News on Land

With growing slums and emissions - but limited capacity to tackle the problems - these cities are where action will be crucial, experts say

BARCELONA - The future that fast-growing cities in South Asia and Africa choose - cleaner and safer, or dirtier and more dangerous - will be pivotal to efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, scientists said in a key U.N. report this week.

An unexpected High Court ruling in the German state of North Rhein Westphalia (NRW) has blocked energy giant RWE from further destruction of the Hambacher Forest for the next couple of years. The decision has been hailed as a major victory by the newly-revitalised German environmental and climate justice movement.

LIMA, Oct 12 2018 (IPS) - Rural women in Latin America play a key role with respect to attaining goals such as sustainable development in the countryside, food security and the reduction of hunger in the region. But they remain invisible and vulnerable and require recognition and public policies to overcome this neglect.

“Our path continues, and the main difference with previous phases is that now we’re more original peoples walking together."

The indigenous organizations that proposed an indigenous, revolutionary woman as a candidate for the past Mexican presidential elections are holding their second national assembly to decide on their next steps in the struggle.

“We arrived to La Guajira to defend our sovereignty from the corrupt who call themselves defenders of Mother Earth that only hinder the country’s progress."

A Colombian paramilitary group known as the ‘Aguilas Negras’ (Black Eagles) spread pamphlets in the northern Guajira department threatening human rights defenders and Indigenous organizations working in the region.

The findings, published by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), also show that people in low- and middle-income countries are seven times more likely to die from natural disasters than those in developed nations.

“This puts a big emphasis on the need to…make sure that we curb greenhouse gas emissions,” said Ricardo Mena, UNISDR chief, in charge of implementing the Sendai Framework.

ADOPTED BY THE ILC ASSEMBLY OF MEMBERS ON 27 SEPTEMBER 2018

With a smartphone or tablet, the app can be used to track the status of a community rights claim in India

BANGKOK, Oct 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A web-based application that monitors the impact of successful forest-rights claims can help rural communities manage resources better and improve their livelihoods, according to analysts.

Choj Mayan people have been blocking a road in San Mateo Ixtatan, Huehuetenango, against a hydroelectric project they claim is illegal.

Choj Mayan people have been blocking a road in Yich Kisis, San Mateo Ixtatan, Huehuetenango, in protest against a hydroelectric project in their community. On Monday and Tuesday, anti-riot police came to the scene. Six people were reported injured.

"Despite repeated pledges by the authorities, the military has been frustratingly slow to restore land to the rightful owners"

BANGKOK - Sri Lanka has failed to fulfil pledges to return properties to thousands of people forced from their homes during decades of war, many of whom now live in desperate poverty, researchers said on Tuesday.

Thousands of acres of land taken over during the war are still held by government forces who set up security posts and buffer zones, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

BOGOR, Indonesia (Forests News) — What can 19 reviews assessing 1,200 research articles spanning over 3 billion hectares of land teach us about what works in forest governance interventions to promote sustainability?