MONTREAL — In 2006, India’s parliament passed the Forest Rights Act, or FRA — a groundbreaking legislation that recognizes the rights of forest dwellers to protect and manage forest resources.

CANBERRA — Each year the LUI Che Woo Prize, established by the second richest man in Hong Kong, awards $20 million Hong Kong dollars ($7.7 million) in funding to individuals and organizations making a difference in the world in three categories: Sustainability, welfare betterment, and positive energy.

• Indonesian President Joko Widodo last month gave several indigenous communities back the land rights to the forests they have called home for generations.
• The total amount of customary forests relinquished to local groups under this initiative remains far short of what the government has promised, and looks unlikely to be fulfilled before the next presidential election in 2019.

The third-generation farmers question alleged discrepancy in issuance of permits among different parties to operate on the land.

The International day of Rural Women, which we celebrate today, is an annual event to recognise the role women play in agriculture and rural development.

In Kenya where the foundation of most communities is agriculture and livestock production, women contribute up to 80 per cent of workforce yet they only hold 1 per cent of registered land in their names and around 5-6 per cent of registered titles are held in joint names (Kenya Land Alliance, 2013).

• A new $100 million initiative will help indigenous peoples and local communities in rural areas secure rights to their traditional lands.
• The International Land and Forest Tenure Facility, formally launched launched week, was conceived by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI)
• The Tenure Facility is a mechanism for scaling up recognition of rights to collective lands and forests.

As a 53-year civil war winds down, coca growers face growing pressure to shelve their lucrative crop.

Mauricio Quiróz has always had a plan.

The 38-year-old farmer and entrepreneur lives with his wife and three kids on a small ranch on the lush, steep mountainside that surrounds the municipality of Briceño, in the department of Antioquia in northwestern Colombia.

Dashboard tracks land and the Sustainable Developing Goals (SDGs)

If we are to address poverty in rural South Africa, we must prioritise good governance practices among communal property institutions in order to ensure that beneficiaries of the land reform programme begin to drive job creation and play their part towards poverty alleviation.

The Party committee and government in Liaoning Province, northeast China, recently issued a document to steadily promote the implementation of rural collective property right system reform.

The document instructs officials to safeguard rural women's legitimate rights and interests in the process of identifying the membership of collective economic organizations.

NAGAPATTINAM, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Last year farmer Veeramani leased a modest plot of land from his village temple in southern India to grow rice. He borrowed 40,000 rupees ($625) to prepare the field before the rains.

Then the rains failed. Veeramani, 31, was so distressed he suffered a massive heart attack on his field and died, leaving behind his wife, Kavita, and two young daughters. He also left a sizeable debt that Kavita was not aware of.

Advancing rights of women farmers can revolutionise the rural ecosystem