Many migrants to Pune, from a range of social backgrounds, work as caretakers of public toilets in the city. While they often face ridicule and abuse because of their jobs, the perk of a free accommodation in an expensive city, even if that accommodation happens to be within breathing distance of a toilet used by hundreds, makes it a viable option for them.

Name: Raju Sawant.
Address: Sarvajanik Shauchalaya, Sinhagad Road, Pune-30

Delayed payments of compensation for compulsory acquired lands by the state have been cited as a major cause of land litigation and inadequate security of tenure in the country.

Dr. Benjamin Armah Quaye, National Coordinator, Land Administration Project (LAP) explained that the yet-to-be compensated owners become frustrated by the delays and resort to encroaching the land, leading to litigations.

On the rainy night of Friday, August 3, the community of Chácara do Catumbi had much to celebrate: after 17 years of struggle, 17 of the community’s 22 families were the first in Rio de Janeiro history to receive land titles through the legal instrument of collective adverse possession.

Sangrur, Punjab: “Our struggle is not just about money. It’s about owning a farm where we can go without fear,” said Paramjit Kaur, standing at the door of her kitchen, rolling a dough ball to make chapatis. “Now, our daughters can go alone to harvest fodder at any time.”

Paramjit Kaur was talking about the 15.5 acres of common land she is jointly tending with 200 other Dalit families of the village, earning 2.5 quintal wheat and Rs 1,200 annual profit per household.

Over the past ten years, the number of violent conflicts around the world has increased significantly, having a negative impact on food production and availability.

Since 2000, almost half of all civil conflicts around the world have taken place in Africa, where land issues have played a significant role in 90 percent of the 30 interstate conflicts.  

Competition over land and water can trigger conflict, threatening the welfare and the food security of the most vulnerable. 

Acute water shortages have sparked a dispute between transport and energy companies over who has more right to exploit Brazil’s waterways

PEDERNEIRAS, Brazil - "Tiete river, I count on you for a lifetime" - stirring words from the anthem of Pederneiras city that show the near-sacred status of a waterway that helps power Brazil's entire economy.

Ramón Bedoya says his father, a land activist, was shot by local paramilitaries in league with agribusiness and narcos who fill the void left by Farc rebels

Last year, Tharigopula Sambasiva Rao entered into a deal with the state government of Andhra Pradesh. He gave up six acres of his agricultural land in his village, Sakhamuru, in exchange for 7,250 square yards—6,000 square yards of residential plots and 1,250 square yards of commercial ones.

It has been six decades since communities in the Malenadu region were uprooted in the name of progress and development. They are still fighting for basic amenities in the villages where they have been resettled.

It was in 1905 when renowned engineer Sir M. Vishveshwaraya saw the roaring torrents of Jog, the second highest plunge waterfalls in India, and exclaimed: “What a waste!” It was his visionary imagination which first seeded the idea of harnessing hydel power from River Sharavathi, considered a lifeline by many in the Malenadu region of Karnataka.  

BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos spoke out on Monday to condemn the nation’s soaring violence against human rights leaders amid growing pressure that the government act more forcefully to end the bloodshed.

Activists are being gunned down at a rate of one every three days in the Latin American country, rights groups say, and last Friday thousands of Colombians held protests and candlelight vigils to call for the killings to stop.

Fertile land is dwindling due to climate change combined with a population boom and is fueling conflicts across the continent

NAIROBI - The violent conflicts between farmers and semi-nomadic herders in Nigeria that left dozens of people dead over the weekend illustrate the intensifying pressure and competition for arable land in Africa, experts said on Monday.

Fertile land that is dwindling due to climate change combined with a population boom are fueling conflicts across the continent, they said.

Without forests to act as a natural "shield" against extreme weather, communities are becoming more vulnerable to natural disasters

SAN JOSE, June 20 - When La Mosquitia, a heavily forested region on Honduras' Caribbean coast, began to experience unusual flooding, David Wrathall, a climate and disaster expert who was living there, headed into the forest to take a look.

What he found was a surprise: Huge sections of forest had been cut by drug trafficking gangs and turned into cattle ranches aimed at laundering illegal drug profits.