In Defense of Land Rights: A Monitoring Report on Land Conflicts in Six Asian Countries
Publisher: Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development
Date: 2019
Topics: Assessment, Governance, Land, Livelihoods, Monitoring and Evaluation, Programming, Renewable Resources
Countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines
Private sector investments in agriculture have been increasing in Asia. This increase in agricultural investments has contributed to intensified competition for agricultural lands. Forest communities have faced even greater threats to their lands and livelihoods due to the intrusion of commercial interests, the expansion of commercial agriculture and forestry, extractive industries such as logging and mining, and the appropriation of lands for development projects and tourism. In Pakistan, Laos, Cambodia, and Indonesia, agreements have been forged between corporations and central governments for diversion of large tracts of land into “production areas” for food and biofuels that are geared for markets abroad. This increase in agricultural investments has contributed to intensified competition for agricultural lands to the extent that reports abound of land grabbing, displacement of occupants, unfair deals and erosion of agricultural resources. Moreover, land has become vulnerable to commercial pressures from other sectors, such as tourism, migration, resettlement and industrialization.