This issue brief highlights the roots of land grabbing experienced in the aggrieved communities in seven countries. It also features the importance of advanced smallholder agriculture and local food industry, broadened land rights movement, and strengthened land governance in promoting the rights of the farmers.

This publication compiles land grab cases documented by LWA partners in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Philippines. The cases highlight how farmers, women, and indigenous peoples have been displaced from their lands; and how ecosystems have been destroyed, food security undermined and livelihoods lost. This publication also features the recommended principles of responsible agricultural investment (rai) governing land investments in the Philippines recognizing the importance of farming and fishing communities in the country. 

Brazil lags behind much of the world in taking advantage of an important driver of economic growth: secure land rights. In 2015, Brazil ranked 64th on the International Property Rights Index (IPRI). It ranked even lower, at 95th, for secure property rights on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitive Index.

When property rights are secure, the nation’s lands can be managed, improved, or protected to their fullest potential. This could unlock new economic opportunities, develop markets more fully, and improve the use of the country’s resources.

This report develops a framework for evaluating continuum of land rights scenarios. Building on existing evaluation initiatives that focus on land tenure and the associated administrative systems, the report addresses an important gap by providing a framework for evaluating land rights scenarios along the continuum of land rights according to the purposes of a particular evaluation.

Successful development experiences have demonstrated the greater efficiency achieved with a growth strategy based on small and medium-scale farmers (SMFs). This study is sought to identify potential agribusiness models for enhancing inclusive growth through NGOs partnerships with SMFs in Myanmar. The paper illustrates that agricultural sector in Myanmar is characterised by already high land inequality and landlessness, and low productivity of most SMFs.

As trade and investment flows rapidly increase across Southeast Asia, several countries have experienced a surge in large land deals for plantation agriculture. Against this backdrop, civil society organisations have been using a wider range of legal tools to promote public accountability in investment processes. These include scrutinising the negotiation of international treaties, challenging national legal frameworks, raising local awareness about rights, and testing approaches for local consultation and redress.

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.

The Government of Vietnam has identified the conversion of forests to plantations of industrial crops such as rubber as one of the five drivers of deforestation and degradation in the country. Presently, Vietnam is actively participating in various international initiatives such as the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) programmes.

This briefing note presents the findings of seven case studies conducted from May to June 2014. The studies were conducted in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal and Thailand and looked into the livelihood and food security among indigenous shifting cultivation communities in South and Southeast Asia. The briefing note provides a summary of the main findings of the case studies and the common recommendations from a multi-stakeholders consultation held August 28-29 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The purpose of the report is to provide documentary evidence of land disputes recorded throughout 2013. This evidence was gathered from articles on land disputes from local printed media, meetings with Land and Housing Right Network (LAHRiN)2 members, and through on site data collection.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Of the many challenging issues that will require resolution within the peace processes currently underway between the government of Myanmar and various ethnic groups in the country, few will be as complex, sensitive and yet vital than the issues comprising housing, land and property (HLP) rights.

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.