News on Land

Getting to the bottom of illegal plantations on Indonesia’s state owned forests

In an ideal world, palm oil production would cause no deforestation, and have a transparent and fair supply chain. In reality, the impacts of the sector have been the cause of ethical concerns worldwide.

DARWIN, AUSTRALIA - Australia’s High Court on Wednesday ruled that Aboriginal owners stripped of land rights should be compensated for “spiritual harm,” in a landmark ruling that could spark a slew of cases countrywide.

The court ruled that the Ngaliwurru and Nungali peoples in the Northern Territory were entitled to compensation for being disconnected from their lands by the government.

The report “State of Land in the Mekong Region” was launched today in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The first publication of its kind in the Mekong Region, it brings together key data and information on the current status of, and changes in, land resources, their social distribution, and the conditions of governance that shape them. The report stresses the need for urgent action towards transformational change. It was co-produced by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) of the University of Bern and the Mekong Region Land Governance Project (MRLG).

A recent TIB study shows that the Dalits and indigenous communities of the plain lands in Bangladesh have been facing widespread socio-economic discrimination, often being deprived of education, healthcare, even government's basic immunisation programmes, and employment as well as other basic human rights. It is shocking that the indigenous and Dalit students of the plain lands still face discrimination in getting admission to government primary schools.

Monrovia – The Land Rights Law (LRL) is a milestone legal instrument, but if “gaps” within the law are not bridged and its “contradictions” to the Community Rights Law (CRL) of 2009 with Respect to Forest Lands not addressed, the law could undermine Liberia’s land reform process.  This is according to two policy briefs by the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) released last Thursday in Monrovia.

Complaint Linked to World Bank Loan Alleges Land Seizures, Damage to Water Sources

Last week, 13 rural communities in Guinea made public a complaint against the World Bank’s private lending arm over a loan to one of country’s largest bauxite miners, alleging its operations have destroyed ancestral farm lands and polluted vital water sources.

Pretoria - The government was working tirelessly to ensure that land claims by communities forcefully removed from their property as a result of apartheid-era legislation were settled swiftly and claimants received compensation, President Cyril Ramaphosa has revealed.

He made the remarks in Pretoria on Saturday while officiating at a land restitution ceremony which marked successful claims by 10 Gauteng communities who were presented with title deeds and financial compensation.

Ethiopia never seems to catch a break when it comes to land and land related problems throughout its political and economic history. Land has been the maker and breaker of Ethiopian politics beginning from the time of Emperor Haileselassie I to the toppling of the Derg, from the protests across the country for consecutive three years since 2016 leading to the division within EPRDF to the resignation of PM Hailemariam Dessalegn and the coming to power of Abiy Ahmed (PhD). But, not at once has the nation been devoid of protests and upraises related to land to this point in time.

Such has been their determination to reclaim their rights, particularly land rights, that even the government of Karnataka has acknowledged the force of these women

Her hair is white, her face wrinkled. But her spirits are high as she belies her age to play the drum hanging around her neck. As she twirls round and round, the beating of the drum becomes more frenzied. The message is loud and clear; playing the drum, once considered a symbol of their caste untouchability, is no longer a stigma.

WINDHOEK - There is a need to look at ways on creating avenues that would result in more women occupying roles in traditional authorities. This would address some of the social ills women in rural areas are experiencing because of laws that do not necessarily favour women. 

This is according to Wilhelmina Tameca Gaoses, the project manager for the One World, No hunger project at the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. 

KASSERINE/TUNISIA: Souad Gharsalli lives in a rented flat in the center of Kasserine, in western Tunisia, baking and selling artisanal bread to make money. But she should be growing olive trees for a living, she says.

Gharsalli, 47, grew up with three brothers and six sisters on her family’s 7 hectares (17 acres) of land in the region of Kasserine, on which they grew olive trees and grains.

When their father died in 1997, Gharsalli and her sisters inherited half as much land as their brothers, in accordance with Tunisian law.