Political dynamics of the global land grab are exemplified in Cambodia, where at least 27 forced evictions took place in 2009, affecting 23,000 people. Evictions of the rural poor are legitimized by the assumption that non-private land is idle, marginal, or degraded and available for capitalist exploitation. This paper: (1) questions the assumption that land is idle; (2) explores whether land grabs can be regulated through a ‘code of conduct’; and (3) examines peasant resistance to land grabs.

Rural areas in Cambodia have been the target of large-scale land acquisitions since the late 1990s. As of March 2012, economic land concessions in Cambodia covered more than 2 million hectares, equivalent to over half of the country’s arable land. In this paper, we discuss the policy narratives and discursive strategies that are employed by various actors to justify and legitimize large-scale land acquisitions. We then analyze the underlying mechanisms of such acquisitions and investments and examine how they are entangled with donor-assisted land use planning efforts.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In May 2012 Prime Minister Hun Sen issued Directive 001 (also known as Order 01BB) on ‘Measures to strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of management of economic land concessions (ELCs)’ announcing a moratorium on the granting of new ELCs, the review of existing ELCs and the implementation of the so-called “leopard-skin” (or “tiger-skin”) policy, with the aim to allow communities to live side by side with the concessions.

As shown in this report, harassment of local activists in Cambodia, including defenders of the right to housing, is widespread. Cambodia’s rich and powerful are increasingly abusing the criminal justice system to silence communities standing up against land concessions or business deals affecting the land they live on or cultivate. Many poor and marginalized communities are living in fear of the institutions created to protect them, in particular the police and the courts. As forced evictions increase, public space for discussing them is shrinking.

Cambodia has experienced rapid economic growth over the last decade. Cambodian gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an average annual rate of over eight percent between 2000 and 2010 and over seven percent since 2011. The tourism, garment, construction & real estate, and agriculture sectors accounted for the bulk of growth. The percentage of the population living in poverty also decreased to approximately 17.7 percent in 2012, the latest figures available. GDP per capita increased to an estimated USD 1,130 in 2014.

A factsheet showing key administrative and investment statistics of the Svay Rieng province including a geographical location and road network map of the province and information about ELC, SEZ and other investments.

This paper reviews the literature to identify the relationship between tenure security and food security. The literatures on tenure issues and food security issues are not well connected and the scientific evidence on the causal links between tenure security and food security is very limited. The paper explores the conceptual linkages between land tenure reforms, tenure security and food security and illustrates how these vary across diverse contexts.

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION: An exclusive new analysis reveals that the Government of Myanmar has allocated at least 5.2 million acres and plans to allocate another 11 million acres of Southeast Asia’s last remaining biodiversity-rich high-value forests to make way for large-scale, private agribusiness projects that often never materialize. Many of these forest areas overlap with historical land claims made by Myanmar’s ethnic minority groups who will now permanently lose their land, further enflaming decades-old armed conflicts with the national government.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Part 4: During the transition, businesses, government and development partners need to take steps to fill the existing gaps in Myanmar’s legislative framework on the protection of the environment, society and human rights. The Government has an immediate and important opportunity in the new production sharing contracts to fill these gaps through contractual requirements to meet the International Finance Corporation Performance Standards and World Bank Group Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines.

FIRST PARAGRAPH: The historical weight of the political culture of development in Burma – now more commonly referred to as Myanmar – must not be discounted during the democracy-neoliberal reform era. National development discourse and practice in Myanmar has combined elements from monarchical patronage and military authoritarianism after decades of ruling military dictatorships where the military-state ‘knows best’ for its people.

The Bangkok-based Sino-Thai company Choern Pakard Group (CP Group), Asia's largest and most prominent agro-food/feed corporation, has led an industrial maize contract farming scheme with (ex-)poppy upland smallholders in Shan State, northern Myanmar to supply China’s chicken-feed market. Thailand, as a Middle-Income Country (MIC) and regional powerhouse, has long-tapped China’s phenomenal economic growth and undersupplied consumer demand.

This comprehensive review of Myanmar's policies regarding inward direct investment covers such issues as trends in investment in Myanmar, responsible business conduct, regulation and protection of investment, investment promotion and facilitation, tax policy, the financial sector in Myanmar, infrastructure in Myanmar, and sustainable investment in Myanmar's agriculture.