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.

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.

A growing number of reports show that large-scale deforestation continues in Cambodia’s protected forests, often with tacit endorsement from government officials—despite promises of conservation.

Editorial

A series of reports this year show that protected forest areas across Cambodia are under increasing threat from land grabs and deforestation.

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.

Ten cases of land disputes that lasted for over 15 years have been solved by the Banteay Srei district administration by understanding and peaceful mean on January 19.

Banteay Srei governor Khim Finan said on 20 January that a land dispute that had gone on for 15 years now had become an impediment to the citizens of the province on both sides of the dispute’s ability to live in safety and harmony in addition to having prevented either party from making productive use of the land.

The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction has reasserted its authority to conduct cadastral surveys of land plots that aim to establish leaseholder rights over state private land.

State private land is legally defined as all property that belongs to the state but does not have a public interest value. This land can be allocated or transferred by the state but it must be listed in the national inventory first.

The Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) released a statement on “Business and Human Rights: Corporate Accountability in Land Rights Violations”, dated December 25, to give an overview of the challenges in seeking corporate accountability regarding land rights issues.

According to the press release obtained by The Post on December 27, the CCHR examined various mechanisms available to those facing land rights violations in the country and the methods employed by communities to achieve a resolution.

Forestry crimes including logging, poaching and encroachment on state forest land for private ownership increased considerably last year despite stricter law enforcement, according to an annual report by the Ministry of Environment.

Ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said forest rangers cracked down on 8,917 cases in 2020 compared to just 5,745 the previous year – an increase of 3,442 cases or nearly 40 per cent.