This report investigates the threats to the livelihoods of Indian Lanjigarh locals after the arrival of a subsidiary of Vedanta. It presents the myths about Vedanta in relation to this project and unravels the truth behind each with evidence from official reports, journalists, Action Aid’s own field visits and first hand accounts of local people. The locals of Niyamgiri mountain, in Kalahandi District, Orissa, India have lived for decades by foraging in the forests, raising chickens and growing vegetables and rice.

This report examines the social, environmental and economic consequences of gas flaring- the process of burning-off surplus combustible vapours from a well, either as a means of disposal or as a safety measure - in the Niger Delta. More gas is flared in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world.

This paper argues that mining can not be considered ‘sustainable’ if indigenous cultures are rendered unsustainable in the process. Given that many remaining unexploited ores lie under indigenous lands, there is increasing pressure to mine on or near indigenous lands.

A wave of commercial investments in the natural resource sectors has rekindled debates about the place of contracts in the interface between economic governance and control over natural resources.

Oil exploitation is relatively a new phenomenon in the Kenyan legal system. The current energy laws, fail to identify and establish a relevant institutional and legislative framework for a natural resource benefits sharing regime. Indigenous Local Communities inhabiting oil rich areas disproportionally forgo their enjoyment of their land, livelihoods, endure environmental degradation, increase pollution and relatively poorer health as compared to the rest f the national population. For the above they ought to be compensated and accorded a percentage benefit over and above other Kenyans.

The government of (post)socialist Laos has conceded more than 1 million hectares of land—5 percent of the national territory—to resource investors, threatening rural community access to customary lands and forests. However, investors have not been able to use all of the land granted to them, and their projects have generated geographically uneven dispossession due to local resistance.

ABSTRACTED FROM CHAPTER INTRODUCTION: The preceding chapters of this book give a central place to the Powers of Exclusion framework for understanding transformations in land relations, as developed in our 2011 book on Southeast Asia. A couple of the main aspects of the two books make for an interesting comparison. The first is that each employs a regional frame of reference to explore themes in changing land relations. The second is their respective development and application of a common conceptual framework.

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Land rights systems in Southeast Asia are in constant flux; they respond to various socioeconomic and political pressures and to changes in statutory and customary law. Over the last decade, Southeast Asia has become one of the hotspots of the global land grab phenomenon, accounting for about 30 percent of transnational land grabs globally. Land grabs by domestic urban elites, the military or government actors are also common in many Southeast Asian countries.

The desperate search for ways to combat climate change gives rise to new mitigation policies and projects, with questionable impacts on people and the environment. Among these mitigation projects is the increasing support of large-scale ‘sustainable’ forestry plantations as part of the broader Clean Development Mechanisms. This paper discusses several problems that may arise from such plantation projects, especially the missed mitigation potential through the involvement of local actors in protecting biodiverse forests.

WEBSITE INTRODUCTION: This book examines large-scale land acquisitions, or ‘land grabbing’, with a focus on South-East Asia. Thematic papers and detailed case studies put this phenomenon into specific historical and institutional contexts, analysing transformations in livelihoods, human rights impacts, and potential remedies.

The purpose of the report is to provide documentary evidence of land disputes recorded throughout 2015. This evidence was gathered from articles on land disputes from local printed media, meetings with Land and Housing Right Network (LAHRiN) members, and through on-site data collection. This report aims to raise awareness and understanding of the current situation regarding land disputes, and act as a resource for other stakeholders working on land issues including government officials, donors, LAHRiN members, Cambodian and international civil society and academic researchers.