Skip to main content

page search

Xolobeni activist defies death threats to protect her ancestral land

09 February 2019

Johannesburg - Wherever she goes, Nonhle Mbuthuma expects to feel the cold metal tip of a gun pressed against her head.

The land and environmental rights campaigner knows she could pay the ultimate price in her unwavering fight to protect her unspoilt, ancestral land from mining.

“I don’t feel safe at all,” says Mbuthuma, a founder of the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), of the threats she receives from pro-mining interests.

“My voice is now the loudest. I’m seen as a ‘nuisance’ because I’m protecting my forefathers’ land and my children’s land.”

To fight deforestation first tackle inequality, study says

08 February 2019
  • Agriculture is the leading cause of tropical forest loss in Latin America.
  • New research from the University of Bern says institutions – including environmental policies, laws and regulations – are vital in preventing agricultural expansion, and deforestation.
  • Higher inequality can cause ruptures within communities, and prevent collective action needed to protect the environment.

Married women get nod to inherit their fathers’ land

07 February 2019


A court ruling asserting that married women qualify to inherit properties of their fathers and should not be excluded during distribution has stirred debate between defenders of women’s and men’s rights.


The ruling was made by the Environment and Land Court in Nyeri, and stopped a woman from disinheriting her step-daughters. Justice Lucy Waithaka held that married daughters are also entitled to inherit their father’s estate, contrary to customary law and many traditions in the country.

Palm oil industry expansion spurs Guatemala indigenous migration

07 February 2019

Death of Jakelin Caal in US custody highlights how land conflicts and displacement fuel flight from indigenous villages.


San Antonio Secortez & Guatemala City - The plantations' outer edges begin fewer than 20km from where seven-year-old Jakelin Caal is buried. The deep green rows of oil palm stretch along rural roads in the Alta Verapaz department of Guatemala.


On solid ground: armed with land titles, Tanzania's slum dwellers tackle poverty

06 February 2019

The documents form part of a nationwide programme to secure property rights for home owners in informal settlements


DAR ES SALAAM, Feb 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - For Maria Mkwawa, the Tanzanian government's decision to issue her with a formal land title to her home in January was a pleasant surprise.


"It will help me in many ways," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.


"My family has a bright future."


Perak govt has encroached onto our land, claim Orang Asli

05 February 2019

PETALING JAYA: The Orang Asli community in Grik today claimed that the Perak government has encroached onto their land to carry out logging, barely a month after Putrajaya sued the Kelantan government for a similar alleged infraction.

Villagers from Kampung Tasik Cunex Grik have set up a blockade to prevent lorries from ferrying felled timber from entering the area.

On Feb 1, they lodged a police report on the matter.

They also claim the logging company and the Perak Forestry Department are threatening them.

Conference on Land Policy in Africa, CLPA-2019: “Winning the fight against Corruption in the Land Sector: Sustainable Pathway for Africa’s Transformation”

24 November 2019 - 28 November 2019
Sofitel - Hotel Ivoire
Abidjan
Ivory Coast

Winning the fight against Corruption in the Land Sector: Sustainable Pathway for Africa’s Transformation

The 3rd edition of the Conference on Land Policy in Africa was organised by the African Land Policy Centre which is a joint initiative of the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the African Development Bank.   The Conference is a policy and learning event whose goal is to deepen capacity for land policy in Africa through improved access to knowledge and information on land policy development and implementation.  This Conference follows the second Conference held in November 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that was attended by close to 450 participants. 

African Land Policy Centre
African Development Bank
African Union
Subscribe to