held in Burma has been the denial of the large Muslim population in Arakan to identify themselves as Rohingya, the term of their choice. The government ban means as many as one million people remain uncounted in Arakan. That is scarcely surprising, as the Burmese government, Rakhine ultra-nationalists and seemingly a majority of the Burmese population have denied for years the existence of the Rohingya identity.

IDMC was one of 44 Palestinian, Israeli, and international organizations calling on world leaders to stop Israeli plans to forcibly transfer thousands of Palestinian Bedouins out of their communities in the central part of the occupied West Bank and into a designated township.

Since 1985, Uttaran, an NGO, has been striving to establish the rights of poor people in the South-West regions of Bangladesh. During the operation of this development project, Uttaran has observed that providing the poor with productive elements can help eliminate poverty to a great extent. With the ownership of productive elements, their sources of income become multifarious. The productive element-the small piece of land-changes their social, cultural and psychological behavior. Statistics show that there are about 33lac acres of khas land in Bangladesh.

The first set of the land laws were enacted in 2012 in line with the timelines outlined in the Constitution of Kenya 2010. In keeping with the spirit of the constitution, the Land Act, Land Registration Act and the national Land Commission Act respond to the requirements of Articles 60, 61, 62, 67 & 68 of the Constitution. The National Land Policy, which was passed as Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2009, arrived earlier than the Constitution, with some radical proposals on the land Management.

Land degradation has been a major political issue in Java for decades. Its causes have generally been framed by narratives focussing on farmers’ unsustainable cultivation practices. This paper causally links land degradation with struggles over natural resources in Central Java. It presents a case study that was part of a research project combining remote sensing and political ecology to explore land use/cover change and its drivers in the catchment of the Segara Anakan lagoon.

The stories in this report illustrate the invaluable contributions being made by community members, pioneering government personnel and others who are actively participating in forest management – leading to improved livelihoods, and more equity and a fairer share of benefits. The stories highlight the challenges faced and opportunities created by people in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Viet Nam who are promoting community forestry.

L’étude de Qasimabad, un district urbain, de Shahidano Meena, un district semi-urbain, et Achin à Shinwari, un district rural, dans la province de Ningarhar, permet d’analyser le rôle du shafa (droit coutumier et islamique du voisinage) dans l’accaparement foncier (land-grabbing) et, par extension, dans le développement tant urbain que rural.