...Over the past ten years the SPDC has undertaken numerous 'development projects' across Karen State, consistently claiming that these are purely for the good of the people. Such projects however are anything but, invariably bringing with them an increase in human rights violations in the area surrounding the development site. Villages are typically forcibly relocated and their inhabitants are used as forced labour. One such project is a hydroelectricity power plant that is to be built on the Day Loh River in Toungoo District.

O tema do mercado de terras integra a agenda contemporânea das políticas agrárias, tanto no Brasil como em outros países. No caso brasileiro, decorre da história de ocupação do território e da própria formação social e econômica que produziram um quadro de ilegalidade, de instabilidade jurídica e de fragilidade institucional. A expansão da fronteira agrícola com base no agronegócio patronal, em especial na cultura da soja na região da Amazônia Legal, combinada com as ações de reforma agrária, ampliam a importância deste tema e seus impactos sobre a economia e a sociedade.

The meaning and scope of the concept of Community-Based Property Rights (CBPR) has become a dominant feature of conservation and development policy discourse over the last decade. The debate has largely been shaped by the growing trends where governments have continued to appropriate traditional lands for conservation and development activities that have resulted into large scale dislocation and widespread disenfranchisement of sections of our society.

Issue poster about Indigenous Peoples in Asia and their common experiences and issues.

Customary tenure has been associated with absence of individual ownership, inadequate security of tenure, weak institutions, causing environmental degradation, and discriminating against women. These perceptions are re-looked at in the light of personal experience and observations, and literature review in the context of Zambia.

Esta tese, intitulada Índios e Terras Ceará: 1850-1880, analisa o aparente desaparecimento dos povos indígenas no Ceará, na segunda metade do século XIX, contextualizado por diferentes processos de territorialização e de relações interétnicas, e também respaldado pelo silenciamento oficial quanto ao reconhecimento desta etnia. O período enfocado inclui a vigência da Lei de Terras aprovação, regulamentação, implementação, dinâmica, significados.

The colonial and postcolonial legacy of the “Lost Counties” land issue has recently resurfaced as a contentious ethno-political issue in Uganda. The aim of the paper is to critically examine the politics of belonging and land rights in relation to Ugandan land legislation and the “Lost Counties” issue. The empirically basis of this paper is primarily derived from field work in Kibaale District, during the period January to July 2004.

Through an analysis of the right to adequate food and the right to land, this civil society report, argued that achieving food sovereignty requires agrarian reform.

This essay argues that an awareness of the historical relation- ships among land use, land tenure, and the political economy of Mongolia is essential to understanding current pastoral land use patterns and policies in Mongolia. Although pastoral land use patterns have altered over time in response to the changing political economy, mobility and flexibility remain hallmarks of sustainable grazing in this harsh and variable climate, as do the communal use and management of pasturelands.

Insight: Notes from the Field is a response to this need, and with this publication, we aim to give practitioners a forum to share field level cases and lessons in Community Forestry (CF) or Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM).  In this edition of Notes from the Field, there are inspirational stories on Community Forestry in Thailand, development of Village Forest Councils in India, experiences on Public Hearing and Public Auditing in community user groups in Nepal, and how to improve buffer zone co-management in protected areas of Vietnam.

The Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific hosted the First Regional Community Forestry Forum for the Asia Region in Bangkok, Thailand, August 24 -26, 2005, providing a platform for senior level government delegates to discuss forestry policy frameworks and experiences from the region. Representatives from the governments of seven countries formed the principle group of participants, along with forestry and policy experts from a number of agencies working in the field of forestry in Asia.

How equitable are benefits and costs being shared in community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) programs? To what extent are the voices of marginalized groups shaping the design and implementation of community based resource management systems?