News on Land

Development on one of the last large lakes in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh is impacting communities that rely on it for their livelihoods and causing significant flooding in the city as the result of runoff during heavy rains, an environmental watchdog said Thursday, calling for an end to the practice.

Global Witness campaigners warn of risk of further killings during Covid-19 lockdowns

Main photo: Celia Xakriaba, an indigenous educator and activist of the Xakriaba people of Brazil, with a portrait of Paulo Paulino Guajajara, who was killed in an ambush by illegal loggers in 2019. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA

Main photo credit: Unsplash

Is the COVID-motivated shift enough to support all the laid-off garment industry workers? Who will really benefit?

Edo State High court in Benin City, has commenced the hearing of a suit filled against the Iyatsere of Warri kingdom, Chief Johnson Atseleghe, seeking to stop him from parading himself as the traditional ruler of Ologbo dukedom and from selling lands that belongs to the dukedom.

The case which came up for hearing on yesterday under Justice Daniel Okungbowa, also seeks to restrain the defendant, Chief Atseleghe and his agent from carrying out actions that is capable of compromising the peace in Ologbo.

The Philippines was the deadliest country in Asia for land and environmental defenders again last year while slipping to second most dangerous in the world behind Colombia, a watchdog said Wednesday.

A total of 43 defenders were killed in the archipelago -- the vast majority on the fertile and resource-rich islands of Mindanao and Negros -- compared with 30 in 2018, Global Witness said in a report.

The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction on Tuesday said 550 officials in inter-ministerial groups are set to implement a land registration plan in Mondulkiri province.

The announcement came at a meeting chaired by Minister Chea Sophara and attended by Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon, Minister of Environment Say Sam Al, and Mondulkiri provincial governor Svay Sam Eang.

The second round of LAND-at-scale resulted in 24 ideas submitted by 19 Dutch embassies. The LAND-at-scale Committee selected 6 most promising ideas to develop further. 

LAND-at-scale is a government programme that contributes to improving land governance. The programme supports economic development, peace and stability in developing countries. It also contributes to sustainable incomes, social justice, and better food and nutrition security.

Lesotho is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy in southern Africa. Formerly known as Basutoland, the country was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho in 1966, after gaining independence from the U.K. Following a period of political instability and turmoil, Lesotho is now at relative peace, and its level of homelessness is low.

Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) will in the upcoming meeting of parliament table a number of bills that are motivated by the party’s 2019 election manifesto, party Secretary General Mpho Balopi has said.

Since October elections the party has been subject of criticism from various quarters including political commentators that it has failed to walk its promise. Balopi has however told this publication this week that the party is initiating several reforms that speak to the party promises contained in the manifesto.

A research report released by four civil society organisations on Monday warns that development in the Boeung Tompun lake puts 1.2 million Phnom Penh residents, or half the city’s population, in danger of floods.

One thousand families are at risk of eviction, loss of income and food insecurity from unsustainable private development, said the human rights groups report – Smoke on the water: A human rights and social impact assessment of the destruction of the Boeung Tompun/Cheung Ek wetlands.

Siem Reap provincial administration director Sok Thol said on Sunday that provincial authorities were preparing a working group to update veterans’ social land concessions in Khnar Sandai and Khun Ream communes in Banteay Srei district.

Thol said in 2017, the government issued sub-decree No 33 to cut 1,369ha for the Cambodia Veteran Association (CVA) in Siem Reap province to distribute to about 313 families of homeless veterans. The sub-decree was meant to assist about 6,500 people.