By the Program on Forests (PROFOR) team at the World Bank.

It was a letter of unity and solidarity. “Our forest, our rivers, our land are sacred to us,” wrote the Ka’apor tribe, from Maranhão in north-eastern Brazil, to the Munduruku, who live hundreds of miles away on the Tapajós river deep in the Amazon rainforest.

Up to 800 families have been evicted from their homes to make way for a hydroelectric dam since 2010

BOGOTA - A landslide at Colombia's biggest dam that forced the evacuation of about 26,000 people highlights the risks to communities who have lived in the area for generations, according to campaigners who have protested for years over the massive project.

BANGKOK - Deadly clashes this week in southern India, and farmers' protests in the west against a refinery and a bullet train, highlight the increasingly fraught disputes over land and environment in the country's most industrialised states.

Police opened fire Tuesday on protesters seeking to shut down a copper smelter run by Vedanta Resources in the southern port city of , killing 10. Three more persons have since died.

Sangrur: Nikki Kaur from Kular village in Sangrur district of Punjab wakes up at 5 am and walks briskly to the cowshed. Her agile hands quickly milk her cow and in a few minutes, she will be frying paranthas in piping hot oil for her children, who now go to school.

Sao Paulo, Brazil - Thousands of indigenous Brazilians from across the country have rallied in the capital, Brasilia, to call authorities to protect their land rights.

Organisers of the annual "Free Land Camp" in Brasilia said more than 3,000 people reached the city this week to denounce what advocacy groups say is a continuing and unprecedented rollback of indigenous rights in the country.

BONN, Germany (Landscape News) — The devolution of land tenure rights to forest-dwelling communities over the past quarter century has led to the development of entrepreneurial initiatives with substantial positive socio-economic outcomes for livelihoods, according to a leading scientist.

Successful agricultural development initiatives associated with poverty reduction have seldom included large-scale land-based investment. Feed the Future focuses on smallholder-led agricultural growth as the principal engine of poverty reduction and food security. Investment in agriculture of all sizes, however, can be constructive and is encouraged by the U.S. Government, but investments must take into account specific country contexts and circumstances and respect the rights of local populations.