News on Land

In the 1980s, the hilly Qianyanzhou region in Jiangxi Province, southern China, faced severe soil erosion due to deforestation and unsustainable farming practices. Fertile red soil was being washed away causing crop yields to tumble.

Police officers deployed near checkpoint where protesters have gathered to block the construction of a natural gas pipeline

Indigenous protesters in Canada have called a growing police presence near their makeshift checkpoint “an act of war”, as tensions mount over a stalled pipeline project in northern British Columbia.

On July 21, 2011 the then Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal announced the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate 77 land leases which were issued under the Somare government’s Special Agriculture & Business Leases (SABL). The inquiry, which was later extended by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill in October 2011 for a further five months, discovered that over 90 percent of the leases totalling over 5 million hectares were illegally obtained from traditional landowners (Zealand, 2015).

CAIRO - 7 January 2018:The Business for Africa and the World summit, Africa 2018, focuses during its first day on the theme “Women Empowering Africa.” The summit will discuss ways to further empower African women and to enhance their engagement as agents for change in the continent through active participation in shaping economic and social policies. It seeks to mobilize established and emerging women leaders from across Africa to propel their success as well as provide a platform for them to showcase and celebrate their achievements. 

Throughout human history, private property has been a subject of debates. In some societies and communities, private property has become a foundation of democracy and freedom. In some others, strict control over property and severe limitations imposed on property ownership and rights created a framework for reducing inequality and eliminating socio-economic disparities. In either case, private property and the right to own property raise not only economic but also moral dilemmas.

Cities exercise power in many areas that touch on human rights, and growing urban inequalities mean advocates must focus more attention on municipal governments.

New Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro issued an executive order on Wednesday making the Agriculture Ministry responsible for deciding on lands claimed by indigenous peoples, in a victory for agribusiness that will likely enrage environmentalists.

Brazil's new President Jair Bolsonaro gestures after receiving the presidential sash from outgoing President Michel Temer at the Planalto Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil January 1, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes/File Photo

IT is impossible to identify several core human rights, which are all well established in international law and could be applied directly to development – induced displacement of a large number of people.
The rationale and the need for reviewing human rights arises from the proven inadequacy of so-called “entitlements” of affected people in resettlement plans prepared by national governments following involuntarily resettle policies.
The key issues that are not resolved fully in this policies are:

Global climate negotiations take place on the international stage, bolstered by countries’ national policies. But preventing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and other land-use changes requires work at the local level.

For those efforts to be effective, it is important to understand who is involved at each level and in every sector, and how they interact, say scientists from CIFOR, who have conducted research about such multi-level governance.

IXTLÁN DE JUÁREZ, Mexico, Jan 3 2019 (IPS) - “I dream of a healthy, sustainable, well-managed forest,” says Rogelio Ruiz, a silviculturist from southern Mexico, who insists that “we have to clean it up, take advantage of the wood, and reforest.”

These activities are essential for the ecosystem, especially to adapt to the impacts of climate change, the president of the La Trinidad Communal Lands Commissariat, in the municipality of Ixtlán de Juárez, in the state of Oaxaca, some 840 km south of Mexico City, told IPS.

Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI — Promoting the rapid and sustainable development of ethnic minority groups and mountainous areas is the consistent policy of the Party, State and Government of Việt Nam in the cause of socio-economic development.

That was the message from Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình at the national workshop on Thursday on the current plans for ethnic minority group policies in the period of 2021-30.