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The fragmentation of land tenure systems in Cambodia: peasants and the formalization of land rights
In Cambodia, land and natural resources occupy a central place in the production systems of peasants who represent about 80 percent of the country’s population. The development and governance of socio-ecological systems trigger considerable economic, social and environmental issues that need to be addressed urgently given the profound nature of the transformations at play in these systems across Cambodia.
Customary Land Ownership and Gender Disparity. Evidence from the Wa Municipality of Ghana
Studies draw attention to gender inequalities in land tenure. While some insist that gender inequalities in land tenure exists others do not. This paper discusses a study that examined gender issues in customary land ownership in the Wa Municipality. It sought to understand and find ways of bridging the gender gaps, if any. A survey covering 151 respondents comprising Chiefs, Tendamba, women and family heads was undertaken. The research revealed significant disparities between men and women regarding access to and ownership of land.
Africa's Land Rush: Rural Livelihoods and Agrarian Change
Africa has been at the centre of a "land grab" in recent years, with investors lured by projections of rising food prices, growing demand for "green" energy, and cheap land and water rights. But such land is often also used or claimed through custom by communities. What does this mean for Africa? In what ways are rural people's lives and livelihoods being transformed as a result? And who will control its land and agricultural futures?
The Great Timber Heist: The Logging Industry in Papua New Guinea
The Great Timber Heist: The Logging Industry in Papua New Guinea, exposes massive tax evasion and financial misreporting by foreign logging companies, allegedly resulting in nonpayment of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.
Worked to Debt: Over-Indebtedness in Cambodia's Garment Sector
Garment workers in Cambodia have been devastated by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Years of chronically low pay in the sector have forced workers to rely on debt – most of which is provided by microfinance institutions (MFIs) and collateralised by borrowers’ land titles – to meet their basic needs. Hundreds of thousands of heavily indebted workers are now out of work, after hundreds of factories suspended their operations, putting them at risk of land loss and other human rights abuses.
EVICTION AND RELOCATION
Eviction and relocation are longstanding issues that have had severe consequences for poor communities in Phnom Penh. The right to housing is a fundamental human right, and one that is often ignored throughout the eviction and relocation process. Since the 1980s, Phnom Penh has witnessed the eviction and relocation of more than 50 communities, around 9,832 families, more than 40,000 people, most of whom suffered and continue to suffer as a result of the process.
‘Civilizing’ the pastoral frontier: land grabbing, dispossession and coercive agrarian development in Ethiopia
This paper analyzes frontier dynamics of land dispossessions in Ethiopia’s pastoral lowland regions. Through a case study of two sedentarization schemes in South Omo Valley, we illustrate how politics of coercive sedentarization are legitimated in the ‘civilizing’ impetus of ‘improvement schemes’ for ‘backward’ pastoralists. We study sedentarization schemes that are implemented to evict pastoralist communities from grazing land to be appropriated by corporate investors.
Climate Change Adaptation and Conflict Prevention: Innovation and Sustainable Livestock Production in Nigeria and South Africa
The interface between environment and conflict has gained traction in policy and security circles in recent times. Growing scholarly interest on the linkage stems from increasing awareness on the role climate change plays in precipitating resource contestations and conflict over depleting natural resources, particularly in poor regions. Such impacts sometimes result from secondary consequences of environmental decline and resources scarcity which give rise to stiff competitions over access to available resources.
The Role of the Manhyia Palace in Traditional Land Resource Conflict Management in Kumasi, Ghana
This paper explores the role of Manhyia Palace, a traditional political office of the Asantehene (King of Asante Kingdom) in traditional land conflict management in Kumasi. Land conflicts remain a major hindrance to land use and tenure security in most parts of Ghana. Sometimes, the institutions governing land use and management are crucial to the occurrence and adjudication of these disputes. Consequently, statistics at the Accra High Court Registry shows that, land litigation ranks first in the number of cases pending with about 60,000 cases being registered in the superior courts.
Land and Conflict in Papua New Guinea: The Role of Land Mediation
Anecdotal evidence suggests that conflicts over land and extractive resource developments are on the rise across Papua New Guinea. These micro-level conflicts have the potential to scaleup and feed into large-scale armed conflicts—such as those that occurred on Bougainville and in neighbouring Solomon Islands—which require costly external intervention. Against this backdrop, this paper examines PNG’s legally-mandated land mediation system in theory and practice. A number of weaknesses are identified and described; and a case study of an apparently successful “hybrid” approach is discussed.