News on Land

Some 400 families have agreed to relocate to the Run Ta Ek Eco village development zone in Run Ta Ek commune in Siem Reap province’s Banteay Srei district in exchange for vacating land they currently occupy along the Siem Reap River between Dragon Bridge and Angkor Bridge in Siem Reap town.

Hy Say, director of the provincial Department of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, said the authorities need to move forward with a plan to build scenic pathways along the historic river as a tourist attraction.

Police are still investigating the murder of a pagoda chief monk who was found dead on the morning of December 20 in Vihear Luong commune in Kandal province’s northernmost Ponhea Leu district.

The body of Chey Rith, the chief monk of Preah Chedei Thmey pagoda in Chedei Thmey village, was found in his room with bruises on his face and mouth and a rope had been tied around his neck.

The victim’s relatives claim that land titles and other valuable property have gone missing and were possibly stolen in the incident.

The Kampot provincial authorities will grant land titles for 2,500 plots covering 6,649ha in Preah Monivong Bokor National Park to local residents who applied for official occupation and usage permits, according to the provincial Department of Environment director Suy Thea.

Thea told The Post on December 21 that titles will be issued to 2,138 families who applied for the eligible plots after officials survey and demarcate the land.

A wave of land occupations took place during Tunisia’s revolution 10 years ago. A date plantation is one of the few enduring success stories

 As revolution swept Tunisia 10 years ago, the people of Jemna saw their chance to settle a colonial-era score - seizing a 185-hectare (460-acre) date plantation just outside the oasis town.

President Hage Geingob yesterday ignored questions regarding a report meant to direct the government on how to address the claims of ancestral land in Namibia.

The report published by the commission of inquiry into the claims of ancestral land for restitution was submitted to the President's Office in July this year.

The Land Portal Foundation’s launches the China Country Portfolio - a knowledge piece with a comprehensive understanding of the country’s land issues. Hit by COVID-19 a year ago, China is ever more pressed to adapt land usage rights to protect food sovereignty while also stimulating investment.

Yang Zeqiang's boat chugs across the Yangtze ferrying a few people and sacks of grain -- his new source of income after all fishing was halted along China's longest river in the name of environmental protection.

As a boy, Yang remembers seeing his father and grandfather head out in the early morning dark to earn a living fishing the upper Yangtze in China's southwest.

"I grew up here on the Yangtze River, where my family have been fishing for generations," said 52-year-old Yang, who also fished for two decades until the ban.

All in all, despite COVID-19, the WOLTS team have had a highly productive year. In 2020  we've been adapting, taking stock,  writing  blogs, and  concluding  our pilot 'gender and land champions' training  programme in  Mongolia  and Tanzania.