This report investigates cases of land grabbing in Uganda, focusing in particular on oil palm plantations in Kalangala, Lake Victoria. It assesses the impacts on rural communities and on the local environment, and questions who benefits from these projects.

The principle that indigenous peoples and local communities have a right to give or withhold their Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) to developments affecting natural resources is not new. However, experience using FPIC in REDD+ implementation is still limited in the Asia-Pacific region, and there are few materials that explain and train practitioners in its concepts and practice. There is still subjective understanding of the terms and requirements of FPIC, influenced by both cultural interpretations and interests. 

YANGON, 25 March 2012 (IRIN) - A UN convoy of urgently needed humanitarian assistance has reached conflict-affected areas of Myanmar’s northern Kachin State.

"This is a major step forward and follows sustained advocacy on the part of the UN with both the government and Kachin Independence Organization [KIO],” UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Ashok Nigam told IRIN in Yangon.

The convoy (four trucks and two UN vehicles) arrived in the KIO-controlled township of Sadang from the government-controlled town of Myitkyina on 24 March.

#039;When Burmese President Thein Sein took office in March 2011, he said that over 60 years of armed conflict have put Burma’s
ethnic populations through “the hell of untold miseries.” Just three months later, the Burmese armed forces resumed military
operations against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), leading to serious abuses and a humanitarian crisis affecting tens of
thousands of ethnic Kachin civilians.
“Untold Miseries”: Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement in Kachin State is based on over 100 interviews in Burma’s Kachin

In Toungoo District between November 2011 and February 2012 villagers in both Than Daung and Tantabin Townships have faced regular and ongoing demands for forced labour, as well movement and trade restrictions, which consistently undermine their ability to support themselves.

...Between June 2011 and February 2012, instability
across Kachin and northern Shan states resulted in
displacement, damage of infrastructure and loss of
lives and livelihoods. Despite ongoing peace negotiation
between parties to the conflict, incidents
continue to be reported. Additionally, there are
indications that a number of people fled just across
the Myanmar-China border and live with relatives
or in temporary makeshift camps, but information is
still unclear and cannot be independently verified.

In early 2008 the government of Tanzania through the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development –MLHHSD, initiated a project to develop a new city at Kigamboni area in Temeke district of Dar es Salaam region. The reasons behind the decision were many but the most important factor was that the move would provide solutions to mitigate the urbanization problems of Dar es Salaam and its environs.

This is a report on TALA-Media joint mission in response to recently reported killings of 5 agro pastoralists and farmers in Maguba area Malinyi Division in Ulanga District. These people were allegedly reported to be killed by gun shots by the Tanzania Peoples Defense Forces on Saturday 17th March, 2012. 

This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in February 2012, by a villager describing events occurring in Toungoo District during the period between November 2011 and January 2012. It discusses augmented troop rotations, resupply operations and the sending of bulldozers to construct a new vehicle road between the 20-mile point on the Toungoo – Kler La road and Kler La. It also contains reports of forced labour, specifically the use of villagers to porter military equipment and supplies, to serve as set tha, and the clearing of vegetation by vehicle roads.

The management of Asia’s forests affects diverse stakeholders and interests, inevitably resulting in conflict. This study focuses on conflicts between local communities and outsiders: the underlying causes, conflict management approaches, and eventual outcomes. Field data was collected through interviews and focus group discussions in seven community-outsider conflict cases across five countries.

While many direct conflict triggers were observed, at least three underlying and interrelated factors enabled conflict:

This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during March 2011 in Bu Tho Township, Papun District, by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed Saw H---, a 34-year-old hillfield farmer and the head of N--- village. Saw H--- described an incident in which a 23-year-old villager stepped on and was killed by a landmine at the beginning of 2011, at the time when he, Saw H--- and three other villagers were returning to N--- after serving as unpaid porters for Border Guard soldiers based at Meh Bpa.