News on Land

On 3 July 2018, the European Parliament adopted by 534 votes to 71, with 73 abstentions, a resolution on violations of the rights of indigenous peoples in the world, including land grabbing, drafted by rapporteur Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Francisco Assis (S&D).

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

Nurse-turned activist Isela Gonzalez lives with bodyguards and constant threat in her fight against destructive economic interests

Not all land defenders fight in remote forests and coastlands. Some take the battle to the centres of power: to courtrooms, parliament buildings and corporate headquarters. The veneer of urban civility may be glossier here, but the struggle is no less dangerous. In some cases, it can be worse.

The Mkushi Famers Association has called for wide consultation on the draft land policy.

Association Acting President Bruce Skinner says the issue of the draft land policy has created a lot of uncertainty among commercial farmers in Mkushi.

Mr. Skinner says there is need for sensitisation on what the draft land policy is all about to avoid panic among the commercial farmers in Mkushi farming block.

The Working Group 9.4 of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) gathers scholars and practitioners that deal with the issue
on how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) affects social development. The theme for the upcoming 2019 IFIP WG 9.4 conference is: “Strengthening Southern-driven cooperation as a catalyst for ICT4D”.

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.

A new study makes a significant contribution to the growing body of research showing that recognizing the land rights of and partnering with indigenous peoples can greatly benefit conservation efforts.

The government should promptly provide redress for past illegal confiscations of land and stop arbitrarily arresting activists, New York-headquartered Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released this afternoon. The NGO also called on Nay Pyi Taw to enact laws and regulations to safeguard the rights of farmers and other small landholders from future confiscations.

King Goodwill Zwelithini recently surrounded himself with amabutho and intimated that violence or secession would follow unless threats to ‘the land of the Zulu nation’ were withdrawn. The President hurriedly assured him that his land was safe.

It is important to separate the theatre from the substance.

In January 2016, a decade after the Forest Rights Act (FRA) was passed by Parliament, 60 gram sabhas in Khutgaon, Gadchiroli, became the first forest-dwelling people in Maharashtra to file a claim for habitat rights. These people are part of a community called Madia Gond, classified as a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG). Almost three years since their claims were submitted, since also approved by the authorised body, they are yet to receive their legal titles.

In the hills of northern Sikkim in northeast India, the Drokpa community live peaceful yet difficult lives. The hills resound with the songs the Drokpas have for every activity. These are not your usual villagers who reside in the same place for decades and have a set source of livelihood. Rather, the Drokpas, as their name suggests are nomads—“drokpa” is a Tibetan word that can be roughly translated as “nomad” or “high pastoral people”. For the last several generations, however, the Drokpas have followed an occupation that might soon disappear from Sikkim: herding yak.

The Land Portal is an independent nonprofit foundation based in The Netherlands. The Land Portal pioneered the open data revolution in the land sector and is committed to building an information ecosystem for land governance that ultimately supports better informed decision and policy making at local, national and international levels.