News on Land

Mondulkiri officials issued a six-day ultimatum on constructions encroaching on the Doh Kramom Mountain Cultural Centre in Sen Monorom town’s Sokdum commune.

The centre belongs to the Bunong indigenous people and the builders must remove the constructions immediately or face legal penalties.

Mondulkiri Culture and Fine Arts Department director Sey Touch said on December 2 the decision was made on the guidance of a working group set up by Mondulkiri provincial governor Svay Sam Eang and led by Chum Nary, the deputy head of the administration.

New study portrays women’s disadvantageous position due to deprivation in land ownership, wage discrimination and non-recognition of unpaid works 

Women constitute nearly 65% of farm labour force in Bangladesh, yet they have very limited land ownership, making them mostly work under the supervisions of their male counterparts.

Most of the tasks they deliver in agriculture production value chain are unpaid work, and when it comes to earning wages for farm labour, women receive far less compared to what men earn for the same jobs.

Seeking quick returns, Chinese investors are driving a scramble for plantation land in parts of northern Myanmar.

The Cardamom Mountains sit off the Gulf of Thailand in southern Cambodia and provide important habitat for a multitude of plant and animal species, many of them already threatened with extinction.

Due to Cardamoms’ remoteness, they had largely been spared the human encroachment that has razed much of the rainforest across the country – until infrastructure development in 2020 opened up the area to loggers, poachers, and others seeking to exploit the region’s forests.

Good and responsible land governance and an efficient land administration system, including land use planning, are one of the pillars for sustaining food security and nutrition in Ghana.

It is estimated that five per cent of the total population in Ghana are food insecure and two million people are vulnerable to becoming food insecure.

It is further estimated that 68 per cent of the land in Ghana are used for agriculture, while 15 per cent are used as permanent natural pastures.

UNLESS Lesotho governments refrain from the habit of awarding grossly inflated tenders for various infrastructure projects, future generations will be caught up in a massive debt trap which will only impede the country’s development, analysts have warned.

More than 200 indigenous Bunong families in Mondulkiri province have asked authorities to retrieve 5ha of community forest land they claim had been secretly stolen from them by speculators.

Roch Chok, a representative of the more than 200 families, told The Post on November 30 that two people in Koh Nhek district’s Or Buonloeu commune deployed two bulldozers to clear the forest land on November 29.

The two, he said, claimed to represent an unnamed tycoon with the title oknha – an honorific bestowed on those who donate at least $500,000 to the state for development.

For Zimbabwean organic farmer, Elizabeth Mpofu, access to healthy food is liberation.

Millions of people across the world go to bed hungry. Scores do not have access to nutritious food owing to an inequitable global food system focused on industrial mass food production. The food from this system is less nutritious, more expensive and less friendly to the environment.

Despite recent advancements in land reforms across Africa, women and girls are still hugely disadvantaged, according to a recent meeting of experts. The 2020 Africa Land Forum (ALC), which took place online between 15 and 17 September, brought together 500 participants to explore the theme ‘Delivering on the African Union Agenda 2063 by Promoting People-Centered Land Governance in Africa’.

Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has instructed all provincial governors, and the Mondulkiri provincial governor in particular, to regularly inspect forests and natural resources in helicopters.

Sar Kheng, also the deputy prime minister, said relevant ministries and leaders in Mondulkiri have to protect natural resources. The work, he said, will gain the support of people and attract tourists and investors to the area.

“It is our ancestral wealth,” he said.

The Energy Ministry has commenced a stakeholder engagement in communities with the Jomoro Municipality of the Western Region for the acquisition of a 20,000-acre plot of land for the Petroleum Hub.

Back in March 2019, Cabinet gave the approval for the establishment of the much-awaited petroleum hub in the Western Region to house all infrastructure projects in the petroleum industry.