The April 2015 edition of Against the Grain -- a report by Genetic Resources Action International (GRAIN) on laws and mechanisms in Asia that result in land transfer from independent farmers to larger entities.

The paper aims to identify the rationality of peasant communities and their contribution to rural development in Kampong Thom province. To do so; an interdisciplinary analytical framework addresses the dynamics of land use and land tenure; the strategies of labor force allocation as well as the determinants of land and labor agricultural productivities amongst peasant communities. It rests on details field surveys in two communes located in very distinct agro-ecological settings of Kampong Thom province.

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 INTRODUCTION: This report shows how, contrary to Cambodia’s obligations under international human rights law, those affected by evictions have had no opportunity for genuine participation and consultation beforehand. Information on planned evictions and on resettlement packages has often been incomplete and inaccurate, undermining the right to information of those affected.

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.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE CONCLUSION: LMAP has had considerable success in several areas, including the number of titles adjudicated in rural areas, development of legal framework for land management and administration, and the increased institutional capacity of the Ministry of Land. Unfortunately these successes are overshadowed by an increase in landlessness, forced evictions, land-grabbing and widespread tenure insecurity in Cambodia. In large part this is the result of a persistent lack of political will to consistently implement the legal framework that LMAP has developed.

The study represents a background study
for the proposed Uganda Country Economic Memorandum (CEM),
which seeks to address the issue of efficient use of oil
resources and examine synergies between the oil industry and
the rest of the economy, through growth poles or linkages.
The oil industry can help Uganda to promote robust growth in
the economy. However, it is important to keep in mind that
it will take a number of years until oil revenues start

This report provides a baseline
institutional and regulatory assessment of the oil and gas,
mining (including jade and gemstones) and the hydropower
sectors in Myanmar. As such the report is an input to
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in
Myanmar. However, it is not exhaustive with respect to all
the sectors that may be considered under a scoping study for
EITI .This report is the first in-depth study of the context

This report is the most recent in a
series aimed at monitoring economic developments in Ghana
and has two sections. The first section summarizes the
recent macroeconomic developments in the country while the
second section presents the main findings on poverty and
employment published recently by the Ghana statistical
service. Ghana s overall macroeconomic conditions have
deteriorated further in 2014 with large twin-deficits

This paper aims to inform Armenia's
policy dialogue on environmental and social issues in the
mining sector. The paper is based on the premise that for
the mining sector to have positive, long-term impacts in
Armenia, it is necessary to take into consideration the
short- and long-term environmental and social impacts of the
sector and to promote strategic planning and efficient
management of natural resources. The mining sector in

This paper aims to inform Armenia's
policy dialogue on environmental and social issues in the
mining sector. The paper is based on the premise that for
the mining sector to have positive, long-term impacts in
Armenia, it is necessary to take into consideration the
short- and long-term environmental and social impacts of the
sector and to promote strategic planning and efficient
management of natural resources. The mining sector in