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ILDC 2021 Agenda

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21 Nov Asia Day

 
Presentations By (Click to View)
1. Geminiano Sandoval
Geminiano Sandoval ANGOC Regional Overview Nhek Sarin SK (Cambodia) Country context and reflections, SE Asia
Roni Septian KPA (Indonesia) Country context and reflections, SE Asia Denise Hyacinth Joy Musni ANGOC Country context and reflections, SE Asia
Shah Mobbin Jinnah CDA (Bangladesh) Country context and reflections, South Asia V B Rawat SDF(India) Country context and reflections, South Asia
Jagat Basnet CSRC(Nepal) Country context and reflections, South Asia  
Moderator: Nathaniel Don Marquez ANGOC  Discussant: Shekhar Shah, Former NCAER Director General & World Bank Regional Economic Adviser for South Asia.
 

In 2008, the United Nations endorsed the ‘Protect, Respect, and Remedy Framework’ for business and human rights. This framework unequivocally recognizes that States have the duty under international human rights law to protect everyone within their territory and/or jurisdiction from human rights abuses committed by business enterprises. The UN Framework also addresses the human rights responsibilities of businesses. Business enterprises have the responsibility to respect human rights wherever they operate and whatever their size or industry. In other words, companies must know—and show—that they respect human rights in all their operations.

More importantly, the UN Framework clarifies that the corporate responsibility to respect human rights exists independently of the States’ ability or willingness to fulfil their duty to protect human rights. No matter the context, States and businesses retain these distinct but complementary responsibilities.

On 16 June 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), a set of guidelines that operationalize the UN Framework and further define the key duties and responsibilities of States and business enterprises with regard to business-related human rights abuses. Henceforth, the Working Group on Business and Human Rights (UNWG) was mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to promote the effective and comprehensive implementation of the UNGP BHR. The UNWG likewise noted in its 2016 Guidance on Business and Human Rights that National Action Plans (NAPs) can be an important means to promote the implementation of the UNGP BHR (DIHR,n.d.).

Given the increasing pressures on land due to investments, CSOs working on land rights have an important role in mainstreaming and monitoring the implementation of the UNGPs. Thus, the Land Watch Asia Working Group on Mainstreaming Land Rights as Human Rights (LWA LRHR WG) through the initiative “Defending Land Rights and Human Rights Defenders” embarked on engaging National Human Rights Institutions/Commissions (NHRIs/Cs) to mainstream UNGPs in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines. Through the support of the International Land Coalition (ILC), six country papers were prepared and discussed in order to provide an overview of the relevance of the UNGPs in the context of land and agribusiness investments, identify challenges faced in mainstreaming the UNGP BHR, and formulate key recommendations based on the consultation processes. A regional summary of the studies was then prepared by ANGOC. This regional report was subsequently presented in an online regional workshop “Mainstreaming Land Rights in the UNGPs in Asia” jointly organized by ANGOC, LWA, ILC, Commission of Human Rights of the Philippines (CHRP), Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institution Forum (SEANF), Office of the High Commission for Human Rights in Southeast Asia (OHCHR) and UNDP’s Business and Human Rights Team in Asia (UNDP-B+HR).

 Session Organizer:
Presentations By (Click to View)
1. Denise Musni
2. Marianne Naungayan
Denise Musni, ANGOC 2020 Land and Resource Conflict Monitoring Initiative in Asia: Rationale and Background, Methodology Used, Country Experiences and Reflections Marianne Naungayan, ANGOC Findings of the 2020 Land and Resource Conflict Monitoring, and Experiences in Implementing the Methodology in the Philippines
   
Kashish Gupta, CLRA Findings of the 2020 Land and Resource Conflict Monitoring, and Experiences in Implementing the Methodology in India Nathaniel Don Marquez, ANGOC Future of Land Conflict Monitoring in India: Challenges, Opportunities, Ways Forward
Mrinali Karthick Land Conflict Watch Discussant: Usha Ramnathan, Senior Law Researcher and Human Rights Activist
 

Many social conflicts are rooted in issues related to land and resource rights. This is a fact recognized globally, even by the UN System in the UN Secretary General Guidance Note on Land and Conflict released in 2019. In Asia, such conflicts may be traced to enduring historical injustices, inequitable access to land and resources, faulty and weak implementation of past land and resource reforms, emergent clashes between statutory and customary tenure systems, misappropriation of State domains, and the lack of regard for human rights of the disadvantaged and vulnerable sectors (Quizon, 2018). Land conflicts over time have increased in number, coverage, and intensity. While a huge portion of land and resource conflicts occur in the context of state development or corporate interest (i.e., mining, plantations, economic zones), many conflicts also occur when policies over the same parcels of land overlap or when laws are poorly implemented.

In 2018, the Land Watch Asia Working Group on Land Rights as Human Rights (LWA WG LRHR) produced country studies on land conflicts in six countries in Asia. The goal of the initiative was to contribute towards a better understanding of land and resource conflicts that impinge on human rights, by providing evidence-based data for policy – towards the prevention and resolution of such conflicts. While the 2018 land conflict monitoring reports proved to be useful for painting a picture on land conflicts and their effects on communities and land rights defenders for informed advocacies, the use of different methodologies limited the scope for consolidation, comparison, and analysis of data at national and regional level.

Thus, the 2020 land conflict monitoring reports have built on the 2018 monitoring initiative, by implementing a more systematic way to gather data and to report on land conflicts. Following a regional training on land conflict monitoring (Jakarta, March 2020), members of the LWA WG LRHR gathered information on land conflict and rights violations. A common monitoring methodology was piloted in the six Asian countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines), although several differences in approaches were also observed at the country level. The monitoring period has covered one calendar year (January to December 2020).

 Session Organizer:

 
Dr. Rikcardo Simamtara,
University of Gadjah Mada,
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Indonesia: Critical issues in communal land registration		U Shwe Thein  Executive Director, Land Core Group, Yangon
Myanmar: How the National Land Use Policy was developed and applied in Myanmar
Dr. Mai Van Phan, Deputy Director General, General Director of Land Adminstration MoNRE, Government of Vietnam
Vietnam: Land law, land rights and land reforms: Some experience from Vietnam		Discussant:
Dr. Trias Aditya, University of Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Moderator:
Dr. Dzung The Nguyen
Vietnam
Discussant:
Mr. Vinod Agarwal, former Additional Chief Secretary (Land Revenue Department) Telangana State

 

Southeast Asia is one of the richest regions in terms of land, biodiversity and natural resources. However, the region’s land and biodiversity are at risk as extractive industries and lack of coherent policy and legal frameworks continue to trigger significant internal and external socio-economic-cultural stresses. The session will examine and analyse land governance in Southeast Asia with special focus on tenure security and the political economy of land-based sectors.

It will discuss the current status of individual land holdings of smallholder farmers, who along with traditional forest dwellers, are among the poorest in the region. A rapidly urbanising Southeast Asia faces shortage of land for housing and infrastructure. Fragile tenure security causes land- related disputes and conflicts. Hence in this session, policy and civil society leaders will share experiences and lessons learned in strengthening sustainable land administration and management systems in Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

 Session Organizer:
Presentations By (Click to View)
1. Dharm Raj Joshi
Ram PrakashRam Prakash Singh Danuwar, Habitat for Humanity Nepal Dharm Raj Joshi, National Coordinator, (LGWG) Nepal
Jagat Deuja, Former Expert Member, (LIRC), Nepal Dr. Purna Bahadur Nepali, Associate Professor, (KU SOM)
Moderator: Dr. Reshma Shrestha, Assistant Professor, Kathmandu University, Nepal Discussant: Mr. Deepak Sanan, IAS (Retd), former- Addl Chief Secretary, HP and former Advisor to NCAER, IIHS & CPR
 Land governance and its management responsibilities are distributed among three levels of governments-Federal, Provincial and local level governments in the changed legal and governance context of Nepal with the promulgation of the current Constitution in 2015. Governments at all level are formulating required laws, acts, policies and plans related to land to realize constitutional provisions for rights to land of landless Dalits and Peasant families. But the greatest dilemmas that the policy makers seem facing on how to make land easily accessible equitably and inclusively to those whose livelihood depend on it but have no easy and adequate access. Newly endorsed Acts and Plans related to land and natural resource have partially addressed these needs. But still there are ample rooms for improving land governance situation through the effective and timely implementation of the available policy tools which will further contribute in translating peoples; aspirations of better lives and government long-term vision of prosperous Nepal, happy Nepali; into actions in this changed the political, governance and legal context of Nepal. Complexity of land-related issues in Nepal can also be seen from the pilot phase results of LANDex implementation – there is no proper documentation of land size disaggregated by tenure type, gender and ethnicity in the National Agriculture Census, Living Standard Surveys, National Population Census; and no recognition of indigenous peoples; land tenures,. According to the LANDex pilot phase results, Nepal has overall 49 score, which shows a lot of room to work in this sector. Good governance of land resources is identified as a key to opening up new avenues to achieve prosperity, equality, and justice as envisioned by the Constitution of Nepal and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Given this context, CSOs in Nepal have initiated various people-led initiatives to reform the land governance in Nepal. Objectives The overarching objective of the session is to share the Nepali experience of land reform among the international community
 Session Organizer:

 
U Shwe Thein
Executive Director,
Land Core Group, Yangon.

Myanmar: Recognition of customary tenure in Myanmar		Dr. Walter Fernandes
S.J. North Eastern Social Research Centre, India.
India: The Status of Customary Tenure in Northeast India – Challenges ahead
Dr. Martua Sirait
Director, SAMDHANA, Indonesia
Reflections on the thematic presentations and indigenous peoples’ land rights in Indonesia		 Saw Frankie Abreu,
Director, Tripnet
Moderator:
Saw Doh Wah,
Deputy Program Director,
Land Core Group		Discussant:
Dr. Vincent T Darlong
Centre for Sustainable Development Studies, MLCU, Meghalaya.
Naw Ei Ei Min,
Director, Point
 
  

Around 45 percent of the world’s indigenous people or ethnic minorities (about 190 million people) live in the Southeast Asia-Pacific region. Forest dwellers constitute one of the region’s largest impoverished groups. Several governments in the region are now taking steps to recognize customary rights to bring about meaningful change.

This session will highlight experiences from Myanmar and India (that share not only borders but also socio-cultural practices in community land administration) as well as processes in recording customary lands.

It will discuss community mapping practices and alternative dispute resolution methods. Experiences in the use of FPIC principles and standards on forest rights’ recognition will also be shared. A representative from Indonesia, where customary tenure and indigenous rights dominate, will reflect on the existing policy and legal environment for recognizing customary tenure and build on the issues and opportunities highlighted by speakers from Myanmar and India.

 Session Organizer:
Presentations By (Click to View)
1. Badhon Chiran
Dr. Bitopi Dutta, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun Gender, Development, and highlanders in transition: A comparative analysis of Meghalaya in India and Chittagong Hills in Bangladesh Nasrin Siraj Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Gender, Development, and highlanders in transition: A comparative analysis of Meghalaya in India and Chittagong Hills in Bangladesh
Mr. Badhon Chiran, Caritas Mymensingh The Assistance for Land Settlement of the Adivasi (ALSA) Project: key learning and best practice for community-led, participatory land mapping initiatives Mr Bulbul Mankhin, Caritas Mymensingh The Assistance for Land Settlement of the Adivasi (ALSA) Project: key learning and best practice for community-led, participatory land mapping initiatives
Dr Oliver Scanlan, Center for Sustainable Development, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh Strengths and gaps of formalization programme design and implementation: a case study from Jamalpur, Bangladesh. Chair: Dr. Nivedita Haran ,IAS (Retd), former-Addl Chief Secretary, Kerala and Faculty, JNU

The land administration has sensibly drawn attention to the need to better understand and analyse political economic factors before embarking on any programme of land administration reform, particularly tenure formalisation programmes. Land administration reform continues to evince the exclusion of political economic factors at every level of intervention design. The penetration of neo-liberal ideas of development into the lives across the globe has greatly influenced the dynamic culture, society, and worldview. What often goes unnoticed is the extremely gendered nature of the process where women’s minds and bodies become the battlefield of indigeneity and modernization. The changes are interlinked to vibrant discourses of gender and identity politics that continue to be influenced by the broader forces of modern development paradigms and ideas of national governance in both the nation-states. The session will reflect on the value of “counter-mapping” initiatives in enabling marginalised groups like Indigenous Peoples and Forest Dwellers to more effectively advocate for their land rights and to build consensus among social leaders, relevant government departments and civil society stakeholders

 Session Organizer:

 
Dr Hery Santoso, Researcher at Palm Oil Research Institute of Indonesia.
Smallholder and boom-crop production: From rubber to palm oil: Lessons from Indonesia.
Glenn Hunt, Researcher at CDE in Myanmar.
Mapping palm oil plantations in Myanmar.
Moderator:
Dr Iwan Gunawan, Senior Natural Resources Specialist, World Bank office in Jakarta, Indonesia.		Discussant:
Mr Arun K Bansal, former-ADG, Forest, Govt of India

Palm oil is used in thousands of everyday products and is the most widely consumed vegetable oil on the planet. But its usage has generated controversy, as huge areas of rainforests have been cleared to make way for palm plantations, particularly in Southeast Asia. India imports about 30 percent of its palm oil from Malaysia and 70 percent from Indonesia. India now aims to double its total area under oil palm cultivation to 650,000 hectares by 2025-26 in order to secure domestic supply. This India’s stated goal has raised concerns among both land rights activists and environmentalists.

This session aims to examine the experiences of Southeast Asian countries to understand how oil palm has destroyed both the environment and local livelihoods, in the hope that mistakes can be identified and avoided in Indian or other contexts. Amid growing concern over palm oil plantations and their impacts on the economy, ecology, and forest and rural dwellers, this session will share experiences from Indonesia and Myanmar to create awareness on sustainability issues

Asia Day Partners


 
Dr Mika Pettri-Torhonen,
Lead Land Administration Specialist at the World Bank
Professor Philip Hirsch ,
Emeritus Professor of Human Geography at the University of Sydney, Australia
Dr. Nguyen Quan Tuyen,
Associate Professor of Law and Vice Chairman of the Hanoi Law University
Moderator: MS Shivakumar, Social Activist and Researcher in Southeast and South Asia

The development of the Asian land tenure system has been part of a long history of struggle for land tenure reforms. Land tenure issues lie at the root of the most perplexing problems that trigger widespread poverty, inequality, and socio-economic discrimination. Recent events in different parts of Asia such as in China, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, and Myanmar and the threat of upheaval in many troubled spots all combine to force our attention on land tenure and land governance problems in South and Southeast Asia. Can land tenure issues be addressed and resolved equitably and peaceably? Can they be resolved in a manner that would conform to the socio-economic-cultural traditions of differing peoples for a better life? The IDLC 2021 will focus on different challenges to land governance systems, processes and stakeholders. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has put land access and land governance under pressure, and both uncovered and deepened underlying problems. The impact of the global pandemic and the rapid economic decline that occurred since early 2020 play out simultaneously with on-going effects of climate change and persistent food insecurity.
Against the above background, Day 1 of the IDLC 2021 will have eight sessions. These sessions will examine and analyse land governance in South and Southeast Asia with special focus on tenure security and the political economy of land-based sectors. It will discuss the current status of individual land holdings of smallholder farmers, who along with traditional forest dwellers, are among the poorest in the region. A rapidly urbanising Southeast Asia faces shortage of land for housing and infrastructure. Fragile tenure security causes land-related disputes and conflicts. The three sessions will examine whether climate change programmes or REDD+ could help resolve issues on forestland and customary rights. The sessions will also discuss attempts by Southeast Asian governments to modernise land and property rights and strengthen tenure security, include women and disadvantaged groups, and protect indigenous peoples’ land rights. They will also highlight the optimism and desire for change evident in recent government and civil society actions across Southeast Asia.

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