News on Land

Weeks 14 – 17: Monday 31 March – Sunday, 26 April 2020

As COVID-19 spreads around the globe, fears of a deep global recession are mounting. Some also fear that food supplies may start running short, especially if supply chains are disrupted. Others fear that agricultural production may be disrupted by containment measures that restrict workers from harvesting and handling crops.

Opposition Senator Francis N. Pangilinan today suggested that the government fast-track the release of financial aid to quarantine-affected farmers by decentralizing disbursement from Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).

The fifth report of Malacanang to Congress submitted last April 27 showed that the financial subsidy to rice farmers (FSRF) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) reached only 53,881 (or 9.11 percent) out of 591,246 targeted farmers, and P645 million of FSRF’s P3 billion has been utilized.

The world will never be the same after COVID-19. Social behaviors have permanently changed as have consumer patterns. Trends in international trade have shifted, as have investment priorities. After two months in lockdown, nations must restart their economies in an environment that has changed drastically.

The silver lining is that it revealed the weaknesses in our institutions and our economies. As we rebuild, we must do so with an intent to reinvent, especially for us in the Philippines. We must work to make the nation stronger, more resilient and self-sufficient.

Human rights groups want a moratorium on demolitions and forced evictions of informal settlements under COVID-19

NAIROBI/ADDIS ABABA, April 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Scores of Ethiopian families are at risk of contracting the new coronavirus after authorities demolished their makeshift houses and left them homeless, human rights groups said on Wednesday.

Authorities in the capital began destroying the informal settlements near Bole International Airport in February.

Minister of Environment Say Sam Al has urged relevant stakeholders to take part in protecting and conserving natural resources in wildlife sanctuaries. This, he said, will facilitate carbon credit sales to raise money to support local communities.

Sam Al made his suggestion when he led experts and relevant local authorities on a visit to Mondulkiri province to examine the protection and conservation of the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Global food and agri-business Olam International Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary, Olam Treasury Pte. Ltd. (“OTPL”), have secured multi-tranche financing facilities (the “Facilities”) aggregating US$176.0 million from the International Finance Corporation (“IFC”) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (“JICA”). 

The Facilities consist of two tranches – a 5-year term loan of US$120.0 million and a 7-year term loan of US$56.0 million. 

A National Court proceeding  led by a landowner group from Porgera mine in Enga province to claim environment damages against Barrick Niugini Limited will return to court in July this year for further direction.
The Tuanda Incorporated Land Group (ILG) who owns 608.9 hactares customary land of the mine  led court proceedings against Barrick Niugini Limited on damages caused from mining activities to environment and social wellbeing of the people.

Urban land

Our urban land pages have been filled with the struggles of people living in townships and informal settlements during the pandemic. One of the controversial state responses to Covid 19 has been to propose the ‘thinning’ of densely settled areas in a bid to slow the speed of community viral transmission. These plans have been met with scepticism by residents of informal settlements who argued that such measures, taken without adequate consultation, would meet with resistance and be destined for failure.

• The database was created by the Land Portal Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in the Netherlands.
• Currently, the database includes hundreds of land tenure projects from the Global Map of Donors and the U.S.

Open Letter to Socfin, 29th April 2020: 

We demand justice and safety for workers on Socfin’s rubber/oil palm plantations  during the Covid-19 pandemic

Dear board members and shareholders,
 

We, the undersigned, are writing you in regards to the conditions of workers on the Socfin plantations as well as the conditions of neighboring communities, in particular during the current Covid-19 pandemic. 
 

In January this year, the managing director of Papua New Guinea’s Mineral Resources Authority declared that the proposal to develop what had once been touted as the world’s first deep-sea mine would ‘not get off the ground’.