The articles in this volume supplement FAO Land Tenure Studies 10, Compulsory acquisition of land and compensation. The latter publication explains what compulsory acquisition and compensation are and what constitutes good practice in this area. This current volumes introductory article provides an overview of these issues. The issue of compulsory acquisition from a human rights perspective is also addressed here as are the concepts of market value, compensation value and just terms compensation.

The challenges associated with determining fair compensation for expropriated land have been extensively discussed and debated among scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and the public. However, to date, a comprehensive study of national-level compensation procedures established by law considering whether such procedures meet internationally recognized standards on compensation valuation has not been conducted.

The challenges associated with determining fair compensation for expropriated land have been extensively discussed and debated among scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and the public. However, to date, a comprehensive study of national-level compensation procedures established by law considering whether such procedures meet internationally recognized standards on compensation valuation has not been conducted. This article aims to bridge this gap by serving as a reference point and informing “fair compensation” debates among scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.

Under Vietnam’s State land ownership regime, the Government holds supreme authority over compulsory land acquisition. The results show that many improvements in land acquisition policies have been made, but poor implementation measures largely cannot prevent or even mitigate the adverse impacts on displaced persons. In particular, ineffective compensation measures and a lack of production land and livelihood alternatives accelerate the resistance of communities displaced as a result of hydropower development.

Planned efforts to relocate human populations often entail protracted struggles over the terms on which local populations may be compensated for the loss of land, assets and livelihoods. In many instances, compensation has been established on the basis of historical market value, which in effect excludes stakeholders (e.g., encroachers, landless laborers, sharecroppers, etc.) whose livelihoods are adversely affected by land acquisition. Establishing ways of recognizing and compensating the loss of informal land and livelihood is therefore a pressing policy priority.

An estimated 10m people are displaced from development projects every year. A new study aims to monitor government adoption of voluntary guidelines on expropriation, compensation and resettlement, Nicholas Tagliarino reveals

Land is an important source of identity and a precious asset with significant emotional connection in India. It is also the main source of rural and feudal power structure for most of India’s history. Land is a symbol of social status, cultural identity and an expression of political power. The value of land is deeply ingrained in the consciousness and well-being of the poor farmers and indigenous communities who make up a substantial portion of India’s total population.

In Latvia the construction of new transport infrastructure objects or reconstruction of existing ones increasingly generates necessity to expand an area of land under auto roads (right of way), as well as activates necessity of efficiency of real property expropriation process. In frame of research the correlation between expropriated land and total area of affected land parcels have been analyzed in two different projects of road development – project of new road and project of road reconstruction.

‘Green grabs,’ or the expropriation of land or resources for environmental purposes, constitute an important component of the current global land grab explosion. We argue that international environmental institutions are increasingly cultivating the terrain for green grabbing. As sites that circulate and sanction forms of knowledge, establish regulatory devices and programmatic targets, and align and articulate actors with these mechanisms, they structure emergent green market opportunities and practices.

A government bargains a mutually convenient agreement with a multinational corporation to extract a natural resource. The corporation bears the initial investment and earns as a return a share on the profits. The host country provides access and guarantee conditions of operation. Being the investment totally sunk, the corporation must account in its plan not only for uncertainty on market conditions but also for the threat of nationalization.

In recent years, infrastructure investments, especially construction of new roads and upgrading of existing ones, have accelerated in Turkey. Expropriation cases related to building plot and land have increased due to these investments. One subject causes conflict and leads to the prolongation of cases due to the misuse of building plot-land discrimination.