News on Land

Ranked as a country most vulnerable to the impact of climate change, The Philippines is also the most dangerous place in the world to defend land rights and the environment. President Duterte’s government has enabled seizures of Indigenous lands by an environmentally damaging gold and copper mining project. When communities stand up to defend their land, they face threats, intimidation, criminalisation and even murder.

Members of the organization Fuerza de Mujeres Wayúu (Force of Wayúu Women) have received death threats and been subject to defamation and stigmatization for opposing the harmful effects of a mining project in La Guajira, Colombia.

Force of Wayúu women is part of a group of four organizations that filed a nullity claim for the environmental license granted to the multinational company Carbones de El Cerrejón, which owns one of the largest open pit coal mining mines in the world. The presence of the mine in the region has had a devastating effect on the quality of li

As the country marks 56 years of independence, there is little to celebrate on the steps taken by the government to protect women land rights.

Land access is still a privilege to most women in rural areas. The quest for gender equality on land access and ownership brought forth several reforms. 

The big win was the 2010 Constitution that was a game-changer on matters gender equality and non-discrimination on land rights.

Rwanda and Tanzania are among six countries in Africa seen to be working towards securing land rights to at least 30 per cent of their women by 2025.

According to a report by the Africa Land Policy Centre, these six countries—the rest being Botswana, Ethiopia, Senegal and Malawi — have or are working on the policies, institutional and legal frameworks to ensure women have equal access to land.

They also have mechanisms to collect sex-disaggregated and specific data on women’s land tenure security.

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We are in the midst of a global environmental crisis and the sense of urgency becomes ever more evident with each additional story of climate disasters, ecological tipping points and climate records being shattered somewhere in the world.

At this moment, global representatives are gathering at the 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Madrid to discuss immediate steps in halting further climate crisis.

We can’t tackle the climate crisis without tackling corruption.

Uganda’s tradition of “customary” land ownership means many landowners don’t hold titles to their property, and land disputes are rampant. With little faith in police or courts, Ugandans have turned to mob justice – and landowners fear for their lives.

In Uganda, people are increasingly taking the law into their own hands. Citizens say a flawed justice system and weak law enforcement are to blame for the rise in “mob justice.” This weekly series explores Uganda’s mob justice phenomenon. Is there a solution in sight?

Ignoring environmental laws in Timor-Leste to build a petroleum infrastructure project could mean serious problems for communities including environmental destruction, loss of land, and loss of livelihoods. Communities are already facing some of these problems because project proponents haven’t fulfilled their legal obligations to do extensive environmental research and planning to mitigate any damage to the local environment.

• Both the climate crisis and inequality require a democratic overhaul. And governments globally should start by turning over legal control of land and natural resources to local communities and indigenous land users. Their rights are key to survival for all of us.

Based on Chinese law, individuals cannot claim land ownership. In rural regions, most land is owned collectively, while in urban areas, by the state. 

China's 560 million rural residents, taking up around 40 percent of the country's total population, contract land for a fixed period of time – usually 30 years – from rural communities, and maintain rights to use and manage the land. 

ADDIS ABEBA – The African Union (AU) Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges, the AU Declaration of committing 2010 – 2020 as the African Women’s Decade and the AU 30 per cent target for documented land rights in women’s names by 2025, are important messages from leaders on the continent that empowering women through tenure security is a necessary condition for equity and the socioeconomic and agricultural transformation of Africa.