Many stakeholders are concerned about large-scale land acquisitions. Communities, civil society organizations, and donors are worried, but so too is the private sector. Here is a story from the CSR Asia website which notes the risks investors may face when they negotiate rights to use or purchase land.
According to a recent NPR article, lead poisoning from illegal gold mining has killed more than 400 children in northern Nigeria. Thousands more children have been left sick and mentally stunted.
On October 17th in Oslo, Norway, historic peace talks will begin between the government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Details on the negotiations are available in a recent article in the New York Times. This is a promising initiative with the potential to end the conflict and bring lasting peace and stability to Colombia. To illustrate the importance of land to the conflict, both parties have agreed that land and rural development will be the first issues to be addressed in the agenda proposed for negotiations.
A recent New York Times article features a conversation with Roy Prosterman, founder of Landesa, a Seattle, Washington-based NGO and partner in USAID Land Tenure projects in Kenya, Liberia and other locations. Prosterman founded Landesa, formerly the Rural Development Institute, in 1966 and has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. To date, Landesa has worked with local governments in over 50 countries to develop laws, policies and programs that provide secure land rights for the world’s poorest people.
Afghanistan has significant amounts of mineral resources according to an assessment completed by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2007. However, according to a recent article by the New York Times “the potential resource boom seems increasingly imperiled by corruption, violence and intrigue.” Control over land and resource rights are increasingly becoming a source of contention, especially as the government begins to make land concessions.
USAID’s September/October 2012 Issue of FrontLines magazine features an article by Anthony Piaskowy titled Liberia’s Future Land Experts. The article highlights a USAID program that provides scholarships to five Liberian students to obtain Masters Degrees in Land Administration/Surveying. These students are gaining valuable skills in modern surveying techniques and, upon completion of their studies, will return to Liberia to work for the national government and assist the University of Monrovia develop a new curriculum in land surveying and administration.
Around the world competitive forces are driving a variety of investors to search for land for agriculture, for mineral exploration, for conservation, for biofuel production, etc. Investment in land is not per se bad. Development can bring important benefits to communities: new knowledge and skills, new connections to markets, in some cases employment, and perhaps other positive spillover benefits related to spending money in the local economy.
In the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake, land and property issues emerged as an area of significant concern in Haiti. Analyses in the weeks following the disaster warned that destruction of property records, massive population displacement and loss of life could contribute to opportunism, land grabbing, conflict and delayed resettlement—particularly in urban areas severely affected by the earthquake.
Is the government of Laos committed to shifting its land policy to enable greater local control? This story suggests that it is. The President of the National Assembly’s Committee on Economic Planning and Finance, Dr. Souvanhpheng Bouphanouvong, is quoted as saying: “For over a year, Lao has been undergoing a process of reviewing and revising various policies and legislation pertaining to land and natural resources.
Here's a nicely done, interesting, and largely on-point, article from the Irish Times about the need to give Chinese farmers more secure rights to land.
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