Land

Farmers and displaced communities are in a state of high anxiety as the deadline set by the government’s controversial land law amendment takes effect today with no sign of change. The Vacant, Fallow and Virgin (VFV) Lands Management Law, amended in September 2018, requires anyone occupying ...

As Cambodia heads towards a head-on crash with the European Union (EU) and the United States government over political freedom and human rights, disturbing video has emerged of Cambodia police shooting at protestors in Sihanoukville, in the country’s southwest. Keep reading ...

Six people were detained yesterday following a clash between protesters, who blocked a road, and police in Preah Sihanouk province’s Prey Nop district. The protesters were trying to block officials from measuring land belonging to a tycoon following a Supreme Court decision favouring him in a ...

Lao authorities have released a villager held since 2017 with a group arrested for protesting the loss of land awarded by the government to a Vietnamese rubber company, sources in the communist Southeast Asian state said. Phonesawai, the fourth villager of the group to be released, ...

Forest activists in Battambang province’s Samlot district said on Thursday that a company that has received an economic land concession (ELC) in the area is trading timber from outside its ELC boundary. The activists said Rath Sambath, whose ELC is located near the Phnom Samkos Wildlife ...

Countries are increasingly embracing drones and satellites to map land and minimize conflict rising from ownership disputes, but unequal access to these technologies can further endanger the rights of vulnerable people, analysts say. Keep reading ...

Commerce Minister Sonthirat Sonthijirawong visited Chiang Rai province to inspect the development of Chiang Khong Border Area Special Economic Zone.  []The area is planned to be developed into a joint Special Economic Zone between Thailand, China, Laos, and Myanmar, as it is home to the 4th ...

A new land law may bring greater transparency in land management and modernization of records in Laos, but it could also curb ownership by women, as well as the customary rights of rural and indigenous people, analysts said. The long-delayed legislation is scheduled to be ...

Community and conservation groups in Myanmar have branded a planned highway linking a port project to Thailand an “ecological and social disaster”, saying it would uproot indigenous people from their homes and farms. Critics said an environmental and social impact assessment for the road project, ...

Authorities are facing mounting pressure to safeguard the Samlot Protected Area, where villagers and wealthy land-grabbers continue to trespass to start orchards and claim ownership of the plots. The area, which straddles Battambang and Pailin provinces, is jointly protected by the Ministry of Environment and ...