Land- and resource rights

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Demands a halt to forced evictions and land confiscation

The issue of forced evictions, displacement, and landlessness among Cambodia’s rural and urban poor is reaching crisis proportions.

Environmental activist killed in El Salvador

Marcelo Rivera, director of a small Salvadoran NGO, San Isidro Cabañas Association, ASIC, and well-known activist in the defense of the natural resources, has been killed.

The poor evicted for tourist resorts

Poor people in Cambodia are being evicted from their homes by force to make way for investors that “beautify” the cities to please the tourist industry.

How to form a policy on land rights?

This and many more questions were presented and discussed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania at the Norwegian People`s Aid land rights conference from 12th to 14th of November 2008. The land rights seminar had the objective of furthering the awareness, knowledge and information on land rights. In addition various countries shared their learning experiences from various Norwegian People`s Aid country programmes.

Revitalizing Ethiopian traditions

-In our traditional system of land management, land and the other natural resources over it are owned and managed communally for the benefit of society, says village elder Debsso Halake.

Background for the formaliation programme in Tanzania

The Tanzanian economy has lately enjoyed a very healthy socio-economic development in terms of macro indicators. However, micro level indicators at household budget level have been shown (e.g. household budget survey 2002) to remain stagnant or even to deteriorate.

Report on the formalisation programme in Tanzania

This NORAD-report, conducted by a research team headed by Nordic Consulting Group (NCG), presents the findings, conclusions and recommendations from a review of Phase 1 (Diagnostic Phase) of the "Property and Business Formalisation Programme" (PBFP), carried out by Institute of Democracy and Liberty (ILD), in Tanzania.

Agenda: Land rights

Land equals life. The challenge of people's land rights in Africa can be summarized as simple as this. NPA has gathered partners and experts to discuss future work on land and resource rights in Africa.

NPA- Focus on land and resource rights.

For NPA a rights based approach to land and resources implies that we focus on rural peoples capacity to secure their rights to natural resources on which they depend. Once these rights are secured, peoples livelihood security must be protected and enhanced through sustainable use of these resources. Thus land policy and reforms thereof are seen in the wider context of men’s and women’s rights to productive resources.

A need for action on the High-level Commission on Empowerment of the Poor

A "High-level Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor” will be established in New York in September. Hernando de Soto and Madeline Albright will be the co-chairs of the commission. In the process of establishing the commission there has been no consultations with representatives for any major CSOs or NGOs. No representatives from the organisations of the poor has been part of the process to form the commission. Hernando de Soto has been criticized for pushing privatisation, cementing unjust ownership and for “one size fits all” approach. Many civil society organisations are sceptical. These organisations are now circulating a sign-on letter with requirements for supporting the commission.

Norwegian NGO Statement on the High-level Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor

The Commission will be launched at the UN, New York, 20-21 January 2006. Norwegian NGOs welcome the opportunity the Commission provides in setting land rights issues high on the international agenda. However, we are deeply worried by the lack of involvement of civil society in the process thus far and the present composition of the Commission. We are critical of the role of Hernando de Soto as co-chair of the Commission. Read the Norwegian NGO statement at landrightswatch.net

MAKING DEAD CAPITAL LIVE: How can this happen in Tanzania?

Report on the information and discussion forum: Making dead capital live: How can this happen in Tanzania? Organised by the NGO Policy Forum. Co-hosted with Norwegian People’s Aid.

Is formalisation the solution to combat poverty?

The "High-level Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor" (HLCLEP) is to be pre-launched in the UN, New York, on the 13th of Sept. 2005. Norway, together with the other Nordic countries, has taken the initiative to establish this Commission. The Commission is inspired by the Peruvian Economist Hernando de Soto and the assumption that the fight against poverty can only be won through legal recognition of poor people's assets and their inclusion in the formal market economy. The objective "is to contribute significantly to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with respect to reducing poverty by half by 2015".

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