Land

By James Reinl UN, Sep 7 2019 (IPS) – Forest fires, droughts and other forms of land degradation cost the global economy as much as 15 trillion dollars every year and are deepening the climate change crisis, a top United Nations environment official said Friday. Read More »

By Ranjit Devraj New Delhi, Sep 4 2019 (IPS) – Expectations are high, perhaps too high, as the 14th Conference of the Parties (CoP 14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), now into the third day of its two-week session, is being held outside the smog-filled Indian capital of New Delhi. Read More »

Delhi, 21 August (Indrajit Bose) — Several contentious issues arose prior to the adoption of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Summary for Policy Makers (SPM) of the Special Report on Climate Change and Land. The SPM was adopted in Geneva, Switzerland, on 7 August, after a hectic week of negotiations on a line-by-line basis, between authors of the ... Read More »

Keraniganj, July 11 (UNB) – A group miscreants attacked a team of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) during an eviction drive at Postogola along the Buriganga riverbank on Thursday, leaving an executive magistrate and four members of the team injured. The BIWTA team, led by an executive magistrate, launched the drive in the morning. At one stage, when the ... Read More »

Satkhira, June 21 (UNB) – Farmers in Sadar uapzila of the district had harvested paddy from wetlands in a festive mood even last year, but this year they are struggling to remove saline water from their paddy fields, let alone harvesting crops. A fear has gripped the farmers of 37 villages as shrimp farm owners filled nine waterbodies in the ... Read More »

By Desmond Brown Ankara, Jun 17 2019 (IPS) – The coming decades will be crucial in shaping and implementing a transformative land agenda, according to a scientist at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) framework for Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). UNCCD-Science Policy Interface co-chair Dr. Mariam Akhtar-Schuster, who spoke with IPS ahead of the start of activities to ... Read More »

Dhaka, June 17 – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said dryland degradation reduces national domestic product in developing countries by up to 8 percent annually. “We must urgently change such trends,” he said in a message marking the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought that falls on June 17. He said protecting and restoring land – and better using ... Read More »

Palestinians pledge to continue the dream of passing land to their children and grandchildren amid accelerating seizures By Shatha Hammad Tayseer Ataya stands, leaning on his cane and gazing at his plot of land on Risan hill, west of Ramallah. The 65-year-old man has been forbidden from accessing his property for close to a year. In August 2018, Israeli settlers ... Read More »

With a share of 10–12% in carbon-dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq.), agriculture contributes substantially to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Considering indirect emissions from agriculture-related activities such as fertiliser production and land use change, this share can be up to 30%. In 2005, the agricultural sector contributed 56% to the emissions of the anthropogenic non-CO2 GHGs, i.e. nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane ... Read More »

Dhaka, May 21, (UNB)- The Land Ministry on Tuesday issued a notice embargo on filing cases over land acquisition before seeking amends from the deputy commissioner. It says that there is no scope to receive any complaint after issuing four notices under the section 4 and 8 of the Acquisition and Requisition of Immovable Property Act (2017). Several cases filed ... Read More »

Satkhira, May 18 — A Chhatra League leader chopped off four fingers of a man’s right hand in Kalaroa Upazila on Friday over a land dispute, police and family members said. The victim was identified as GM Tushar, son of Munsur Gazi of Paturia village of the Upazila. Gazi said they had a dispute over a plot of land in ... Read More »

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 29 2019 (IPS) – In light of land degradation and climate change, the protection of the environment is crucial—but the protection of the very people working tirelessly and with much risk to preserve nature should be just as important. Forests have long been underestimated—they sustain biodiversity, regulate the world’s water and weather cycles, and even provide the air ... Read More »

Dhaka, April 11 – The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka yesterday granted bail to Tasvirul Islam, one of the owners of FR Tower in the case filed over the devastating fire that ripped through 22-storied FR Tower at Banani in the capital, killing 26 and leaving some 70 people injured on March 28. Magistrate Md Tofazzal Hossain of ... Read More »

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if he is re-elected. Israelis go to the polls on Tuesday and Mr Netanyahu is competing for votes with right-wing parties who support annexing part of the West Bank. The settlements are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. Last month the US ... Read More »

Dhaka, Feb 24 (UNB) – Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury on Sunday told Parliament that his ministry has taken an initiative to enact a law titled “Arable Land Protection and Land Use Bill 2019” to save croplands and ensure their best use. “Revising the draft (of the bill), it’ll soon be sent to the Cabinet Division for approval by the Cabinet,” ... Read More »

SAN SALVADOR, Feb 19 2019 (IPS) – Like an octopus, metals mining has been spreading its tentacles throughout Central America and dealing a blow to the region’s agriculture and natural ecosystems, according to affected villagers, activists and a new report on the problem. “Where the mining company is operating was land that peasants leased to plant corn and beans, our staple ... Read More »

Dhaka, Feb 18 (UNB) – More than 50 illegal establishments were demolished in an eviction drive Monday by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA)  along the Buriganga River’s banks. BIWTA Executive Magistrate Mostafizur Rahman led the drive that started from Bochila in Mohammadpur around 10 am but had to stop after a few hours as the demolition of one ... Read More »

Dhaka, Feb 13 – The government has decided to relocate 46 religious structures that built illegally alongside the riverbanks of Buriganga, Turag and Shitlakhya. The shipping ministry has given responsibility to the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) to arrange lands for relocating these religious establishments, chairman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Commodore M Mozammel Haque told ... Read More »

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Feb 11 2019 (IPS) – Six years ago while wondering how best to use her engineering skills, Tanzanian ICT entrepreneur Rose Funja decided to enter an innovation competition. Years later she has turned a digital idea into a viable business that helps smallholder farmers across the East African nation access credit.    In Tanzania farmers struggle to obtain credit ... Read More »

Dhaka, Feb 10 (UNB) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday asked the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development (LGRD) and Cooperatives to work out a master plan for every upazila for protecting cultivable lands and checking the unplanned construction of buildings, roads and houses on croplands. “We need to design a master plan for every upazila setting aside places ... Read More »

Dhaka, Feb 6 (UNB) – Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) on Wednesday pulled down some 282 illegal establishments along the Buriganga River in the capital and the Karnaphuli in Chattogram. In the capital, the BIWTA mobile court bulldozed as many as 252 structures along the Buriganga River from Islambagh to Loharpool. The drive began around 10:30 am and continued ... Read More »

Dhaka, Feb 05 – The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Tuesday has demolished around 100 structures that built illegally grabbing the river bank of Buriganga. The second face eviction drive of its 11-day programme has conducted at city’s Nababerchar in Kamrangirchar areas. The BIWTA eviction team led by its executive magistrate Mostafizur Rahman has demolished at least 100 illegal ... Read More »

Chattogram, Feb 4 (UNB) -The district administration has started a drive to demolish the illegal structures on the banks of the Karnaphuli River in the port city. A team led by executive magistrate and assistant commissioner (land) of Patenga Tahmilur Rahman started the drive in Sadarghat area at 10:15 am on Monday and bulldozed a number of buildings till 12 ... Read More »

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 22 2019 (IPS) – One month on since the Global Compact for Migration was approved, civil society has highlighted the need to turn words into action, supporting those who have been displaced or forced to migrate as a result of environmental degradation. In December, over 160 countries adopted the landmark Global Compact for Migration (GCM) which recognised ... Read More »

Dhaka, Jan 30 – Land-use policy needs to be finalised very quickly to completely stop the use of agricultural lands in non-farm activities, said experts on Wednesday. They said, it is necessary to take measures to rescue the agricultural land which has already gone to non- agricultural sector. Besides, we have to ensure that the farmers can buy and sell ... Read More »

Oakland, CA – In advance of the release of the World Bank’s 2019 Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) report, the Oakland Institute exposes the Bank’s new scheme to privatize land in the developing world. The Highest Bidder Takes It All: The World Bank’s Scheme to Privatize the Commons details how the Bank’s prescribed reforms, via a new land indicator ... Read More »

Dhaka, Jan 20 – The Anti-Corruption Commission on Sunday demolished four illegal bricks kilns and freed 20 acres of farmland from the illegal occupants at Mujibnagar under Meherpur district. Read More »

From Danielle Nierenberg Dec 4 – Greetings from Chicago! Tomorrow, I am joining Google, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and other members of the Refresh Working Group to officially launch our report Refresh: Food + Tech from Soil to Supper. The event will explore the role technology can play in the food system, changing the ways we respond to soil ... Read More »

A new landmark initiative aims to make quality data and tools available to the international community in order to combat an “existential crisis”: land degradation. Read More »

South Africa’s highest court has delivered two landmark decisions protecting women’s rights to equality and land ownership, as well as the rights of communities living in mining areas. Read More »