News on Land

Journalist Sue Branford and social scientist Maurício Torres spent a month learning about Ferrogrão (Grainrail), one of the newest threats to the Brazilian Amazon – first meeting with government officials in Brasilia and then travelling along the proposed route, speaking to both sides in the heated debate over its construction. This the first of their reports.

Transparency International (TI) Kenya is sensitizing youth at the Coast on land and property rights to avert violence related to land disputes in the region.

The  organization’s Coast Senior Regional Officer, Ms. Mary  Maneno said the initiative is aimed at promoting youth land ownership rights as well as access to family and community land.

Speaking at a Kwale County  Youth Summit, Ms. Maneno, who is a lawyer by profession, said there is need to create awareness among the local youth and the populace in general, on solving land disputes amicably.

The Responsible Land Policy project (RELAPU) is being implemented in the two districts

Land conflicts are expected to reduce in Teso sub region after the German government and the Lands Ministry has come in to resolve land disputes and demarcate land in Soroti and Katakwi Districts.

The German International Cooperation (GIZ) in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, including local governments as well as Ateker Women Land Rights Partners (AWOLARIP) is implementing the Responsible Land Policy project (RELAPU) in the two districts.

JOHANNESBURG: Thousands of land claimants are taking government back to court for failing to process old claims.

The Constitutional Court will hear the matter on November 6.

Admitting to have failed to comply with the court’s order to re-enact legislation within 24 months to enable processing of new claims, Parliament has pleaded for an extension of deadline.

Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga’s 2016 ruling interdicted processing of these claims, saying they were accepted based on an invalid legislation.

• Provincial authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have approved forest concessions for five communities.
• Following the implementation of a new community forest strategy in June, this is the first time the government has given communities control of forests.
• Sustainable use of the forest is seen by conservation and development organizations as a way to both combat rural poverty and fight deforestation.

Recent violent events in Nicaragua, as noted in my previous column, are forcing some of us on the left to take a hard look at power -- and how even power on the left can corrupt.

To better understand present-day events, harken back to Nicaragua at the time of the Sandinista Revolution and the agrarian reform which was to have lifted the poorest citizens out of poverty.

The plight of women has largely been ignored, not only by local officials and lawmakers, but also by the way in which data about land rights is understood and processed

When Rajkumari Devi’s husband died 12 years ago, the world that centred on the mud hut they shared in a village in north India fell apart. Reeling from the loss of her husband, she was unable to secure title to her home and the scrap of farmland nearby that they had worked together.

Indigenous entrepreneurs hope the cannabis trade will help spur economic development on their land

TYENDINAGA, Canada, Oct 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In their struggle to regain control over resources and spur economic growth, Canada's indigenous communities have found an unlikely ally: cannabis.

Facing higher levels of poverty and unemployment than the general population, many indigenous people see the marijuana trade as a valuable source of income.

Global survey of perceptions of property rights could help provide solutions to key development challenges

The first official results from an international survey of how secure people feel in their homes and on their land were published today, revealing that in the initial 15 countries surveyed, 25% of citizens are concerned that their property could be taken away from them. This aligns with earlier findings from a pilot study in three countries.

‘Activista’ the Gambia, in collaboration with Action-Aid International, on Monday October 15^th 2018, official inaugurated the Rural Women Assembly to discuss agro-ecology, resilience building and land rights in the Gambia. The event was held at a local hotel in Senegambia.

We are looking for young people with new ideas and fresh perspectives.

If you have a passion for innovation, the ability to devise new solutions to old problems, and a willingness to challenge the established orthodoxy, then we want to hear from you.

Around 1 in 9 people in the world — 821 million — are undernourished. After a prolonged decline, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations found that world hunger is rising once again.