The campaign against Cameroon’s agribusiness titans was reenergised in March after women living near several controversial plantations denounced the loss of community lands and rights, and the destruction of native forests.

LandCam, an EU-funded project run by several NGOs working to improve land rights in Cameroon, released a statement on behalf of women “living in the vicinity of agro-industries” decrying their treatment by major palm oil, rubber and sugar companies.

More than 40 officers from the Pailin Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction Department were made to swear before the statue of Yeay Yat on Monday that they had not misplaced 21 land titles.

No one knows the location of the missing certificates in question.

Department deputy director Suon Leaksmey told The Post on Tuesday that recent news about the loss of the land certificates belonging to residents is not true. He said the lost certificates were unused or they were just new certificates.

“They are unused ones and did not belong to any citizen,” he said.

The Lagos state government has urged everyone facing problems with land grabbers to approach the Lagos State Taskforce on Land Grabbers (LSTFLG) for help.

Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo, who is also Chairman of the Special Task Force on Land Grabbers, stated this after rescuing Ajah Community Developers Association from land grabbers.

The Siem Reap provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries called on citizens to stop stealing forest land belonging to the state. It said village, commune and district authorities should cooperate to protect forest land in the province.

Department director Tea Kimsoth told The Post on Monday that forest land managed by the Forestry Administration and residents in Siem Reap spanned over 30,000ha. The forests have an abundance of high-grade Cambodian timber.

Siem Reap provincial deputy governor Ly Samrith expressed concern that land registration plans for residents scheduled to be completed by late 2021 could not be achieved because 80 per cent of the land had not been registered.

Land dispute issues are a major factor that poses a hindrance to the registration process in the province, Samrith said.

Hundreds of local residents and monks blocked a national road on June 19 in a protest against a sand dredging company they say is illegally occupying pagoda land.

About 600 residents and monks blocked National Road 6A from about 8 to 9:30am near the site of the sand dredging operation, which was set up along a section of the Mekong River in Kandal province’s Mok Kampoul district in Prek Anhchanh commune.

SOME 10–15% of the land area in cities could be converted for use as fruit and vegetable farms, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar made the estimate while discussing a model urban farm project run by the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) at the end of National Farmers and Fisherfolk Month.

The DA is pushing urban agriculture as a possible strategy to relieve pressure on supply chains after major cities were cut off from the food-producing hinterland during the quarantine.

• A court in Indonesia has sentenced two indigenous farmers to eight and 10 months in prison respectively for harvesting palm fruit from land whose ownership is contested by the community and a palm oil firm, PT Hamparan Masawit Bangun Persada.
• The ruling appeared to ignore evidence showing that the villagers are the rightful owners of the land; the defendants say they will appeal and also file a lawsuit against the company.

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Chinese tech giant Tencent is creating a “smart city” that utilises technology to put people and the environment first, a model that could be applied to other urban developments after the coronavirus, the project’s architect said on Wednesday.

Net City will be a 2 million square metre (21.5 million square feet) neighbourhood in the southeastern city of Shenzhen, comprising Tencent offices and residences for its employees, as well as public amenities such as parks and a waterfront area.

Like different land management systems across the world, land management systems varied in different territories.