This background briefing reports on a study of land access for returnees in Rwanda, and the impacts of land access policies in the post-conflict period. It also seeks to understand better the roles international humanitarian agencies and NGOs have played, and how their performance can be improved. It is not suggested that Rwanda is typical, but rather that the centrality of land issues there has thrown up a revealing set of broader questions.

The briefing ends with the following lessons;

[via FAO] This report is based on the proceedings of the Technical Consultation on Gender, Property Rights and Livelihoods in the Era of AIDS, organized by FAO in November 2008. It takes stock of where FAO and its partners are in terms of addressing property rights insecurity and provides a proposed framework through which future action can take place.

"In this paper we present the findings of a qualitative investigation into some dimensions and implications of policy volatility in the realms of natural resource (NR) governance and devolution in contemporary Sudan, with particular reference to Greater Kordofan. Our goal is to map out some aspects of the interplay between volatility, disempowerment processes affecting both state agents and the rural population, and certain problems of governance that are characteristic but not unique to Sudan.

Compreender a questão agrária sob o modo capitalista de produção sempre foi tarefa difícil e complicada. Não porque muitos autores não a tenham praticamente esgotada, mas porque os estudos mais trazem discordâncias do que convergência. Por isso, esta temática cria atritos entre os conservadores e os progressistas, entre os socialistas e os comunistas, e entre todos eles e os anarquistas. Não há possibilidade nenhuma de consenso ou mesmo de aproximações. Sempre haverá pressupostos que se interporão abrindo espaço para a polêmica e discussões.

Floodplain wetlands are the major common pool natural resource in Bangladesh. Mostly men fish, and both men and women collect aquatic plants and snails. Case studies contrast a women-only, men-only, and mixed community based organization (CBO), each of which manages a seasonal floodplain wetland. The two CBOs in which women hold key positions are in Hindu communities where more women use aquatic resources, work for an income, and belong to other local institutions. In the oldest of these CBOs, more women have gradually become office bearers as their recognition in the community has grown.

...This chapter has described aspects of forced migration in Burma that
are under-researched, including the phenomenon of serial displacement,
and has proposed a three-part typology. Many internally displaced
persons and others move repeatedly, sometimes for a combination
of reasons; others have been displaced for some time and have found
at least semi-durable solutions to their plight; many are living mixed
with communities who are not—or have not recently been—displaced.
Forced migrants’ needs can be assessed and appropriate interventions

Internal displacement in Kenya is a complex and multi-faceted social problem that revolves around and reflects unresolved issues of land and property, as well as the struggle for the control of political and economic resources. (...)

Download the report

O Guião de Direitos das Comunidades Locais no Domínio dos Recursos Naturais pretende-se ajudar a obter um melhor conhecimento e compreensão da Constituição da República de Moçambique (no que toca aos recursos naturais) e da legislação do ambiente, terra, florestas e fauna bravia, pescas, minas e água, incluindo os respectivos regulamentos, de forma a contribuir para uma melhor e maior implementação de todos os diversos instrumentos analisados.

This paper represents part of an area of work which analyses access to natural resources in Mozambique. An initial paper examined the extent to which Mozambique’s recent regulatory changes to natural resource access and management have had their intended effects (LSP Working Paper 17: Norfolk, S. (2004). “Examining access to natural resources and linkages to sustainable livelihoods: a case study of Mozambique”). This paper is complemented by LSP Working Paper 28: Tanner et al. (2006).

“Both tragedy and hope are reflected in this fifth annual survey of internal displacement in eastern Burma. The tragedy is that such systematic and widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law continue to occur with national impunity and a largely ineffective international response. Yet it is the ongoing commitment and courage of ethnic community-based organisations to support grassroots coping strategies and document the impacts of conflict, violence and abuse which inspires hope for the future of Burma.

Sub-title is Formalization and its Prospects. Has 3 main chapters: background and context; tenure security for the poor in East Africa – the issues; formalization is not new in East Africa; conclusions and recommendations.

As the rainy season nears its end, SPDC operations in northern Papun District persist. Civilians living in Lu Thaw township in northern Papun District who fled from military attacks on their villages earlier in the current offensive have been joined by those more recently displaced. So long as military forces remain active in the area of their abandoned homes, these villagers are unable to return to tend their crops, collect possessions and reclaim their land.