Thailand’s military government has undertaken forced evictions of both businesses and villagers found using state lands such as national reserve forests and protected areas without legal land titles. This article looks at ongoing evictions in northeastern Thailand’s Phu Phan mountains, to present farmers’ perspectives on their struggles.
Protecting the culture and identity of herders on the Tibetan Plateau
The herding communities in the Tibetan Plateau face many struggles to protect their grasslands and herding livestock that together form an integral part of their culture, identity and livelihoods. Mkha Be recollects her childhood experiences in rural Tibet and explains the changes and challenges facing the herding communities.
Seeking World Bank accountability on Boeung Kak Lake
The community living around Boeung Kak Lake in Phnom Penh, Cambodia have been fighting eviction by developers who wish to fill up the lake and turn it into a luxury urban development. This article outlines how members of the community took on the powerful World Bank and eventually put a stop to the eviction.
Growing food forests along the Ou River in Lao PDR
Khmu youths and villagers living along the Ou River in Luang Prabang Province, Northern Lao PDR have adopted a food forest concept in reforesting the river’s banks that in recent years have been impacted by land erosion. The initiative aims to maintain fragile areas that are important sources of food and thus sustain community food security.
Agribusiness and land grabs in Myanmar
While opening up to greater democracy, Myanmar is entering a period of neoliberal market reforms and privatization of its natural resources. Newly drafted “land concession” legislation favor agribusiness, and land grabs result from continued government reliance on top-down authoritarian approaches to development.