State efforts to reform the customary land tenure system of Lesotho have failed to produce intended outcomes. An explanation given for this failure is customary chiefs' opposition to state-sponsored reforms, as these were purportedly meant to curtail their power over land. This explanation initially appeared in 1974 connection with the Administration of Lands Act of 1973, and has since been handed down through generations of academics and policy analysts in Lesotho and outside and uncritically accepted as immutable truth.

This paper explores the conflicts between badly-affected local communities and logging and mining companies and analyzes how such conflicts can be addressed effectively.

This regional synthesis paper is part of an overall effort to share the knowledge gained in five years, from 2002 - 2007, of implementing the Small Grant Program for Operations to Promote Tropical Forests (SCPPTF). The findings, lessons, and recommendations presented here emerged from the grantees’ reflections, site visits, project documentation, and discussions and inputs from the eight in-country teams, as well as from the key staff in regional support organizations.

O presente Relatório Técnico de Identificação e Delimitação (RTID) apresenta informações históricas, antropológicas, sócio-econômicas, fundiárias, cartográficas, ambientais e ocupacionais, que compõem a instrução do Processo Administrativo nº.

This cases study provided the background for a five day field based learning programme in D2007 as part of the learning programme linked to the development of a settlement and implementation support programme for land reform. The Dwesa Cweba land claim involved communities who had been removed to make way for the establishment of the Dwesa Cwebe Reserve - an protected area combining indigenous coastal forest, marine and nature reserves.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is the most comprehensive international instrument on the rights of indigenous peoples. It establishes a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world and it elaborates on existing human rights standards and fundamental freedoms as they apply to the specific situation of indigenous peoples.

This is a regional overview of the main legal and regulatory questions concerning ownership or access to and management of land-based natural resources. Using the Listening Learning and Sharing (LLS) method, RECOFTC, the Southeast Asia office of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and other RRI partners from the Asia region produced a regional overview of the main legal and regulatory questions concerning ownership or access to and management of land-based natural resources.

La creación de Areas protegidas (AP) en la década del 70 se dio sobre espacios ocupados por pueblos indígenas. Durante 20 años no existieron demasiados conflictos entre estas áreas y los habitantes ancestrales. Pero con el ascenso del movimiento indígena en los años 90 y sus demandas territoriales, sumada a un marco de crisis general la presión sobre las AP creció. El movimiento político indígena las reclamó como parte de sus territorios. El Estado en forma reactiva, creó convenios de manejo (de uso) que permitieron una cohabitación dentro de las AP.

A photojournalist put aside his camera to comfort a young Karen woman at the birth of her son in a jungle hideout...

"It was a makeshift village on the Thai side of the Moei River bordering Burma and Thailand, about 60 miles north of the Thai border town of Mae Sot. Around 100 Karen lived there, so-called “internally displaced persons,” refugees from the excesses committed by the Burmese army and the equally feared troops of the regime-backed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army...

"Twenty years ago when RECOFTC was born, community forestry was just emerging onto the global scene as a viable policy option to restore degraded forests and to provide livelihood support for local communities living adjacent to forests. These two objectives remain today, but to them has been added a plethora of other objectives including poverty alleviation, environmental services, equity and governance to name just a few. In short, community forestry, along with other forms of forestry, has become more complex."

Summary

Die Armee der SPDC Militärdiktatur ist mittlerweile auf eine Truppenstärke von 500.000 Soldaten angewachsen und jetzt selbst nur noch durch ein System der Angst zu kontrollieren. Fast jeder hat einen Vorgesetzten und die Exekution ist nur einen Schuß entfernt. Der militärische Geheimdienst ist überall und selbst die höheren Ränge werden oft ‘Reinigungen’ nach sowietischem Vorbild unterzogen. Karen; Flüchtlinge; Burma Army; Refugees

A fact-finding mission team was formed as a result of consultative meetings on the land dispute between the village government and pastoralists in Vilima Vitatu village in Babati district. The team was comprised of the following members: Kassian Mshomba (LHRC), Seif Mangwangi (Majira), Diana Mawalla (PINGOs Forum), Hamadi Sadick, Emmanuel Cornel (PINGOs Forum), Asraji Mvungi (ITV), Rodgers Luhwago (The Citizen), Bakari Mnkondo (Uhuru), Bernard Baha (HakiArdhi) and Chambi Chachage (Independent Researcher).