International resources on land rights and tenure

expand all
collapse all

Websites/Multiple Documents

Description: Abstracts accessible. Full texts by (expensive) subscription. Some texts free..."The Journal of Peasant Studies is one of the leading journals in the field of rural development. It was founded on the initiative of Terence J. Byres and its first editors were Byres, Charles Curwen and Teodor Shanin. It provokes and promotes critical thinking about social structures, institutions, actors and processes of change in and in relation to the rural world. It encourages inquiry into how agrarian power relations between classes and other social groups are created, understood, contested and transformed. The Journal pays special attention to questions of ?agency? of marginalized groups in agrarian societies, particularly their autonomy and capacity to interpret – and change – their conditions..."
Source/publisher: "Journal of Peasant Studies"
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-27
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: Welcome to ANGOC?s Knowledge Portal! This is a simple, searchable, and easy-to-use online library of articles, discussion papers, and publications produced by ANGOC and its partners. Here you will find an array of resources on: access to land and agrarian reform; sustainable agriculture and natural resources management; participatory governance; food security; tools; and sustainable development.
Source/publisher: Asian NGO Coalition for agrarian reform and rural development (ANGOC)
Date of entry/update: 2013-10-25
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: NGO working on housing, land and property rights (HLP) http://mebel-it.com.ua/shkafyi/dlya-odezhdyi http://getenergy.ru/?page_id=10
Source/publisher: Displacement Solutions
Date of entry/update: 2009-08-29
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: This website contains mainly news reports about the global rush to buy up or lease farmlands abroad as a strategy to secure basic food supplies or simply for profit. Its purpose is to serve as a resource for those monitoring or researching the issue, particularly social activists, non-government organisations and journalists. The site, known as farmlandgrab.org, is updated daily, with all posts entered according to their original publication date. If you want to track updates in real time, please subscribe to the RSS feed. If you prefer a weekly email, with the titles of all materials posted in the last week, subscribe to the email service. This site was originally set up by GRAIN as a collection of online materials used in the research behind "Seized: The 2008 land grab for food and financial security, a report we issued in October 2008". GRAIN is small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for food sovereignty. We see the current land grab trend as a serious threat to local communities, for reasons outlined in our initial report. farmlandgrab.org is an open project. Although currently maintained by GRAIN, anyone can join in posting materials or developing the site further. Please feel free to upload your own contributions. (Only the lightest editorial oversight will apply. Postings considered off-topic or other are available here.) Or use the ?comments? box under any post to speak up. Just be aware that this site is strictly educational and non-commercial. And if you would like to get more directly involved, please send an email to [email protected]. If you find this website useful, please consider helping us cover the costs of the work that goes into it. You can do this by going to GRAIN?s website and making a donation, no matter how small. We really appreciate the support, and are glad if people who get something out of it can also help participate in what it takes to produce and improve outputs like farmlandgrab.org. If you would like to help out, please click here. Thanks in advance!
Source/publisher: Farmlandgrab.org
Date of entry/update: 2012-10-14
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: A video recording of a whole-day conference held on 18 June 2015. The page begins with text presentations. For the video recordings of the event, scroll down to Webcasts....."Co-Organized by RRI and IUCN, in partnership with the Embassy of France in Washington, DC... Recent years have seen increased global attention and commitment to forest landscape restoration (FLR) as a strategy to mitigate climate change, enhance ecological services, and create new economic opportunities in rural areas. Initiatives such as the Bonn Challenge, calling for the restoration of 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded lands by 2020, and forest restoration commitments within the New York Declaration on Forests demonstrate the significant global momentum behind forest restoration as a ?nature-based” solution. Some countries have made FLR a major component of their green growth strategies, indicating the potential of these efforts to garner significant economic benefits beyond climate mitigation. Increasingly, experience and evidence show that forest governance and tenure reforms supporting the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples are key factors in the success of forest restoration initiatives. Recognizing rights of indigenous peoples and local communities to forests creates incentives for long-term investments in forest restoration and management, enables communities to share in benefits generated from restoration activities, and provides the basis for forest-based enterprises and rural economic growth. Secure tenure is also necessary to unlock locally-driven solutions and ensure that forest restoration initiatives do not contribute to ?land grabbing” and increased conflict over land use in forest areas. As forest restoration initiatives scale up around the world ? an area the size of France has been restored in the last three years ? it is especially important to highlight the challenges and opportunities of advancing forest restoration in a socially inclusive manner, respecting and promoting tenure rights and ensuring that local communities join in the design and benefits of restoration initiatives. Gathering prominent national and international decision makers, experts and key representatives of indigenous peoples, local communities, governments, and civil society organizations, this Dialogue built a common understanding of the links among forest tenure, restoration and green growth, and share lessons from local experience on ways to strengthen these links. It also identified policy opportunities and distilled key messages to inform relevant policy discussions including the UNFCCC Conference of Parties meeting in Paris later in the year, the various REDD+ initiatives, as well as the Green Climate Fund."
Source/publisher: Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI)
2015-06-18
Date of entry/update: 2015-08-06
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: A site with a large number of links to resources, including the papers of the 2011 International Conference on Global Land Grabbing..."FAC has been exploring what needs to be done to get different forms of agriculture – food/cash crops, livestock/pastoralism, smallholdings/contract farming/large holdings – moving on a track of increasing productivity and competitiveness. Through a series of debates, dialogues and conferences – at local, national and global levels – the Consortium has been asking in particular: what are the challenges for institutional design and wider policy processes, from local to global arenas?..."
Source/publisher: Future Agricultures Consortium
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-27
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: "GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and international levels, and fostering new forms of cooperation and alliance-building. Most of our work is oriented towards, and carried out in, Africa, Asia and Latin America..."
Source/publisher: GRAIN
Date of entry/update: 2012-10-14
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: Organised by the Land Deals Politics Initiative (LDPI) in collaboration with the Journal of Peasant Studies and hosted by the Future Agricultures Consortium at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex...Rich site with full texts of more than 170 papers and presentations from the Conference
Source/publisher: Future Agricultures Consortium (FAC)
2011-04-08
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-27
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: Our Mission: A global alliance of civil society and intergovernmental organisations working together to promote secure and equitable access to and control over land for poor women and men through advocacy, dialogue, knowledge sharing and capacity building... Our Vision: Secure and equitable access to and control over land reduces poverty and contributes to identity, dignity and inclusion.
Source/publisher: International Land Coalition
Date of entry/update: 2012-06-14
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: "What rural dwellers in the Global South experience as land grabbing, tends to be seen in the Global North as ?agricultural investment?. The World Bank has been at the forefront of a drive to legitimate these investments, convening to win support for a code of conduct based on Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) principles. Many key civil society groups reject the proposal for a code of conduct, objecting to the top-down process by which it was formulated and arguing that it was more likely to legitimate than prevent land grabbing. Instead, these groups stood behind the FAO?s Voluntary Guidelines for Responsible Land Investment, which had been under development since the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development in 2009 and had proved a much more inclusive process..."
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute
2012-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-05
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: "The leading online destination for information, resources, innovations and networking on land issues. Improving land governance and securing land rights for landless and vulnerable people The Portal allows for the collection, sourcing, and searching of otherwise fragmented and inaccessible data and information on land governance and land use from diverse sources, produced by governments, academia, international organizations, indigenous peoples and NGOs. Besides documenting land rights, the Portal also encourages social information exchange, debate and networking. Learn more about the Land Portal Foundation and our vision, values, activities and theory of change.
Source/publisher: Land Portal
Date of entry/update: 2017-03-13
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: "Landesa works to secure land rights for the world?s poorest people—the 3.4 billion chiefly rural people who live on less than two dollars a day. Landesa partners with developing country governments to design and implement laws, policies, and programs concerning land that provide opportunity, further sustainable economic growth, and promote social justice..."
Source/publisher: Landesa
Date of entry/update: 2012-06-14
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: "Securing land rights for the world?s poorest people"... MISSION: "Landesa works to secure land rights for the world?s poorest people? those 2.47 billion* chiefly rural people who live on less than two dollars a day. Landesa partners with developing country governments to design and implement laws, policies, and programs concerning land that provide opportunity, further economic growth, and promote social justice... VISION: We envision a world free of poverty. We see a future in which all who depend on land for their well-being have secure land rights ? one of the most basic, powerful resources for lifting oneself and one?s family out of poverty... WHY LAND RIGHTS MATTER: Three-quarters of the world?s poorest people live in rural areas where land is a key asset. Of those people, more than a billion lack legal rights over the land they use to survive, causing entrenched poverty cycles to persist over generations. Efforts to help one landless family at a time are important. But Landesa works to advance durable land rights to bring transformational changes on a large scale. Secure land rights help create stable foundation for other important development work ? like literacy, clean water, and nutrition ? to take hold for generations..."
Source/publisher: Landesa.org
Date of entry/update: 2015-06-26
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: Very rich site with many resources..."In a world where billions of people live outside the protection of the law, Namati is building a global movement of grassroots legal advocates who work with communities to advance justice. These advocates are solving problems on the front lines to ensure that people can protect their land, access essential services, and take part in the decisions that govern their lives..."
Source/publisher: Namati
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-07
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: High-quality speakers and panels. From 2009. Some of the meetings have recorded webcasts available online.
Source/publisher: Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI)
Date of entry/update: 2015-08-06
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: A global coalition of 14 Partners and over 120 international, regional and community organizations advancing forest tenure, policy, and market reforms..... Core Beliefs: "Based on our experience, we find that empowerment of rural people and asset-based development are part of a process that is dependent on a set of enabling conditions, including security of tenure to access and use natural resources. As a coalition of diverse and varied organizations, RRI is guided by a set of core beliefs... Rights of Poor Communities Must Be Recognized and Strengthened: We believe it is possible to achieve the seemingly irreconcilable goals of alleviating poverty, conserving forests and encouraging sustained economic growth in forested regions. However, for this to happen, the rights of poor communities to forests and trees, as well as their rights to participate fully in markets and the political processes that regulate forest use, must be recognized and strengthened. ... Progress Requires Supporting and Responding to Local Communities: We believe that progress requires supporting, and responding to, local community organizations and their efforts to advance their own well-being... Now is the Time to Act: We believe that the next few decades are particularly critical. They represent an historic moment where there can be either dramatic gains, or losses, in the lives and well-being of the forest poor, as well as in the conservation and restoration of the world?s threatened forests... Progress Requires Engagement and Constructive Participation by All: It is clear that progress on the necessary tenure and policy reforms requires constructive participation by communities, governments and the private sector, as well as new research and analysis of policy options and new mechanisms to share learning between communities, governments and the private sector... Reforming Forest Tenure and Governance Requires a Focused and Sustained Global Effort: We believe that reforming forest tenure and governance to the scale necessary to achieve either the Millennium Development Goals, or the broader goals of improved well-being, forest conservation and sustained-forest-based economic growth will require a new, clearly focused and sustained global effort by the global development community."
Source/publisher: Rights and Resources Initiative
Date of entry/update: 2012-08-22
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English (French and Spanish also available)
more
Description: About 4,220,000 results (May 2013; 1,650,000 results (December 2014)
Source/publisher: Google.com
Date of entry/update: 2013-05-13
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Description: Link to a section in "Agriculture"
Source/publisher: Online Burma Library
Date of entry/update: 2015-01-24
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
expand all
collapse all

Individual Documents

Description: "Executive summary..... Globally, about 2 billion people live under a customary tenure system, which is a set of rules and norms that govern local peoples’ use of forests, land and other natural resources. This tenure and its accompanying rights are crucial to peoples’ livelihoods, food security and culture, as well as to forest protection, biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. Customary tenure has long been insecure and, in many places, it is under growing pressure. But it is also increasingly recognized through a variety of mechanisms, both formal and informal. This report focuses on the recognition of customary tenure of communities living in forested landscapes in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam and includes a case study from Thailand. The report addresses a variety of questions: What is meant by the “recognition” of customary tenure? What mechanisms can be used to strengthen communities’ tenure security? How have these mechanisms been used in the Mekong region and what are the remaining gaps or challenges? What are the opportunities to better integrate customary tenure in ongoing interventions at the landscape, national and regional levels? And what lessons can be learned for the region and beyond? The report identifies three main pathways into which mechanisms for recognizing customary tenure can be categorized: self-recognition by communities; joint recognition by communities and others; and formal recognition in legal frameworks. It introduces a conceptual framework for assessing these mechanisms, including by analysing them through the lenses of rights, livelihoods, governance, gender equity and social inclusion, customary and traditional practices and dispute resolution. Ten case studies illustrate different approaches, often a mix of formal and informal mechanisms that have been used to recognize customary tenure in five countries of the Mekong region covered in this analysis. The report also provides an updated account of customary tenure recognition within legal frameworks, reflecting recent legal reforms in some countries. The analysis shows that legal frameworks in all five countries have provisions enabling communities to use and manage forests and natural resources. In most cases, however, these provisions do not fully recognize customary rights and practices and come with various responsibilities and conditions. Restrictions still apply to the scope of rights, the geographical area and land-use types and the duration over which rights are granted. The report identifies gaps and inconsistencies in legal frameworks and how they are implemented. It suggests promising avenues for improving the recognition of customary tenure and makes specific recommendations for each of the three pathways of recognition. It also describes some entry points for improving recognition of customary tenure that are relevant to most or all countries in the region. These include improved coordination and information-sharing mechanisms, awareness-raising, capacity-building, legal reforms and improved implementation of legal frameworks, documentation, testing and safeguards..."
Source/publisher: RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests and Mekong Region Land Governance
2022-12-09
Date of entry/update: 2022-12-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 3.42 MB (72 pages) - Original version
more
Sub-title: LAND TENURE IN MEKONG FOREST LANDSCAPES: ADVANCING THE RECOGNITION OF CUSTOMARY RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT PRACTICES
Description: The Mekong Region Land Governance project (MRLG) successfully organized the first Mekong Regional Land Forum in Hanoi in 2016 and co-organized the second with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Bangkok in 2018. The 3rd Mekong Regional Land Forum (hereafter the Forum) took place on 26 and 27 May 2021 and was organized by MRLG, FAO and the Land Portal. The focus of the Forum was on advancing the recognition of customary rights and responsible investment practices in Mekong forest landscapes. Recent global disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the dependence of Mekong region communities on land and forest resources. More widely recognized than ever, secure tenure and access to land and forests are preconditions for the sustainable management of resources. The Forum brought together reform-minded actors within and beyond the region to engage in in-depth, interactive debate on issues that cut to the core of local tenure security and community resource management. Day 1 of the Forum focused on advancing customary and collective forest tenure rights. The first session compared and examined experiences and approaches within national tenure regimes in Mekong countries. The second session situated these experiences within global trends, emphasizing the potential for regional platforms such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to foster more inclusive and grounded policies for the sustainable management of forests – with diverse benefits including securing tenure rights, local livelihoods, gender equity, and contributions to national commitments on biodiversity and climate change. Day 2 of the Forum focused on how to manage and respond to patterns and practices of investment in Mekong forest landscapes, which is a key issue for smallholder tenure security within Mekong countries. The third Forum overview session aimed at demystifying the principles of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) – principles that are designed to protect the rights of com- munities to land and resources and also to protect investments by avoiding land conflicts. The fourth session highlighted the potential effectiveness of tools such as the ASEAN Guidelines for Responsible Agricultural Investment in Food, Agriculture and Forestry (ASEAN-RAI) in steering agribusiness investments in Mekong forest landscapes towards a more sustainable future. Each Forum session was organized in four parts: a) An expert review of the topic, complemented by two case study presentations. b) A panel discussion with experts and representatives from government and civil society, followed by questions from the public to the speakers and panellists. c) In-person and online breakout groups for debate among participants around a specific experience, topic or question. d) A sum-up of key takeaways from the sessions to stimulate further action. The goal of the Forum was to provide a multi-stakeholder platform for cross-country dialogue on major policy reforms and programmatic initiatives in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam relating to land and forest tenure governance. We hope that this summary of the Forum reflects the quality of the presentations and discussions and provides inspiration for the participants to continue pro- moting the land rights of forest communities across the region. We also intend for this summary to provide a comprehensive review of the key messages from the event for those who could not join. Enjoy the reading. Please find key information about the event, online summaries and more on the Land Portal website..."
Source/publisher: Mekong Regional Land Forum 2021
2021-05-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 5.18 MB (66 pages)
more
Sub-title: Towards a future federal democratic system where working people can flourish
Description: "This primer is about ‘the 5Rs’ and land and natural resource politics. The 5Rs is a set of five principles: Recognition, Restitution, Redistribution, Regeneration, and Representation/Resistance. The primer briefly explores the idea of a working people’s program on land and natural resources in Myanmar based on these five principles in the context of a future federal democratic system. Each of these principles alone is supported by international human rights law (links to the most relevant UN documents can be found in Annex 1). But here we outline a working people’s land and natural resource program for deep social change based on the 5Rs taken together. By 'working people' we mean ordinary people who have to work in order to ‘make ends meet’. The work that many people do to survive nowadays involves both waged labor and unwaged labor. A lot of unwaged work that is essential to survival is done at home, such as cooking and cleaning, child raising, health care, and elderly care. It is the kind of work that makes it possible for some members of the household to go outside the home and undertake waged work. In rural villages a lot of household work is related to producing goods for own consumption and for selling -- such as farming, artisanal fishing, animal keeping, and other artisanal and ‘cottage industry’ (like handicraft making). This work often relies on the unwaged labour of household members (including children). Sometimes, and if there is money, a household may hire other villagers or someone from outside the village to help them with some of these labors. Over the past four decades, many important structural changes in the way the economy and governance are organized have occurred all over the world. These processes have not been smooth nor have they unfolded in exactly the same manner everywhere. They have been marked by profound disagree- ment and conflict over the most basic matters in society -- such as who owns what, who does what, who gets what, what should happen to the wealth that is created in a society, and, who gets to decide. Ordinary people have been hugely affected in fundamental ways. There has been an explosion in the number of people who are neither full-time farmer nor full-time waged worker. They struggle to survive and ‘make ends meet’ by piecing together whatever low-paying, part-time jobs they can find wherever it may be. This is a common situation in many countries today: households reducing or minimizing their own consumption and foregoing formal schooling and health care, with some family members coming and going, piecing together different bits of low-waged labor in nearby towns or distant cities or abroad. Those who stay home tend to farms and gardens if they have land, raise animals or make handicrafts to sell, and raise the children and care for the sick and infirm or the elderly who can no longer work. In using the term 'working people' in this primer, we hope to capture this kind of situation and the dynamics that propel so many people into it. In the context of Myanmar and its long history of ethnic conflict, this stress on working people may seem to be missing the mark or leaving out a lot. But bringing into focus working people is not intended to deny or ignore ethnic and other social differences. Rather, it is also and at the same time to make visible what so many people despite other differences have in common -- the struggle to live a life filled with social and economic precarity and hardship and bereft of social insurance or social protections. Ultimately, at the heart of a truly federal democratic system is a difficult balancing act -- a strategic balancing of socioeconomic class issues and social-political identity issues. Both sets of concerns are complex on their own. Yet both are important. All over the world today (not just in Myanmar), there is deep injustice and rightful struggle around both. Staggering economic inequalities are fueling working people’s struggles for egalitarian distribution of wealth. Non-recognition or mis-recognition of certain ethnic, religious and sexual groups and of racial and gender differences is fueling ‘identity’-framed struggles for recognition. The two kinds of struggle often seem opposed to each other; we may feel pressure to choose between them. But the 5Rs starts from the belief that nei- ther struggle alone is sufficient for achieving deep social change. Advocating only for working people’s economic class interests without regard to ethnic identity concerns or advocating only for ethnic identity recognition without regard for the class position of working people within ethnic communities -- each ignores strategic issues. Class and ethnicity (along with other aspects of identity) are both integral parts of a single pillar; one without the other cannot constitute a pillar. Both types of injustice shape exploitation and subordination; and both types of struggles have emancipatory aspects. The 5R approach assumes that it is possible and necessary to integrate the emancipatory aspects of both struggles into a single frame. If we don’t, we risk impeding construction of a future federal democracy with equal rights and opportunities for all. Applying the five principles to the ‘land problem’ is necessary to defend against elitist efforts to thwart democratization of access and control of land and related natural resources. Even well-intentioned responses to Myanmar’s land problem can be undermined if they approach the problem with only one or two of the 5 Rs, or any combination less than all 5 Rs. It would be like trying to make a whole puzzle with a hundred pieces of the same shape. Deliberately linking all 5Rs together has the best chance of handling the complexities of the land problem in Myanmar today. It is designed to detect and address the multidimensional character of land-based injustice. Failure to do so will contribute to the process of loss of land and of the right to land for millions of working people all across Myanmar. It risks to exacerbate old and create new grievances, especially among ethnic nationality communities practicing customary tenure systems, thereby further contributing to and prolonging ethnic conflict and war. The stakes are thus very high. Rich country, poor people -- that is what Myanmar has been. It is rich in natural resources, but the proceeds from access to these resources remain in the hands of a very few -- most of whom are military or military-connected. This must change. Natural resources are essential for human life and the health of the planetary ecosystem. For decades, rural working people across Myanmar have been losing access to land and natural resources because of various processes of enclosure and dispossession -- commonly called ‘land grabbing’ -- and because of the socially differentiating currents of free market relations in the rural areas. This trend encompasses aquatic resources, forest resources, and land resources. Enclosures and dispossession have been facilitated by many laws that span diverse policy areas and ministries -- economic, investment, mining, forest, fisheries, agriculture, environment, conservation, land and natural resources. Shrinking access to land for working people is especially alarming because land is an entry point for accessing forest and aquatic resources too, and because working people need a range of access to an array of natural resources for their economic production and social reproduction activities. Yet people are resisting land grabbing. Civil society organizations (CSOs) across the country have studied and rejected laws and policies that facilitate dispossession and displacement. For example, the nationwide network called Land In Our Hands (LIOH or Doe Myay) has produced numerous analyses of existing laws and policies -- such as the government’s National Land Use Policy (2014 Draft); the 2012 Farmland Law and the amendments to this law proposed in 2017. In 2018, LIOH spearheaded a nationwide grassroots campaign against the government’s Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law. More recently, in defense of customary land systems and practices including shifting cultivation, LIOH has shown how existing laws undermine these and offered recommendations on what is needed to support and promote them instead. CSOs have formulated pro-people alternatives that not only reflect realities and customs on the ground, but also internationally respected principles that they felt are relevant for them. In one notable example, CSOs from numerous ethnic groups across Shan State joined forces to research and document customary land systems and eventually to produce a joint report with their findings and recommendations. Similarly, a number of ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) have taken part in developing land policies that value inclusion, equity and an ecologically healthy future for all. One CSO network -- the Burma Environmental Working Group (BEWG) -- developed a ‘roadmap for resource federalism’. These are all building blocks for a comprehensive national 5R program. Myanmar is now at a new crossroads. The February 2021 coup has made the need to forge new social foundations for a future multi-ethnic federal democratic system of government painfully clear. Now is the time to go deeper into imagining the substantive and inclusive agenda of that future -- e.g., providing deeper substance to a federal democratic system with a clear pro- working people agenda that is gender- and generation-sensitive. We assume that a core value of any positive future would be recognition that each and every person -- regardless of any differences between us -- is born with equal dignity and equal right to access the material, ecological, social and political conditions needed to live a flourishing life. Diverse kinds of access to an array of land and natural resources is part of what rural working people need to flourish. A 5R land and natural resource program can inspire different people affected differently by land and natural resource injustices to find common cause, and develop alternative land and natural resource policies that protect, support and promote the rights and needs of all the people of Myanmar..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute ( Amsterdam)
2021-07-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 2.18 MB (48 pages)
more
Description: "Overview: The poor, ethnic minorities and women in particular suffer marginalisation that is exacerbated by circumscribed access to land and insecurity of tenure. Ethnic minority land use practices, notably shifting cultivation, are criminalised, while citizenship issues and outright discrimination and ethnic chauvinism have excluded or displaced minorities from access to resources as majority farmers have increasingly availed themselves of land and other resources since upland margins have become more accessible. In some cases, security-oriented programs have distanced ethnic minority communities from land and other resources that are the basis of their livelihoods. Women have seen customary rights in land weakened by formalisation that privileges officially designated heads of households, who are usually male. Decisions and meetings often mainly involve men, and land use planning can neglect land-based resources that are primarily in women's work domains.....Key trends and dynamics: The concept of marginalisation brings together other key themes to specify the negative impacts of land relations on certain groups of people around the Mekong region. The term ‘marginalised’ can be defined as representing the treatment of a person or a group as insignificant or peripheral. There are three important relations to highlight here. Firstly, marginalisation is a process rather than an antecedent condition. Secondly, one becomes marginalised from something, and in this case marginalisation primarily involves access to, control of, or use of land. Thirdly, the marginalised are placed in relation to others who do not suffer the same tribulations. For this latter point, it is possible to apply multiple scales, such as highlighting individuals within a household or a community, or a significant social sub-group or ethnic minority within a particular nation-state. It could be argued that the Mekong region itself is marginalised within global trade and power relations, caught up in power struggles between large capitalist forces such as the USA and China. However, the larger the scale of reference, the greater the risk that inequalities within go unqualified. Although processes of marginalisation take place in specific localised ways, it is important to reflect on the bigger picture of economic transformation in the Mekong region. At one level, it is important to take a historical perspective in order to view the marginalising effect of land policies over the long term. This includes colonial-era law drafted in support of plantation economies, certain aspects of which are retained in present-day statutory law. Moving towards recent economic policy, when considering access to and control of land for smallholders and the rural poor, the marketisation of agriculture, with the introduction of ‘boom crops’ has a strong impact when unaccompanied by propoor policies (Lamb et al. 2015). Neoliberalism encourages well-connected national elites to take control of markets and resources that bolsters their land-based wealth at the expense of the poor (Springer 2011). This is clearly seen in the advent of crony capitalism in Myanmar (Global Witness 2015; Woods 2011). A point of focus for research on marginalising practices highlights large-scale land investments that are discriminatory to local land users, particularly those who make a living outside of statesupported market arenas that have become the priority of developmentalist regimes. In Cambodia, Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) have led to the clearing of farmland and forest under use by indigenous peoples, undermining community resource management practices (Bues 2011). They have also affected the ability of indigenous groups to register themselves under collective land titling, while most concession labour is given to in-migrants (Prachvuthy 2011). Similarly, concessions in Lao PDR have enclosed space, shutting it off to communities who were previously reliant on variety of resources in the designated zone (Baird 2011). In Myanmar, Gittleman and Brown (2014) assert that nearly 1,000 families will be displaced to make way for Thilawa Special Economic Zone, and that the process of this relocation fails to meet international guidelines. There are certain social sub-groups who can be highlighted as being on the receiving end of marginalising processes. However, it is important to clarify that each sub-group should not be assumed to carry a singular identity, and that disparity will be found within. Firstly, large-scale land development can marginalise smallholders who already may be poorly served by statutory law on tenure security. Drbohlav and Hejkrlik (2018) highlight a case from Cambodia where 1,400 fishing families were relocated to make way for a land concession in the Botum Sakor National Park. The study shows that the livelihoods of those relocated has worsened, with employment issues, poor infrastructure at the relocation site, and issues over access to health and education services. Nguyen, Westen and Zoomers (2014) show how the acquisition of land for infrastructure development in peri-urban areas of central Vietnam takes little account of the wishes of local farming households whose land is taken. Ethnic minorities frequently suffer from the exploitation of land for new investment ventures. For example, there is evidence of multiple land grabs from the Ta’ang minority in Shan State, Myanmar, in order to serve military needs such as housing, training, and income generation through hydropower, oil and gas pipelines (Ta’ang Student and Youth Organization 2011). There is much attention brought to the plight of indigenous communities in Ratanakiri, Cambodia, who have lost their land to rubber plantations operated by the Vietnamese company HAGL (Work 2016). In the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, indigenous sea nomads in Southern Thailand have suffered from land dispossession to make way for tourism developments (Neef et al. 2018). However, as a counterpoint Mellac (2011) notes that customary practices for Tai-speaking groups in Northern Vietnam have endured during periods of collectivisation and then individualised marketdriven land use rights. In this way, ethnic groups do display the solidarity and power to ride out the potential negative impacts from outside pressures. Despite legal declarations of equality, patriarchal practices in Mekong countries favour men who monopolise control of land as heads of households (see also the ‘Gender and land’ key theme for further details). They frequently maintain control of land through titling programmes. In Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia, women and girls are becoming marginalised as a consequence of emerging capitalist relations, with reduced autonomy and agency including the recognition of their land rights (Mi Young Park and Maffii 2017). However, there are actions to let women’s voices be heard. In Myanmar, a coalition of over 100 organisations lobbied for the inclusion of women in discussions over National Land Use Policy (NLUP) and helped bring them to the table in the peace process (Faxon 2017; Faxon, Furlong, and Phyu 2015). The urban poor also suffer from insecure land tenure while residing in informal housing, leaving them open to the threat of forced eviction (Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee 2009; Chi Mgbako et al. 2010). Bugalski and Pred (2010) note how a land titling programme in Phnom Penh excluded certain informal communities, thereby exacerbating inequalities (see key theme on ‘Urban land governance’ for further information). There are various ways in which marginalisation is felt by affected communities. Most clearly in relation to land is dispossession (see key theme on ‘Land dispossession/land grabbing’). Engvall and Kokko (2007) make a statistical link between land tenure security and poverty in Cambodia, where a proposed land reform package could result in a 16% fall in poverty incidence for landowning rural households and a 30% fall for the landless. A report from Myanmar looks at rural debt, and how its emergence through entry into marketised agriculture can result in distress sales of land (Kloeppinger-todd and Sandar 2013). Marginalisation from access to land can also impact upon food security for smallholder farmers, where the emergence of cash cropping takes precedence over production for local consumption (Land Core Group 2010; Rammohan and Pritchard 2014). A further impact is cultural, particularly considering that the capitalisation of land frequently ignores other important meanings to its users. By isolating access, the very cultural identity of users can be threatened, where land operates as a key identifier..."
Source/publisher: Mekong Land Research Forum
2021-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 337.1 KB
more
Topic: Rural working people; national land network; movement building; Land in Our Hands; Myanmar; right to land; political transition
Topic: Rural working people; national land network; movement building; Land in Our Hands; Myanmar; right to land; political transition
Description: "ABSTRACT: The transition from military dictatorship to an electoral regime has opened limited political spaces for social activism in Myanmar. Some have called the unfolding situation a ‘transition to democracy’. But this is far from the reality for some, if not most, of Myanmar’s ‘rural working people’. This paper explores the trajectory of the national land network called Land in Our Hands (LIOH or Doe Myay), which came into formal existence in 2014. This paper attempts to lay out a more comprehensive account of the historical legacies and internal and external pressures that have been shaping LIOH as a movement building initiative, and in relation to three key dimensions: its identity politics; its ideology and class base; and its political work.....Introduction: The transition from military dictatorship to an electoral regime has opened limited political spaces for social activism in Myanmar. Today’s electoral regime is still a largely elite-controlled political situation, with relatively more competitive elections but under unevenly restrictive conditions, including continued restricted access to basic democratic rights for much of the population especially outside the main urban areas. This goes hand in hand with a centrally controlled economic opening and continuing armed conflict in parts of the country. While the political space (such as it is) may be new, social movement in Myanmar is not. Social movements of different forms and scales continued to exist occupying non-traditional political spaces, especially local spaces, throughout the dark ages of military rule beginning from 1962. In the remote ethnic states, rural villagers have been using everyday forms of resistance such as ‘hiding resources, ignoring orders, packing road embankments with sticks during forced labour, informing human rights groups but not the military’ in order to protect their territories and communities (Malseed 2009, 380), which as a whole formed a grassroots movement (Malseed 2008). Some movements such as the Ba Ka Tha (All Burma Federation of Student Union) went underground after the brutal crackdown of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising to continue training student activists in leftwing political ideology. Others, including students and ethnic-based democracy movements, transformed into armed struggles along the Chinese, Thai and Indian borders. Diaspora-driven human rights coalitions sprang up in Western countries, exposing violations and atrocities committed by the military regime and lobbying for support for the democratic forces working inside and outside the country. Some have called the unfolding situation a ‘transition to democracy’ (Sein 2017). But this is far from the reality for some, if not most, of Myanmar’s ‘rural working people’. In this paper, we draw on Shivji’s (2017) conception of ‘working people’ to encompass a diverse constituency of people currently struggling to reproduce themselves and their households under contemporary political-economic conditions in Myanmar..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: The Journal of Peasant Studies via Routledge (London)
2021-02-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 2.22 MB
more
Description: "Nearly 200 villagers in the copper mining area of northwestern Myanmar’s Sagaing region staged a protest on Monday against a Chinese-backed company that they claim has not paid them reasonable compensation after seizing their farmland for a mining project, locals said. Residents of Kankone village in Salingyi township marched from their community to the entrance of a compound owned by Myanmar Yang Tse Copper Ltd. and demanded payment for more than 2,000 acres of land and the right to use water from the Chindwin River, they said. The residents say the company has confiscated farmland near two mountains for its Sabetaung and Kyisintaung (S&K) mining operations and has restricted public access to the Chindwin River since the military-backed government under former president Thein Sein (2011-2015). “We have been promised that we would receive compensation for the farmland since 2015,” said protest organizer Tint Aung Soe. “The company also issued an official notice,” he said. “They have agreed to pay compensation, and the government said it is ready to help. If they don’t give us the compensation as they have stated, we will keep holding protests across the region.” Though the company has agreed to pay local residents, it is not willing to compensate them at the rate they demand, which has delayed the resolution of the issue, he said..."
Source/publisher: RFA (USA)
2019-12-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description: "Rakhine State, historically known as Arakan, represents the post-colonial failures of Myanmar in microcosm: ethnic conflict, political impasse, militarisation, economic neglect and the marginalisation of local peoples. During the past decade, many of these challenges have gathered a new intensity, accentuating a Buddhist-Muslim divide and resulting in one of the greatest refugee crises in the modern world. A land of undoubted human and natural resource potential, Rakhine State has become one of the poorest territories in the country today. The current crisis is often characterised as a “Buddhist Rakhine” versus “Muslim Rohingya” struggle for political rights and ethnic identity. But the challenges of achieving democracy, equality and the right of self-determination have always been more complex and nuanced than this. Arakan’s vibrant history reflects its frontline position on a cultural and geo-political crossroads in Asia. Taking a narrative approach, this report seeks to analyse the challenges facing Rakhine State and its peoples during a critical time of transition from military rule. As always in Myanmar, a balanced understanding of local societies and perspectives is essential in a territory that reflects different ethnic, religious and political viewpoints. In the case of Rakhine State, the social and political challenges facing the peoples have been little documented or understood. Decades of civil war and international isolation have resulted in a dearth of reporting on the ethnic conflicts and governmental failures that have had a devastating impact on the ground. Equally resonant, the instabilities in Arakan cannot be separated from the challenges of peace and inclusion for all peoples and faiths in the sub-Asian region..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI) ( Netherlands)
2019-12-18
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 7.9 MB 5.54 MB
more
Description: "DS has just published a major 184-page legal report on the land grabbing in Myanmar and how these processes constitute internationally wrongful acts. The report includes a 21-step legal roadmap to end land grabbing once and for in Myanmar, a nation that is one of the worst in the world in Although the general power of States to compulsorily acquire, expropriate or otherwise confiscate or ‘grab’ land, homes and properties is legislatively recognised in virtually all national legal systems, to be lawful these processes generally carry with them five fundamental pre-conditions. Namely, when housing, land or property rights are revoked or limited through these processes, this can only be carried out when the taking concerned is: 1) subject to law and due process; 2) subject to the general principles of international law; 3) in the interest of society and not for the benefit of another private party; 4) proportionate, reasonable and subject to a fair balance test between the cost and the aim sought; and 5) subject to the provision of just and satisfactory compensation..."
Source/publisher: "Displacement Solutions" (Switzerland) via Reliefweb
2019-10-21
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 1.59 MB (184 pages)
more
Description: "The survival of people and wildlife depends on the health of the land. The economic prosperity of a country is linked to the richness of its resources. But, our demand for these is destroying the land and all it harbours. Our consumption of the earth's natural reserves has doubled in the last 30 years. Now, a third of the planet's land is severely degraded. Each year, we lose 15 billion trees and 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil. And at least 10,000 species go extinct every year. The land we live on is being strained to breaking point. Restoration and conservation are key to its survival. earthrise travels to the dry forests of Southern Ecuador and the ancestral lands of the indigenous peoples in Western Australia to learn how these communities are working to protect the unique ecosystems currently at risk due to natural and man-made disasters. Saving Ecuador's Cerro Blanco On the outskirts of Ecuador's port city of Guayaquil lies the Cerro Blanco reserve; one of the last remaining dry forests in the country. Dry forests are named as such due to the ability of the vegetation to survive long periods without rain using natural water conservation methods. Cerro Blanco is threatened by a host of natural causes and human activity, including an expanding city that means people who cannot afford to live centrally are edging closer to the forest. earthrise speaks to the reserve's chief ranger, Eleutario de la Cruz about the increasing issues related to an ever-encroaching city population plus the dangers of land trafficking, illegal logging and hunting. We also speak to engineer Topher White who has developed a surveillance system made from recycled technology that could help protect the forest and its endangered wildlife. Juliana Schatz learns more about the Rainforest Connection as a means to end the threat to one of Ecuador's last survivng dry forests. Burning to save Australia's Western Desert The Martu are the indigenous peoples of Australia's Western Desert cultural bloc. The traditional owners of those lands, the Martu practiced small-scale "land burning" for tens of thousands of years. The burning would encourage a regrowth of diverse vegetation across the landscape that would then make large-scale bushfires less likely to occur. However, as the last of the Martu were cleared off their lands by the Europeans in the 1960s, wildfires have once again devastated the landscape with as many as 18 animal species disappearing from the area since then. In 2002, the Martu were once again granted native title to their land, bringing back their ancient practice and an unparalleled knowledge of the land at risk of further damage. Rachael Hocking travels to the Western Desert to spend time with a group of Martu rangers on a fire programme set to stop the wildfires before they take hold. .."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2017-06-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Sub-title: Far from the bright lights of Yangon and Mandalay, a Bagan local has managed to build up a business empire – with help from some friends in high places, according to residents.
Description: "FOR MORE than 40 years, U Nyunt Lu has been a caretaker at Gubyaukgyi Pagoda, an Indian-influenced temple built in the 12th century, providing security and ensuring precious wall paintings are not damaged. To carry out his duties, Nyunt Lu has lived in a small house beside the pagoda compound since 1988. But now he faces eviction at the end of October, because the house is on land that has been claimed by one of the area’s most prominent and influential businesspeople, U Myo Min Oo. Nyunt Lu’s house is on a plot between the pagoda compound in Wetkyi-In village, northeast of Old Bagan, and the boundary of Royal House Hotel, one of four at Bagan owned by Myo Min Oo, who has extensive business interests in the area. Nyunt Lu said he believes it was built on land donated to the pagoda by Daw Khin Mar Kyi, a resident of nearby Nyaung-U (Frontier was unable to contact Khin Mar Kyi). “I have lived here since 1988 when the land was owned by someone I did not know, but now the Settlement and Land Records Department says the land is owned by Myo Min Oo,” Nyunt Lu told Frontier at his house. He said his eviction is being supported by the Archaeology Department, which wants him to relocate to another house about 600 metres from Gubyaukgyi Pagoda. The Archaeology Department and Myo Min Oo disapproved of him discussing his predicament with visitors, he added. U Aung Aung Kyaw, director of the Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library in Bagan, told Frontier that there was no record of such a donation and the land is owned by Myo Min Oo. “That’s why the pagoda caretaker [Nyunt Lu] has to relocate,” he said. Several sources said the pagoda compound contained two ancient stupas, but Myo Min Oo allowed no one to enter except guests at the hotel. According to Nyunt Lu, he has instructed his staff to initiate legal action for trespassing against anyone, including Archaeology Department officials, if they enter the hotel without permission. Gubyaukgyi Pagoda is in the Ancient Monument Zone, where development is prohibited under a management plan prepared by Myanmar as part of its application for Bagan to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar"
2019-09-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description: "A 5,000-acre tract of farmland confiscated by the government has sat unused in Tanintharyi Region for almost 15 years. More than 1,000 farmers were evicted from the land in 2004 to make room for urban development, but although the project was never completed, local farmers are still not allowed to return to their fields. This week Doh Athan partners with Dawei Watch to report on an old battle to win back the confiscated land..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" via Dohathan
2019-09-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Sub-title: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) watchdog unit visited Myanmar in June to investigate the Tanintharyi conservation project, which could threaten the land and forest rights of people in the area.
Description: "The Social and Environmental Compliance Unit (SECU) met with 150 people from indigenous Karen villages to hear their concerns. The Conservation Alliance Tanawthari, a coalition of Karen community organisations for the protection of the rights of communities in Tanintharyi, filed a complaint with the SECU in August 2018 to investigate and suspend the US$21 million “Ridge to Reef project”. After finding the complaint unfounded, the unit conducted the first of two visits to local communities from July 18-20. UNDP Myanmar reported that the project will be suspended until the investigation is complete. “We understand there are about 224 villages in the project area, including 73 indigenous Karen villages. This project threatens the land and forest rights of thousands of indigenous people, and the rights of refugees to return to their land in the project area, and may undermine peace and stability in the region,” said Saw San Ngwe, director of Southern Youth, a member of the coalition. Villagers told the visiting delegation that the government cannot be trusted because its “protected areas” in the region have deprived forest-dependent people of their livelihoods and way of life. Moreover, they said, they were never consulted about the project. Instead of conserving the forest, the government has allowed rampant logging and granted large concessions to businesses, including palm oil plantation companies, they said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" via United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
2019-08-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description: "Ecopoint has teamed up with the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP), and John D. Liu, Founder & Director of EEMP, is proud to bring you this film. In 2005, the Chinese government, in cooperation with the World Bank, completed the world's largest watershed restoration on the upper banks of the Yellow River. Woefully under-publicized, the $500 million enterprise transformed an area of 35,000 square kilometers on the Loess Plateau — roughly the area of Belgium — from dusty wasteland to a verdant agricultural center..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: EcopointAsia TV, World Bank Group
2012-06-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description: A Comparative Study of Land Rights Systems in Southeast Asia and the Potential of National and International Legal Frameworks and Guidelines....."Land rights systems in Southeast Asia are in constant flux; they respond to various socioeconomic and political pressures and to changes in statutory and customary law. Over the last decade, Southeast Asia has become one of the hotspots of the global land grab phenomenon, accounting for about 30 percent of transnational land grabs globally. Land grabs by domestic urban elites, the military or government actors are also common in many Southeast Asian countries. Large-scale land grabs are facilitated by a coalition of investor-friendly host governments, local political and economic elites and a variety of players from the ?Global North?, including multinational corporations, international development banks, commercial financial institutions and bilateral donors and development agencies. Weakly recognized customary rights in combination with state ownership of large portions of the national territory (e .g . forestland in Indonesia, Myanmar, Lao PDR and Cambodia, public domain land in the Philippines) allow the respective governments to categorize the people living on these lands as ?illegal occupants?..."
Creator/author: Professor Andreas Neef
Source/publisher: Brot für die Welt
2016-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2017-10-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Description: No such thing as a ?clean concession” or ?idle land”...Insecure tenure represents a material financial and reputational risk....Case analysis reveals drivers of tenure- related conflict....Primary cause of dispute in agricultural investment is rarely compensation... IAN Risk... IAN Diligence...The Tenure Facility...11 Links to Materials Disputes around agricultural investments tend to start early in project life...Implications for Shaping Effective Due Diligence.
Creator/author: Bryson Ogden
Source/publisher: Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI)
2016-06-14
Date of entry/update: 2016-07-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.58 MB
more
Description: "... Karenni people celebrated three kinds of pole festivals in a year. The first one is called Tya-Ee-Lu-Boe-Plya. During this festival, the people went to their paddy fields, vegetable farms, picked the premature fruits and brought it to the Ee-Lu-pole. They put the premature fruits on altar, thank god and then pray for good fruits and good harvest. The second one called Tya-Ee-Lu-Phu-Seh. In this festival they pray god to bless the teenagers with good conducts, and good healths. The third one is Tya-Ee-Lu-Du. The festival concerned to everyone. Everyone can pray the god for himself and his family. Outwardly, it appeared to other people that they are worshiping spirits because they are feeding spirits. Karenni people believe that the god had sent the various kinds of sprits in to the world to harm the human beings. In the festival, they only feed the spirits and ask its not to herm them. The essence of the festival is to remember the gratitude of the goddess of creation, and to thank the eternal god who is controlling thiws world and then to pray the god for good future..."
Source/publisher: Khai Htoe Boe Association, Ee-Lu-Phu Committee
2002-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 4.96 MB 22.85 MB
more
Description: "... This piece of community initiated action research reveals a number of lessons we can learn. The authors try to reflect the challenges of and opportunities for community based natural resources management in a seemingly forgotten Karen controlled area of southern Myanmar. The paper examines a number of case studies including the construction of a local water supply system, the establishment of fish conservation zones and community-driven forest conservation. An evolutionary development of community based networks such as CSLD (Community Sustainable Livelihood and Development), IRIP-NET (Tenasserim River and Indigenous People Network) and RKIP (Rays of Kamoethway Indigenous People and Nature) and their collaborative action to address emerging Natural Resources Management issues in their land are well illustrated in the paper..."
Source/publisher: Tenasserim River & Indigenous People Networks (TRIP NET), Rays of Kamoethway Indigenous People and Nature (RKIPN)
2016-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 3.13 MB
more
Description: "... Namati offers this brief in the hope that Myanmar?s national reforms and the implementation of the country?s new National Land Use Policy can grow from the lived experience of ordinary Myanmar citizens. Namati and our partners assist farmers in Myanmar to claim their land rights through a community paralegal approach. Community paralegals are trained in relevant laws, community education, negotiation, and mediation skills to work with farmers to resolve a variety of land rights issues. Dozens of data points are documented as part of each case resolution process that illustrate how the legal framework functions in practice. It is this casework data that underpins this policy brief. Focus groups and interviews with paralegals and clients further provide qualitative context and insights. Namati recommends actions the Myanmar government can take as part of implementing its new National Land Use Policy to help increase women?s engagement in land use management and access to tenure rights. This briefing also provides recommendations for civil society organizations interested in the community paralegal model, and, in particular, in increasing the number of women paralegals in the country as a means of women?s empowerment..."
Source/publisher: NAMATI
2016-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 481.24 KB
more
Description: Paper prepared for presentation at the 2016 WORLD BANK CONFERENCE ON LAND AND POVERTY, The World Bank - Washington DC, March 14-18, 2016 The paper is based on the study on customary tenure for LCG in Chin and Shan States 2013-2015 in brief periods. The relevance of the topic was grounded in a wish to 1) identify statutory means to protect the livelihood of ethnic upland communities in Myanmar from losing, in particular, their shifting cultivation fallow land to agribusiness concessions; 2) based on results from fieldwork, to guide the Government towards recognizing customary (communal) tenure in the drafting of the National Land Use Policy (NLUP) with the ultimate aim of recommending procedures for customary (communal) land registration in a future new Land Law and associated Rules 3); to define how to recognize boundaries of shifting cultivation parcels in a customary system of fair but variable annual local land sharing. "... In Myanmar land issues are of paramount importance after years of land grabbing by the military and business cronies. A rapid anthropological study 2013-14 in Chin and Shan State for the Land Core Group was carried out to inform the post 2011 government. The study recorded the internal rules of customary communal tenure and identified possible statutory means of protecting untitled land, including fallows, against alienation. The Land Core Group guided the Government Committee during 2014-15 to recognize customary tenure in drafting of the National Land Use Policy, not yet endorsed. The study recommended conversion of the community into a legal entity/organization registering all its agricultural land, while keeping separate and intact its customary internal rules. The study construed a reading of existing regulatory framework in support. The study proved, though, that precise mapping of large tracts of shifting cultivation land is difficult due to annual diversity of fuzzy boundaries... Key Words: land rights, communal tenure, mapping, land registration, indigenous peoples..."
Creator/author: Kirsten Ewers Andersen
Source/publisher: The World Bank
2016-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.41 MB
more
Description: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: "In recent years, many governments globally have formally recognized community land and natural resource tenure, either based on existing customary practices or more recently established land governance arrangements.1 These tenure arrangements have been called by a variety of names, such as community, customary, communal, collective, indigenous, ancestral, or native land rights recognition. In essence, they seek to establish the rights of a group to obtain joint tenure security over their community?s land. This approach is not necessarily limited to use by those communities that largely manage their lands solely on a communal or collective basis, because it can encompass individualized arrangements within it. In fact, recognizing the boundary of all lands held by a community, and then allowing the community itself to define individual rights within that community land boundary, can be much more cost-effective (Deininger, 2003). Neither is it an approach solely used by indigenous, ancestral, or native communities, because any rural community with established occupation of their lands can potentially be eligible for such protections. We use the term ?community land and resource tenure” because many community-based forms of tenure encompass a range of different land use types, including permanent agricultural land, shifting or swidden cultivation areas, forests, grazing areas, and water bodies. The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, established in 2012, affirm the importance of recognizing and respecting all legitimate tenure rights holders and their rights, whether formally recorded or not (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [FAO], 2012). This includes indigenous peoples (IP) and other communities with customary tenure systems that exercise self-governance of land, fisheries, and forests..."
Creator/author: Nayna Jhaveri, Vaneska Litz, Jason Girard Robert Oberndorf Organisation, M. Mercedes Stickler
Source/publisher: USAID
2016-02-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.76 MB 2.96 MB 742.93 KB 1.55 MB
more
Description: "This Facilitators Guide describes Namati?s approach to community land protection in detail. Each chapter suggests various strategies and practices that facilitators can use as they support communities to protect their land claims. it is accompanied by short animated videos that demonstrate the community land protection process visually, available at http://namati.org/ourwork/communityland. this Guide is intended for the directors and staff of local, community-based organizations, national civil society organizations, faith-based organizations, government actors, and other community land protection advocates and activists. the Guide refers to these groups as ?facilitating organizations,” and their field staff as ?facilitators.” We recommend reading the entire Guide at least once before beginning community land protection efforts. Facilitators can then review specific sections of the Guide as they support communities to move through the process. However, because all the activities within each ?step” are inter-related, it is best to be familiar with all the land protection activities before beginning facilitation. to support the adaptation and re-ordering of community land protection activities, this Guide has been designed to be printed as a binder so that facilitators can easily move chapters around, or replace chapters with more updated versions that reflect emerging learnings and strategies. to access the most recent versions of the Guide and connect with Namati, visit namati.org/communityland.
Creator/author: Rachel Knight, Marlena Brinkhurst, Jaron Vogelsang
Source/publisher: Namati
2016-02-23
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 4.86 MB
more
Description: This Study discusses the human rights issues raised by large-scale land deals for plantation agriculture (?land grabbing?) in low and middle-income countries. Firstly, the Study takes stock of available data on large land deals, their features and their driving forces. It finds that ?land grabbing? is a serious issue requiring urgent attention. Secondly, the Study conceptualises the link between land deals and human rights, reviews relevant international human rights law and discusses evidence on actual and potential human rights impacts. It finds that important human rights dimensions are at stake, and that compressions of human rights have been documented in some contexts. Thirdly, the Study identifies the areas of EU policy that are most directly relevant to addressing the human rights impacts of ?land grabbing?, and in so doing it also briefly discusses developments in home and host countries as well as internationally. Fourthly, the Study proposes courses of action by which the EU, and the European Parliament in particular, can further prevent or remedy human rights violations linked to large-scale land deals.
Creator/author: Lorenzo COTULA
Source/publisher: International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) for the European Parliament
2014-12-10
Date of entry/update: 2015-01-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 582.09 KB
more
Description: This report covers much of SE Asia, with specific references to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Myanmar....."...In Myanmar, the ceasefire negotiations and move toward democracy have opened the door to a virtual gold rush for foreign investors, posing new threats to the country?s rural populations in the guise of economic development. On March 30, 2012, the Parliament approved the Farmland Law and Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law, which are designed to encourage large-scale agricultural investment and retain the government?s power to revoke the use rights of local communities to farmlands and confiscate lands.3 The laws fail to recognize the tenure rights of farmers and local customary laws governing land. Particularly disadvantaged are ethnic nationalities that practice swidden or shifting cultivation and complex systems of land use and management. Most local communities do not have legal registration papers to prove land ownership, and forced evictions of local populations for foreign investment, as well as arrests of those who resist these incursions, are on the rise..."
Creator/author: Shalmali Guttal, Mary Ann Manahan, Clarissa Militante, Megan Morrissey
Source/publisher: Focus on the Global South, Land Research Action Network
2014-10-00
Date of entry/update: 2014-11-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.87 MB
more
Description: "Appetite for land" (pdf, 225 KB) Large-Scale Foreign Investment in Land Available in German (pdf, 265 KB) and French (pdf, 270 KB) Promoting the right to food. Experience gained at the interface of human rights and development work, with particular focus on Central America This publication was compiled by a work group on land rights in Central America who have been studying the issue for a number of years and have supported local initiatives engaged in activities to promote the right to food in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Collaborating in this work group are MISEREOR, Bread for the World, FIAN International, EED, Terre des Hommes, and Christliche Initiative Romero. The document takes stock of 10 years of experience gained in activities to advance the right to food. Available in German: "Das Recht auf Nahrung f?rdern" (pdf, 3,8 MB) and Spanish: "Promover el derecho a la alimentaci?n" (pdf, 4 MB) Discussion paper "Access to land as a food security and human rights issue" (pdf, 3,7 MB) A Misereor discussion paper for dialogue with its partners The policy paper identifies several problems involved, such as the lack of access to productive resources, including land, water, forests, biological diversity etc. and the diverse problems concerning ownership which may even evolve in violent conflicts. Not only the growing concentration of land and the failure of land reform processes, but also the fragmentation of land and the overuse of existing natural resources have a tremendous impact on the scarcity of land. A dialogue with partners on "Access to land as a food security and human rights issue - a dialogue process" (pdf, 18 KB)
Source/publisher: Misereor
Date of entry/update: 2014-03-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, German, French
more
Description: WASHINGTON, April 8, 2013 – As the Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty convened this week in Washington, DC, The World Bank Group issued the following statement: "By 2050, the world will have two billion more people to feed. To do that, global agricultural production will need to increase by 70 percent. That calls for substantial new investment in agriculture-- in smallholders and large farms—from both the public and private sectors. But investment alone will not be enough. High and volatile food and fuel prices and the effects of climate change and scarce resources make the challenge even more daunting. Unless crop yields can be raised, many people will remain hungry, under-nourished, and unable to seize opportunities to improve their lives. Usable land is in short supply, and there are too many instances of speculators and unscrupulous investors exploiting smallholder farmers, herders, and others who lack the power to stand up for their rights. This is particularly true in countries with weak land governance systems. ?The World Bank Group shares these concerns about the risks associated with large-scale land acquisitions,? said World Bank Group President Dr. Jim Yong Kim. ?Securing access to land is critical for millions of poor people. Modern, efficient, and transparent policies on land rights are vital to reducing poverty and promoting growth, agriculture production, better nutrition, and sustainable development..."
Source/publisher: World Bank Group
2013-04-08
Date of entry/update: 2013-05-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Description: The Challenge of hunger: ensuring sustainable food security under land, water and energy stresses..."World hunger, according to the 2012 Global Hunger Index (GHI), has declined somewhat since 1990 but remains ?serious.? The global average masks dramatic differences among regions and countries. Regionally, the highest GHI scores are in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. South Asia reduced its GHI score significantly between 1990 and 1996—mainly by reducing the share of underweight children—but could not maintain this rapid progress. Though Sub-Saharan Africa made less progress than South Asia in the 1990s, it has caught up since the turn of the millennium, with its 2012 GHI score falling below that of South Asia. From the 1990 GHI to the 2012 GHI, 15 countries reduced their scores by 50 percent or more. In terms of absolute progress, between the 1990 GHI and the 2012 GHI, Angola, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nicaragua, Niger, and Vietnam saw the largest improvements in their scores. Twenty countries still have levels of hunger that are ?extremely alarming? or ?alarming.? Most of the countries with alarming GHI scores are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (the 2012 GHI does not, however, reflect the recent crisis in the Horn of Africa, which intensified in 2011, or the uncertain food situation in the Sahel). Two of the three countries with extremely alarming 2012 GHI scores—Burundi and Eritrea—are in Sub-Saharan Africa; the third country with an extremely alarming score is Haiti. Its GHI score fell by about one quarter from 1990 to 2001, but most of this improvement was reversed in subsequent years. The devastating January 2010 earthquake, although not yet fully captured by the 2012 GHI because of insufficient availability of recent data, pushed Haiti back into the category of ?extremely alarming.? In contrast to recent years, the Democratic Republic of Congo is not listed as ?extremely alarming,? because insufficient data are available to calculate the country?s GHI score. Current and reliable data are urgently needed to appraise the situation in the country. Recent developments in the land, water, and energy sectors have been wake-up calls for global food security: the stark reality is that the world needs to produce more food with fewer resources, while eliminating wasteful practices and policies. Demographic changes, income increases, climate change, and poor policies and institutions are driving natural resource scarcity in ways that threaten food production and the environment on which it depends. Food security is now inextricably linked to developments in the water, energy, and land sectors. Rising energy prices affect farmers? costs for fuel and fertilizer, increase demand for biofuel crops relative to food crops, and raise the price of water use. Agriculture already occurs within a context of land scarcity in terms of both quantity and quality: the world?s best arable land is already under cultivation, and unsustainable agricultural practices have led to significant land degradation. The scarcity of farmland coupled with shortsighted bioenergy policies has led to major foreign summary investments in land in a number of developing countries, putting local people?s land rights at risk. In addition, water is scarce and likely to become scarcer with climate change. To halt this trend, more holistic strategies are needed for dealing with land, water, energy, and food, and they are needed soon. To manage natural resources sustainably, it is important to secure land and water rights; phase out inefficient subsidies on water, energy, and fertilizers; and create a macroeconomic environment that promotes efficient use of natural resources. It is important to scale up technical solutions, particularly those that conserve natural resources and foster more efficient and effective use of land, energy, and water along the value chain. It is also crucial to tame the drivers of natural resource scarcity by, for example, addressing demographic change, women?s access to education, and reproductive health; raising incomes and lowering inequality; and mitigating and adapting to climate change through agriculture. Food security under land, water, and energy stress poses daunting challenges. The policy steps described in this report show how we can meet these challenges in a sustainable and affordable way."
Source/publisher: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe and Green Scenery:
2012-11-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-11-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 3.04 MB
Local URL:
more
Description: "Today?s food and financial crises have, in tandem, triggered a new global land grab. On the one hand, ?food insecure? governments that rely on imports to feed their people are snatching up vast areas of farmland abroad for their own offshore food production. On the other hand, food corporations and private investors, hungry for profits in the midst of the deepening financial crisis, see investment in foreign farmland as an important new source of revenue. As a result, fertile agricultural land is becoming increasingly privatised and concentrated. If left unchecked, this global land grab could spell the end of small-scale farming, and rural livelihoods, in numerous places around the world. Land grabbing has been going on for centuries. One has only to think of Columbus ?discovering? America and the brutal expulsion of indigenous communities that this unleashed, or white colonialists taking over territories occupied by the Maori in New Zealand and by the Zulu in South Africa. It is a violent process very much alive today, from China to Peru. Hardly a day goes by without reports in the press about struggles over land, as mining companies such as Barrick Gold invade the highlands of South America or food corporations such as Dole or San Miguel swindle farmers out of their land entitlements in the Philippines. In many countries, private investors are buying up huge areas to be run as natural parks or conservation areas. And wherever you look, the new biofuels industry, promoted as an answer to climate change, seems to rely on throwing people off their land..."
Source/publisher: GRAIN
2008-10-24
Date of entry/update: 2012-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Description: "The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984; Vietnam, on 28 July 1995; Lao PDR and Myanmar, on 23 July 1997; and Cambodia, on 30 April 1999. In principle, ASEAN supports poverty reduction, food security, sustainable development, and greater equity in the ASEAN region. However, a closer look at the pronouncements contained in its policy documents reveals that an economically-driven framework of growth still drives the work of ASEAN, even as it strives to create ?caring societies”. While the organization does have a policy of engaging NGOs, it is not clear how NGOs could participate meaningfully in providing direction for ASEAN?s work. This requires clarification on the part of ASEAN. This issue brief argues that before ASEAN could engage in meaningful dialogue with NGOs, it will first have to grapple with a number of issues, namely, (1) food security for farmers that likewise promotes poverty eradication and rural development; (2) property rights as a fundamental human right of farmers; (3) ensuring justice in poverty eradication and rural development efforts; and (4) economic growth as a precursor for social development. The key structures in the ASEAN that need to be engaged are the following: the ASEAN Summit; the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community; the ASEAN Ministers on Poverty Eradication and Rural Development; Senior Ministers on Poverty Eradication and Rural Development; Functional Cooperation Bodies (e.g. Poverty Eradication; Social Development); the ASEAN-Japan Dialogue; Issue Brief 2 Engaging the ASEAN: Toward a Regional Advocacy on Land Rights1 the ASEAN?Australia Dialogue; Advisory Groups to ASEAN; and the ASEAN Development Fund. At the end of this issue brief, practical steps and talking points for engaging the abovementioned structures in ASEAN are presented..."
Source/publisher: Land Watch Asia
2009-03-29
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Description: "The new wave of land deals is not the new investment in agriculture that millions had been waiting for. The poorest people are being hardest hit as competition for land intensifies. Oxfam?s research has revealed that residents regularly lose out to local elites and domestic or foreign investors because they lack the power to claim their rights effectively and to defend and advance their interests. Companies and governments must take urgent steps to improve land rights outcomes for people living in poverty. Power relations between investors and local communities must also change if investment is to contribute to rather than undermine the food security and livelihoods of local communities..."
Source/publisher: OXFAM
2011-09-22
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Description: "This report, authored by leading land experts, is the culmination of a three-year research project that brought together forty members and partners of ILC to examine the characteristics, drivers and impacts and trends of rapidly increasing commercial pressures on land. The report strongly urges models of investment that do not involve large-scale land acquisitions, but rather work together with local land users, respecting their land rights and the ability of small-scale farmers themselves to play a key role in investing to meet the food and resource demands of the future. The conclusions of the report are based on case studies that provide indicative evidence of local and national realities, and on the ongoing global monitoring of large-scale land deals for which data are subject to a continuous process of verification. But while research and monitoring will continue, this report draws some conclusions and policy implications from the evidence we have already
Creator/author: Ward Anseeuw, Liz Alden Wily, Lorenzo COTULA, Michael Taylor
Source/publisher: International Land Coalition
2012-01-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more