News on Land

Since Uganda’s February 2016 elections, there has been widespread speculation that the government would try to change the constitution to entrench the power of ruling elites. The focus has been the possible removal of presidential age limits, paving the way for President Yoweri Museveni – in power for 31 years – to run again.

Hyderabad, Jul 24 (PTI) People’s groups today called for rejection of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the mega Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which is currently being negotiated in the city.

People’s groups from different parts of the city took out a protest rally demanding to stop RCEP talks.

The RCEP is a proposed mega regional FTA, which 16 countries including India and ASEAN countries are negotiating.

Application Closing Date - 06 Aug 2017

Job Start Date - 01 Sep, 2017

Duration - 1 September to 8 October 2017

Location - remotely and attending the workshop in Stockholm, Sweden

BACKGROUND

The regional workshop with African Land Commissions on securing community land rights ended in Accra, Ghana, Wednesday with participants committing to advancing policy, legal and regulatory reforms in their respective countries and ensure their effective implementation in order to recognize community land rights.

Land Portal Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launch thematic portfolio on land conflicts

• Historic claim recognised around Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue mine
• Court upholds $3.3m Timber Creek payout ruling against NT government

The federal court has handed down two major wins for native title holders, dismissing a government appeal against a landmark compensation case and recognising an exclusive native title claim around a $110bn mine owned by Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group.

Application Closing Date - 31 Jul 2017

Job Start Date - 10 Aug, 2017

Duration - 10 August 2017 to 22 September 2017

Location - Remote

BACKGROUND

The Caux Dialogue on Land and Security (CDLS), a partnership initiative, has called for scaling up land restoration efforts around the world to achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030. In their seven-point communiqué, CDLS participants emphasized land restoration as central to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate. SDG target 15.3 calls for striving to achieve a land degradation-neutral world by 2030.

Rural women at the forefront of issues related to land, environment and natural resources are particularly at risk

MUMBAI, July 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Women human rights defenders in Thailand are increasingly at risk of violence, threats and harassment since a May 2014 coup, a report said, highlighting the growing concern that the military government is failing to uphold civil rights.

Transparency International recently teamed up with a graduate consulting group from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs to analyse the intersectionality of land, corruption, and gender in Uganda, and the potential for tech to empower women in the country. Here's what the team discovered:

Land, corruption, and information communication technologies (ICTs) are complex and dynamic issues, playing significant roles in Ugandans’ lives. On one hand, they promote or even generate wealth, but on the other, they create or increase vulnerability.

In Guatemala, one of the world’s largest silver deposits reaps millions for its Canadian owners but for local farmers the price is their land and even their lives

Deep underground, buried in the lush hills of southern Guatemala, lies a veritable treasure trove: silver, tonnes of it, one of the largest deposits in the world.