News on Land

LOCKDOWN restrictions aimed at fighting the Covid-19 pandemic in Lesotho have had an unintended adverse negative impact of undermining women's customary land rights, a regional human rights body has found.

The organisation, Advancing Rights in Southern Africa (ARISA), said its research on the impact of Covid-19 on women's customary land rights and livelihoods in southern Africa found that lockdown restrictions had worsened violations of women's customary land rights in the region.

A total of 1,60,566 individuals and organisations have grabbed 2.57 lakh acres of forest land across the country. 

Of the total forest land, 1.38 lakh acres are reserved forest area -- grabbed by 88,215 persons and organisations. 

Forest Department submitted the statistics containing names of grabbers of forest land all over the country today at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of environment, forest and climate change. 

Good land administration helps to secure property tenures. It also protects the land rights of people (including individuals, communities, and the state) through good governance principles and practices. Therefore, probing land administration practices—whether in developed or developing countries—is essential to developing tools or methods for securing natural resource rights for people, especially for the youth and women. A broad knowledge gap exists on the land/water/forest–people–health–wellbeing nexus of natural resource administration research and practice.

Representatives from Lantmäteriet, the Rwanda Land Management and Use Authority, and Cadasta Foundation shared experiences from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency-funded Advanced International Training Programme for Applied Land Governance. The discussion focused on how the training is being applied to improve efficiency and equity in land and resource rights of women and marginalized communities, in Rwanda and in the region.

The Arab Land Initiative, facilitated by the Global Land Tool Network and UN-Habitat, is launching a call for proposals to solicit the interest from organisations working in the Arab region to the twinning arrangement initiative. The initiative aims at pairing two organisations from countries in the Arab region (or one from the region and one from outside the region) to exchange knowledge and experiences, and build networks in the area of good land governance and land administration.

In a bid to expedite the distribution of land ownership certificates to the landless people and decentralise the federal responsibility, the government has formed committees of the Landless Squatters' Problems Resolution Commission in all the 77 districts of the country. Each of the seven-member committees will include a chairperson and two others appointed by the government, with the remaining members representing the district Land Revenue Office, Survey and Forest Offices and the District Coordination Committee.

Cadasta is pleased to award a Data Accelerator Grant to the Council of Minorities, a Bangladeshi human rights organization founded in 2013 that works for establishing the rights of minority communities in Bangladesh. 

Main photo: Provincial hall spokesman Kheang Phearom (not in picture) said more than 300 families currently live on the sites of the 584 plots. Photo supplied

The Preah Sihanouk Provincial Administration will not certify land titles for more than 300 families in the communes of Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem and warned of legal action without exception against people interfering with state-owned property.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 29): The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry (KeTSA) has achieved a new milestone in forestry management with the adoption of the Malaysian Forestry Policy 2020 which involved consultations among the three regions in the country, namely the Peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak.

Its Minister Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah, in a statement today, said the policy outlined a clear objective for the forestry sector to face new challenges at the domestic and international levels.

Main Photo: Environmental officials inspect Prey Lang wildlife sanctuary in Sandan district, Kampong Thom province​ on 2020. Environment Ministry

The government has repealed all previously issued letters certifying sales, purchases, transfers, occupation or ownership of any land within the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary.

The decision was made following an investigation into land disputes between 188 families and environmental officials in Kampong Thom province.