The monograph examines the recommendations of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel on making the Western Ghats eco sensitive zones in the light of Indian environment laws. The Indian environment debate of conservation and protection of biodiversity has been sustained by post colonial response that has two major opposing strands. The first is the cultural opposition characterised by the indigenous people of their homestead, religious and livelihood rights. The second is the opposition within the political and legal framework that has taken the judicial and policy making route.

An information ecosystem is an extremely vast and cluttered space. What data exist? What data is up to date? What data is reliable? Who owns the data? Can I use the data without inflicting harm? Who are the data subjects? Many people across numerous sectors struggle with such questions and more. The land governance sector in India is no different. But somehow, it seems the land data ecosystem in India is more complex and controversial.

This report titled Land in India: Issues and Debates is part of an initiative under the aegis of India Land & Development Conference (ILDC) which has a long-term objective of bringing out an annual Status of Land in India volume. This report is a modest beginning in that direction by drawing on the works of ILDC partners to present a quick over view of some of the key developments and debates in India’s land sector. The report brings together 11key issues which currently engage the minds of the policy makers and researchers in India.

As the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011–2020 comes to a close and countries prepare to adopt a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, this edition of The State of the World’s Forests (SOFO) examines the contributions of forests, and of the people who use and manage them, to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

This publication is the outcome of our research on the socio-environmental impacts of large pulp and paper, timber tree and oil palm plantations in Sarawak. It contains two case studies on plantation affected indigenous communities in Batu Niah and Bakong in the Miri Division. It stresses on the importance of understanding the context of large monoculture plantations in Sarawak accurately, as it entails two destructive factors. First, it involves deforestation, as it is clearly a post-logging development.

This publication is the outcome of our research on the socio-environmental impacts of large pulp and paper, timber tree and oil palm plantations in Sarawak. It contains two case studies on plantation affected indigenous communities in Batu Niah and Bakong in the Miri Division. It stresses on the importance of understanding the context of large monoculture plantations in Sarawak accurately, as it entails two destructive factors. First, it involves deforestation, as it is clearly a post-logging development.

Tropical forests in Indonesia are subject to major transformation processes from native forests to other land uses, including rubber agroforestry as well as rubber and oil palm plantation systems. Using content analysis of policy documents, this paper aims at (i) analysing the formal administrative responsibilities related to the four rainforest transformation systems and (ii) based on the informal motives of the competing bureaucracies involved generating hypotheses on their future course of action and related research.

India is currently among the most affected countries by COVID19, recording over 6 million cases, by September 30 2020. The pandemic and lockdown measures have had a drastic impact on a large population of poor and marginalisedcommunities, causing loss of livelihoods and employment, food insecurity and socio-economic distress.

Mongolia’s forests are located in the transitional zone between the great Siberian taiga and the Mongolian plateau of grassland steppe. These forests play a critical role in preventing soil erosion and land degradation, in regulating the water regime in mountain areas, maintaining permafrost distribution, and in providing habitats for wildlife and preserving biodiversity.

This report looks at the ways in which natural resource management—the institutions, policies and practices that govern land, water, forests, minerals, hydrocarbons—interact with violent conflict in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan continues to struggle to overcome decades of war and civil strife. Its political context remains complex and dominated by the Taliban insurgency, narcotics production, weak governance and incomplete rule of law. After more than fifteen years of state building Afghanistan remains a fragile state.

This report highlights the importance and urgency for climate action initiatives of protecting the forests of the indigenous and tribal territories1 and the communities that look after them. Based on recent experience, it proposes a package of investments and policies for climate funders and government decision-makers to adopt, in coordination with the indigenous and tribal peoples.