The main objectives of this study are to produce an overview of existing information related to land issues and governance of indigenous communities and to assess the impact of economic land concessions on the livelihoods of indigenous communities in the northeast of Cambodia. The study generated the following research questions in order to respond to these objectives: 1. What is happening in terms of land acquisition and land governance practices? 2. What are the consequences for indigenous peoples, in terms of livelihoods as well as agricultural systems and socio-cultural practices? 3.

In recent years the Lao government has provided many foreign investors with large-scale economic land concessions to develop plantations. These concessions have resulted in significant alterations of landscapes and ecological processes, greatly reduced local access to resources through enclosing common areas, and ultimately leading to massive changes in the livelihoods of large numbers of mainly indigenous peoples living near these concessions.

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This paper seeks to add to the growing literature on land concessions by examining a recent, high-level concession as a means of understanding three aspects related to concessionary investments: (1) the process by which concessions are awarded and implemented; (2) the intricate relationship between land use, land tenure, and land ownership in the face of concessions; and (3) the way in which village and household livelihoods are impacted due to such massive land use and ownership changes.

Community forests (CFs) in northern Burma have been gaining momentum since the mid-2000s, spearheaded by national NGOs, mostly in response to protect village land from encroaching agribusiness concessions. While the production of these new CF landscapes represents the material resistance against state-sponsored rubber, in effect it produces contested state authority by formalizing control of former customary swidden hills under the Forestry Department.

INTRODUCTION: The following report has been compiled to bring to the attention of a wider audience many of the problems facing the people of Burma, especially its many ethnic nationalities. For many outside observers, Burma’s problems are confined simply to the ongoing incarceration of Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s democratically elected leader, and many other political prisoners. However, as we hope to show in the following report, this is only one of very many human rights abuses that provide obstacles to the people’s hope for democracy.

1.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE CONCLUSION: The absence of secure tenure and resulting forced evictions represent clear violations of Article 11 of the Covenant with respect to the right to adequate housing by the Cambodian Government. The absence of a comprehensive legislative framework and the failure of other mechanisms to guarantee tenure security, including an independent and effective court system, constitute a failure of the Government to fulfil its Covenant obligations.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE INTRODUCTION: The present study is a result of a three-month research stay and internship with the Lutheran World Federation Cambodia (LWF), in Kampong Chhnang Province. It deals with a land dispute that was closely monitored by LWF and that serves as an example for ways in which land disputes are dealt with in the rural Cambodia of today.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE INTRODUCTION: There is little evidence... that ordinary Cambodians are benefiting from the mass confiscation of their land. On the contrary, those who are displaced are explicitly excluded from any benefits, and instead find themselves facing loss of income, poor health, lack of education and other dire consequences that are directly opposed to the government’s public commitment to development, expressed through targets such as the “Millennium Development Goals” (MDG).

Building upon the technical paper containing a review of the existing literature on the potential costs and benefits of adaptation options (FCCC/TP/2009/2), this report synthesizes information contained in submissions from Parties and relevant organizations, and other relevant sources, on efforts undertaken to assess the costs and benefits of adaptation options. A summary of lessons learned and good practices is provided.

ABSTRACTED FROM SUMMARY: A bitter land struggle is unfolding in northern Burma’s remote Hugawng Valley. Farmers that have been living for generations in the valley are defying one of the country’s most powerful tycoons as his company establishes massive mono-crop plantations in what happens to be the world’s largest tiger reserve. The Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve in Kachin State was declared by the Myanmar Government in 2001 with the support of the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society.

The transition to a market economy has sparked Vietnam's unprecedented urbanization and industrialization. In order to accommodate the spiraling land demand triggered by urban and economic growth, the Vietnamese government has been using the mechanism of compulsory acquisition at an astounding scale to convert massive amount of agricultural land to urban land for non-agricultural uses. A large number of the country's poorest, most vulnerable citizens have been forced out of their land to make way for development projects, yet, they are also the group that have least benefited from them.