Thousands of pastoralists in northern Ngorongoro district made homeless as homes torched to protect wild game

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania

Simat Rotiken and his family are braving cold nights huddled under a tree after their homestead was burned down in a scheme to protect a disputed wildlife corridor.

They were driven from their pastures by security forces in a government policy aimed at securing the Loliondo Game Controlled Area next to the Serengeti National Park.

 

It is well documented from the work of grass roots, civil society and non-governmental organisations that the women, in Africa, are among the poorest of the poor and their lack of access to land and housing is largely as a result of their limited access to resources. Unemployment and underemployment, particularly for women, and therefore insufficient wages to purchase housing means women have little chance to own their own home. Unfair inheritance and divorce laws also force women into situations of hardship and homelessness.

(CNN) More than 700 people are believed to have been killed in massive floods and landslides that have rocked Bangladesh, India and Nepal this month, aid workers say.

It is the worst flooding that some parts of South Asia have seen in decades, with about 24 million people affected, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said.

White farmers who were forcibly dispossessed of their property in Zimbabwe are suing President Robert Mugabe, claiming the government owes them compensation.

Mugabe’s government introduced a controversial land reform program in 2000 that led to squatters invading and seizing the majority of white-owned farms across the southern African country. The seizures were often violent, and resulted in the murder of multiple white farmers.

The subtext of all these personal laws, regardless of religion, is that women are not equal to men. The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down triple talaq should be the trigger to generate a candid debate on religion-based personal laws in the country

About 100 villagers from southwestern Cambodia’s Koh Kong province clashed on Tuesday with security forces in Phnom Penh during a protest over a decade-long land dispute with two sugar companies, a spokesmen for the residents said.

The villagers travelled from Chikhor commune in Sre Ambel district and from Botum Sakor district in Koh Kong to the country’s capital to protest what they called land grabs by the Koh Kong Sugar Industry Company Ltd. and Koh Kong Plantation Company Ltd. that took place in 2006, said Phav Nheung, representing the villagers.

(Ecofin Agency) - In an open letter sent to the president of Madagascar on August 17, the Tany group exposed its concerns about land grabbing by foreign investors in the country. For the civil society group, whose objective “is to support the development of Malagasy farmers and citizens and defend their lands and natural resources”, it is urgent to boost land tenure and establish a stricter framework for land related transactions.

AS the world’s population surges towards nine billion by midcentury, food production has failed to keep pace, creating rising food shortages and a global food crisis ahead, according to the United Nations. To avoid mass starvation, the world needs to produce 70% more food by 2050.

 

Pressure to sell their homes to the government has divided families, friends and neighbors, fueling distrust and the stigmatization of those who do sell

TEMACAPULÍN, Mexico, Aug 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Abigail Agredano fears her 96-year-old mother would not survive being uprooted from their hometown in the highlands of western Mexico, where its 400 mostly elderly residents are battling a  government plan to dam the nearby Río Verde.

Monrovia – Multi Stakeholders’ Platforms (MSPs) in Project Affected Communities in Sinoe, Maryland, Nimba and Grand Cape Mount Counties have benefitted from series of trainings on Land Use and Land Verification.

The exercises are in continuation of the implementation of activities under the Assessed Funding Project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with funding from the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and in partnership with the Government of Liberia through the National Bureau of Concession (NBC).