Land News

Millions of peasant farmers in the rural areas of Sierra Leone do not own land of their own but have to rent from land owning families. Added to their poverty is the fact that they depend on Shylock money lenders to secure seeds and capital for their farming activities.

At the end of the day, their harvests are not only meagre but most it goes to paying debt and interest that are trapping them in a vicious circle of poverty, which when looked at closely are responsible for the majority of youths abandoning the countryside for life in the city.

CANBERRA — A report from the U.N Environment Programme released last month seeks to make governments look beyond environmental law, and focus on gaps in implementation.

The report analyzes the global environmental rule of law and provides an important evidence base to help advocacy efforts on proper enforcement of laws.

“Governments talk about how good their laws are but they don’t necessarily talk about how these are being implemented.”

• A court in Ecuador’s Sucumbíos province has ordered that the mining concessions already in operation on territory claimed by the Cofán indigenous people, and those currently in the process of being granted, must be canceled, affecting some 324 square kilometers (125 square miles) in total.
• The ruling also requires that reparations be made for any impacts caused by recent mining.
• For the community, the court’s decision is a victory that represents a milestone for the rights of all indigenous communities in Ecuador.

KAMPALA – Rural women farmers have asked government to create more awareness about land registration processes and land rights Issues in order to save many from land grabbers.

The farmers, who met at Hotel Africana in Kampala on February 8 during the Women in Agriculture conference, told State Minister for Lands Persis Namuganza that majority of the rural women are still ignorant about land rights and Registration.

They say this has paved way for their rights on land to be violated by their spouses and land grabbers.

Agricultores do município da Cela, província do Cuanza- Sul, solicitaram ao governador da provincial, Job Capapinha, apoio para relançarem a produção agro-pecuária.

Johannesburg - Wherever she goes, Nonhle Mbuthuma expects to feel the cold metal tip of a gun pressed against her head.

The land and environmental rights campaigner knows she could pay the ultimate price in her unwavering fight to protect her unspoilt, ancestral land from mining.

“I don’t feel safe at all,” says Mbuthuma, a founder of the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), of the threats she receives from pro-mining interests.

“My voice is now the loudest. I’m seen as a ‘nuisance’ because I’m protecting my forefathers’ land and my children’s land.”

ABIDJAN — Ongoing conflict in Africa could exacerbate the magnitude and severity of food crises in five countries and regions that already have some of the world’s greatest emergency food needs, a new report has found.

• Agriculture is the leading cause of tropical forest loss in Latin America.
• New research from the University of Bern says institutions – including environmental policies, laws and regulations – are vital in preventing agricultural expansion, and deforestation.
• Higher inequality can cause ruptures within communities, and prevent collective action needed to protect the environment.

Death of Jakelin Caal in US custody highlights how land conflicts and displacement fuel flight from indigenous villages.

San Antonio Secortez & Guatemala City - The plantations' outer edges begin fewer than 20km from where seven-year-old Jakelin Caal is buried. The deep green rows of oil palm stretch along rural roads in the Alta Verapaz department of Guatemala.

The documents form part of a nationwide programme to secure property rights for home owners in informal settlements

DAR ES SALAAM, Feb 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - For Maria Mkwawa, the Tanzanian government's decision to issue her with a formal land title to her home in January was a pleasant surprise.

"It will help me in many ways," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"My family has a bright future."

Chhattisgarh has set an example by returning land acquired forcefully from over 1,700 farmers for a steel plant. Can other states follow suit?