Indigenous & Community Land Rights

Land Tenure Service (SDAA) of the Rural Development Division embarked on the preparation of a land tenure "Thesaurus", mainly covering the following sectors: legal, institutional, historical, description of space, traditional or written land tenure regulations, topographical, land management, as well as land tenure related information techniques.

The paper focuses on the need to rethink conventional wisdom on land tenure approaches and asks how we can best respond to the land tenure problems. It provides a comparative overview of land tenure systems in the drylands, identifies challenges and trends in land tenure reform projects, and offers ideas for decision-makers

Being one of the oldest civilisations in the world, Ethiopia has an agricultural tradition that is over 2,500 years old. However the land has brought into cultivation at different times in history.

This study documents the plight of the Maasai pastoralists who have moved to Morogoro and Kilosa districts as a result of the recent socio-economic developments and environmental changes in Maasailand. The objective of this study was to analyse how the Maasai migrants have adapted themselves to the new ecological conditions and the impact of such adaptations on their livelihoods.

Readers are invited to submit manuscripts in English, French or Spanish on research and analysis of issues related to land reform, land settlement or cooperatives. Submitted manuscripts are read by members of the Editorial Board and also by outside reviewers. Authors are requested to provide an alphabetical reference list at the end of the article.

This study investigates the political and contentious nature of access to mountain natural resources by poor, disadvantaged and marginalized people, including women and youth, and the policy processes associated with access and development over time. This study has been commissioned by FAO to look at sustainable livelihoods approaches to access to natural resources in mountain areas.

Tem havido várias iniciativas de elaboração de programas de desenvolvimento agrário, a nível internacional e nacional.

Compilation of the information available in the Global IDP
Database of the Norwegian Refugee Council
(as of 13 November, 2003)..."

...‘The population displacement’ is a forgotten problem in Burma. While many people are talking ‘negotiation’ and ‘national reconciliation’, but there is no real solution how to stop the displacement in the country. It is also a serious issue which is necessary to consider.

In a nation of 50 million people there are estimates that up to 1 million are Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). Despite the relatively recent use of the phrase internally displaced people in the context of Burma, there is evidence that the practices that lead to this displacement have been in place for a long period of time.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:-
1. Food Security from a Rights-based Perspective;
2. Local Observations from the States and Divisions
of Eastern Burma:-
2.1 Tenasserim Division
(Committee for Internally Displaced Karen Persons);
2.2 Mon State (Mon Relief and Development Committee);
2.3 Karen State (Karen Human Rights Group)

...In the last four years, the Burmese army based in Mon State has confiscated thousands acres of farmland. The farmers whose land had been confiscated were not given any compensation. They have no opportunity to take legal actions against the army. As a result, many farmers who lost their lands left to Thailand to seek employment.