Land registration and titling in Africa has been seen as a means of legal empowerment of the poor that can protect smallholders’ and pastoralists’ rights of access to land and other landbased resources.
This preliminary study involved consultation of responsible district government officials and relevant Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on various issues related to land and investments. Among other areas, the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) was selected as a study site and study used the Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) to obtain information. Questionnaire designed reflected land investment governance process thematic areas.
WEBSITE INTRODUCTION: This document presents the experiences of two investors, Stora Enso Laos and Outspan Bolovens Limited, who have invested in agribusiness plantations (eucalyptus and coffee respectively) in the south of Lao PDR. It discusses the lessons learned on four key topics related to responsible investment: (1) land acquisition, (2) compensation and benefit sharing, (3) community engagement, and (4) grievance mechanisms.
A toolkit of 26 items designed for people designing or improving community-based paralegal programmes. It draws lessons from both grassroots experience and research. Includes
WEBSITE INTRODUCTION: In the Mekong region, conflicts between local communities and large scale land concessions are widespread. They are often difficult to solve. In Cambodia, an innovative approach to conflict resolution was tested in a case involving a private company, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL), and several indigenous communities who lost some of their customary lands and forests when the company obtained a concession to grow rubber in the Province of Ratanakiri.
Conflicts persist between forest dwelling communities and advocates of forest conservation. In Thailand, a community forestry bill and national park expansion initiatives leave little space for communities. The article analyzes the case of the predominantly ethnic Black Lahu village of Huai Lu Luang in Chiang Rai province that has resisted the threats posed by a community forestry bill and a proposed national park. The villagers reside on a national forest reserve and have no de jure rights to the land.
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.
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.
Cambodia has long had a difficult mix of resource wealth and weak land governance, a function of its legacy of enduring postwar conflict and neoliberal development policies of the 1990s. Since 2012, however, its government has undertaken a series of self-described ‘deep reforms’ aimed at overcoming the poverty, land conflict, and unequal rural landholdings created during the 2000s, when over 2 million hectares of economic land concessions were allocated to private companies.
Namati offers this brief in the hope that Myanmar’s national reforms and the implementation of the country’s new National Land Use Policy can grow from the lived experience of ordinary Myanmar citizens. Namati and our partners assist farmers in Myanmar to claim their land rights through a community paralegal approach. Community paralegals are trained in relevant laws, community education, negotiation, and mediation skills to work with farmers to resolve a variety of land rights issues.
The Asia-Pacific region is a hotspot for forest landscape conflicts which are played out between local communities and outsiders such as government agencies and private companies. Increased competition for limited natural resources, rapid sociopolitical change, and expanding markets for forest products and land have heightened tensions and intensified conflicts over resource-use priorities. There are numerous methods for addressing conflict, including negotiation, arbitration, adjudication and mediation.