LANDac International Conference 2022 Session Summary

• A total of 17.6 million hectares (43.5 million acres) of Indigenous territories in Indonesia, an area half the size of Germany, have been demarcated under an independent initiative that began in 2010.
• The mapping is seen as the first step for Indigenous communities in the long and complicated process of applying for official government recognition of their land rights.
• But government efforts continue to lag behind this initiative, with the state to date only recognizing 15% of the territories demarcated by the latter.
• At the loc

 grouping called Land Justice Consortium has vowed to ensure that land law amendments favor the marginalized, saying there is need to liberate the country from land colonization since most of the arable and prime land is “in the wrong hands”.

The grouping comprises organizations such as Land Governance Alliance (LAGA), Economic Freedom Fighters Movement, Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI), MOVE, Peoples Federation for National Peace and Development (PEFENAP) and Mzuzu Youth Caucus.

Much of the land in Uganda is subject to customary tenure. Because it is not officially registered, land users fear that they may be forced off their land. Registering land has many benefits: it gives the users more security and means they can invest in the land and pass it on to their children.

On 2 December 2021 the mayor of Mbale City, Cassim Namugali, issued 511 Certificates of Customary Ownership in a colourful ceremony. The event took place at Wanale Division Hall in Mbale City. These are the first ever such certificates to be issued in an urban area in Uganda. Several hundred Mbale residents took part in the ceremony.

Govt. has declared our ancestral lands as wildlife reserve areas, say farmers

In Chundikulam village, located on the eastern tip of Jaffna Peninsula, farmers are facing a peculiar challenge.

ONE year ago, on July 27, 2020, three tribes who live around the border between Indonesia’s Kampung Naga area in Boven Digoel, Papua, and Kampung Kuem in Papua New Guinea, sent a claim letter to Tunas Timber Lestari. Representatives of the Kuranop, Ekogi, and Gembenop tribes protested against operations carried out by the subsidiary of the Korindo Group, as it infringed their customary land.

President Joko Widodo claimed that deforestation in Indonesia is at its lowest point in the past 20 years. Indonesia’s Nationally Determined Contribution emissions reduction report to the United Nations said that there were only 39,285 hectares of deforested areas in 2013 to 2020. A Tempo investigation in Papua found otherwise: The area of deforestation from 2019 to 2020 alone covered 19,807 hectares. Timber companies have violated some regulations about forest conservation management and have illegally produced wood.

In 2014, the Kavango region was divided into two regions – East and West. At the time, the Namibian government, during president Hifikepunye Pohamba's tenure, justified the move saying the region was too large and dividing it would enhance service delivery. This remains to be seen: Kavango West remains the most rural and one of the poorest regions in Namibia.

Women’s access and ownership rights to land and trees are key to addressing global warming, biodiversity loss and the inequity crisis, the authors of a study said in the run-up to the U.N. COP26 climate talks in Glasgow.

In August 2021, a newsletter covering various land governance programmes of GIZ was launched. This newsletter is available for everybody who is interested and informs about current development within GIZ land governance and beyond. The three main programmes responsible for the newsletter are: 

The Global Programme Responsible Land Policy,