Land News

The increasing demand for land and natural resources brings diverse users into competition. There is a clear need to secure legitimate rights and develop effective processes to resolve disputes without conflicts. Natural resources degradation, which is an increasing challenge in many Feed the Future regions, can be addressed by integrating environmental management practices that boost agricultural productivity, increase incomes and enhance resilience to drought and other environmental shocks.

Hundreds of people gathered on Samoa's biggest island on Saturday to protest the abuse of customary land rights.

A spokesperson for the Samoa Solidarity International Group said 700 people came from across Savai'i to push for a repeal of the Lands and Titles Registration Act 2008.

According to Unasa Iuni Sapolu, the act allows communally held customary lands to be leased to third parties without the consent of all landowners.

She said this alienated some of the owners from their land and the opportunities it offered.

The government has decided to reallocate more than 520 hectares of land in Sihanoukville’s Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem communes from state land to private ownership for nearly 300 families living there.

According to a sub-decree issued on Wednesday, the government decided to provide 528.37 hectares of land in the two communes to 298 families living in the area, while also allocating some plots of land for schools, administration offices, commune halls, village headquarters, military units and pagodas.

ONDON/BOSTON, April 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Activists are urging Commonwealth leaders meeting in Britain this week to throw their weight behind a campaign to preserve a centuries-old communal land ownership system on the Caribbean island of Barbuda.

After Britain abolished slavery in its colonies in 1834, Barbudans developed a system of communal land ownership, now threatened by government plans to introduce private land ownership to boost development and tourism.

Brazilian police have arrested a priest in the Amazon who championed the rights of smallholders against powerful agricultural interests.

Father Amaro Lopes is the best-known follower of the American-born nun, Dorothy Stang, who was murdered in 2005 in a killing orchestrated by landowners during a dispute that continues today.

As President Donald Trump ponders his response to yet another chemical weapons attack in Syria, advisers and commentators alike are mired in short-term calculations. But one day the Syrian conflict will come to an end. Whether this will involve the kind of negotiated settlement being sought in Geneva, or a much less formal accommodation of a bleak status quo, the resolution of housing, land and property (HLP) rights will be an essential part of any future peace.

Deadline: 

31/05/2018

*Accepting applications on a rolling basis* 

The ILC Secretariat is now accepting applications from member organisations to host interns for the ILC internship programme. The internship programme aims at giving the opportunity to Master’s students and young researchers from within the ILC network to be placed for an internship in another ILC member organisation.
 

Why should you apply?

This is a unique opportunity for ILC members to attract additional capacity into their institutions. The internship programme will

Monrovia - Catholic Bishops Conference of Liberia (CABICOL) has said that the Land Rights Bill is crucial and should properly be reviewed before it is passed into law.

CABICOL said the bill must protect the rights of women and youth to own, manage and transfer land; contain accountable safeguard for community land ownership.

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in India, that has triggered massive protests, highlights nomadic tribes’ vulnerability and lack of land rights, activists said.

According to the police, the girl was kidnapped, gang raped and killed in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir as part of a plot by Hindu residents to evict her nomadic Bakkarwal community from a village where they had temporarily settled.

Environment Liaison Center International (ELCI) is hiring for the Regional Coordination Unit of the International Land Coalition in Africa, ILC Africa a Monitoring, Evaluations and Learning (MEL) Officer.

Protecting the land and resource rights of indigenous peoples will not only provide security for historically exploited groups but also help the global fights against climate change and biodiversity loss, said speakers on Monday at the annual United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

The Environment Liaison Center International (ELCI) is hiring for the Regional Coordination Unit of the International Land Coalition in Africa, ILC Africa a Programme Development Officer (PDO).