Publication shows how addressing land issues can mitigate conflict;facilitate solutions to it;improve the likelihood that people can return to their homes after the violence is over;and contribute to peace overall. Draws on cases in nine countries in the Arab States;Africa and Latin America;with a range of conflict parties: farmers;herders;landlords;villagers;mining companies;host communities;displaced people;gangs;and various levels of government.

In 2008, ten communities in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana entered into agreements with Newmont Ghana to govern company-community relations, ensure local job creation, and share the benefits of the company’s mining operations. Ten years later, this report, co-authored by Canadian International Resources and Development Institute (CIRDI), African Center for Energy Policy (ACEP), CCSI, and ISP, looks at the communities’ experience of those agreements and suggests how the agreements might be improved.

L’homme à travers ses actions dénature fortement l’occupation des sols engendrant une modification du milieu naturel. Cet impact rend la nécessité de fournir aux décideurs des cartes d’occupations des sols et des informations relatives à leur état et dynamique. C’est dans cette optique qu’une étude de l’occupation des sols a été conduite dans les carrières de phosphates au sud-est du Togo. Cette recherche vise à analyser la dynamique spatiale de l’occupation du sol dans ces carrières.

From a Mongolian ‘super mine’ to China’s One Belt One Road, rapid infrastructural development is reforging Central Asia as an economic pivot of the future. Such development offers enticing economic benefits, but threatens fragile environments and local livelihoods. Due to the weakness of the state, the emphasis will be on citizens to hold developers accountable to their social and environmental pledges. Reports of political elites influencing the demands of popular protests call into question the ability of citizens to fulfil this function.

Land transformation has been at the centre of the economic growth of post-colonial Asia. In the 1990s, many Asian countries embraced economic liberalization and speculative business interests in land began to replace the state’s control of land for developmental purposes. The growing demand for land by corporations and private investors has fuelled several regional land rush waves in Asia, bringing them directly in conflict with communities that require these lands for their occupations and survival.

Successive governments in India have emphasized the need for industrial expansion and privatization as the foundation for economic stability and growth. This focus has led to the policy-induced transformation of rural and peri-urban landscapes into use for industry and infrastructure. These transformations have caused social conflicts and ecological impacts for land and resource-dependent people.

Since the 1960s, and particularly in the last decade, Southeast Asia has been attracting significant foreign investments. Myanmar, despite its land titling and registration tangles, is no exception. Investors all across the globe are vying for a piece of the “Golden Land” and the country is responding with equal fervor. The building of a modern industrialized nation through agricultural development is one of the country's economic objectives. Foreign investments are being encouraged, private businesses are being pushed, and attractive tax and duty rebates are being offered.

Since the 1960s, and particularly in the last decade, Southeast Asia has been attracting significant foreign investments. Myanmar, despite its land titling and registration tangles, is no exception. Investors all across the globe are vying for a piece of the “Golden Land” and the country is responding with equal fervor. The building of a modern industrialized nation through agricultural development is one of the country's economic objectives. Foreign investments are being encouraged, private businesses are being pushed, and attractive tax and duty rebates are being offered.

Over the last 50 years, most Asian countries have gone through a shift from subsistence agricultural systems to industrialized economies. In Indonesia, the major shift came in 1966, when General Suharto successfully staged a military coup. Under his presidency, Indonesia experienced the “New Order”. A key aspect of this regime was trade and industrial expansion. Changes were made to foreign and domestic investment laws to facilitate growth, including the removal of most controls on private investments.

‘Voices from the mine’ is a new 33-minute documentary film by University of Bath researcher, Dr Roy Maconachie. It focuses on resource governance in Sierra Leone's artisanal diamond mining sector, tracing the pathway of diamonds from pit to market, and documenting the stories of different stakeholders along the way. In doing so, the film depicts the challenges of local level governance in the sector, shows why benefits do not accrue to those working at the bottom of the chain, and sheds light on why it is so difficult to formalize artisanal mining.

The study was commissioned to the KIT Royal Tropical Institute in July 2017 by the Land Dialogue, with financial support from the Dutch Government. The objective is to provide insight and guidance into the relevance of land governance as a possible priority theme t o be considered in the process of the International Responsible Business Conduct (IRBC) Agreements.

Land is often a critical aspect of conflict: it may be a root cause or trigger conflicts or may become an issue as the conflict progresses. Conflicts lead to forced evictions; the people who are displaced by conflict need somewhere to live and some land to farm or to graze their animals, often leading to further disputes over the use of land and other resources.