This paper investigates the real financial consequences of investing in land with disputed tenure rights. It demonstrates that companies which ignore the issue of land tenure expose themselves to substantial, and in some cases extreme, risks. Using case study analysis, the paper connects ground-up financial thinking with empirical reality. In so doing, it makes a strong case for the need to integrate tenure-related risks more comprehensively into our financial architecture.

OPENING PARAGRAPH OF REPORT: Land is a contested issue in Cambodia. During the Khmer Rouge regime, all cadastral records were destroyed, private property was abolished and large parts of the population were forcibly resettled or forced to flee due to the war. During the 1990s largescale refugee repatriation programmes were implemented. Over the next decades, mainly due to population growth, spontaneous settlements developed on land that was either formally part of the state domain, or of which the legal status was unclear.

Cambodia is highly dependent on agriculture: the agricultural sector is responsible for more than 30 percent of GDP and provides employment for more than 70 percent of people who are employed (ADB 2011). Given such high dependence on agriculture, an important question is, "How will Cambodia be affected by climate change, especially the agricultural sector?" Climate change, by definition, will alter temperature and rainfall patterns.

This report presents the innovative experience in bamboo forestry management and the process of Communal Land Titling carried out by the community of Huay Hang and Napor, Sangthong District, Lao PDR. The systematization of this experience has been made possible with the cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Planning and Investment of Lao’s People Democratic Republic, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the PROCASUR Corporation. They provided technical and methodological support in the process of documentation of the experience.

ABSTRACTED FROM SUMMARY OF OBJECTIVES: This study aims to examine the validity of some of the concerns expressed in Cambodia over the potential effects of FDI in agriculture on local communities and their environment. Initially, it investigates the extent and nature of FDI in agriculture and its sub-sectors, including crops, livestock, food processing, forestry and fisheries. It then analyses the policy and regulatory environment and institutions governing and facilitating such FDI, as well as prevailing business models, in the acquisition of agricultural land.

In late June and early July 2012, more than 1,000 student volunteers were dispatched to targeted provinces across the country, accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUPC), to implement Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Order 01BB. The student volunteers were trained in basic measurement techniques, kitted out with military uniforms bearing the MLMUPC’s logo, transported by army trucks, and directed to measure land and grant land certificates to rural residents.

The author argues that the democratic reform in Myanmar is rooted in profound internal and external factors. Since the beginning of the reform, the changes in Myanmar have taken tolls in a series of China’s existing interests inside the country. Economically, Chinese investments have come under increasing scrutiny, criticism, and even oppositions, threatening the viability of strategic projects such as the oil and gas pipelines. Politically, the initial success of the democratic reform in Myanmar raises questions about Beijing’s continuous resistance to reform.

This report on Myanmar's political economy of timber trade highlights five different sources and flows of timber destined for export. The purpose is to bring to light the different actors, geographies, and politics embedded within the web of timber flows because each inter-connected stream has its own degree of legality, sustainability, land rights regimes, and ethical sourcing.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE INTRODUCTION: Foreign investment in agriculture has expanded since 2005, although the figures remain modest. The Cambodian government has prioritized investment in the sector, and an important part of the government strategy has been its policies on land concessions. A 2005 sub-decree sets out the procedures, mechanisms and institutional arrangements for offering economic land concessions (ELCs), with the objective of improving crop diversity, productivity, and employment, among other benefits. By 2009, just over a third of ELCs had gone to foreign investors.

Part of a 3 year collaboration among the national human rights institutions of the region. Each of 8 national studies aims to pull together in a simple form, updated information about large-scale land acquisitions in the region, with the aim of identifying trends, common threats, divergences and possible solutions. As well as summarising trends in investment, trade, crop development and land tenure arrangements, the studies focus on the land tenure and human rights challenges.

Land distribution to the poor is discussed in the broader context of the Cambodian land reform which is considered to follow a liberal approach based on the re-introduction of private property rights in land following Cambodia’s socialist period. This approach has produced good results for providing private land titles for existing land use on state private land but has turned out to be quantitatively ineffective in the distribution of state public land for the poor through social land concessions.

OPENING PARAGRAPH OF EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Whereas 2011 had seen a sharp increase in the number of Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) granted by the Royal Government of Cambodia to private companies, in 2012 conflicts became more acute and protests multiplied. The government showed that it had understood the seriousness of the situation by taking initiatives aimed at resolving land disputes, addressing some of the issues related to ELCs and granting thousands of land titles to rural families.