AFA and PAKISAMA attended the Asian People’s Land Rights Tribunal (16-17 January 2014, University of the Philippines College of Law, Quezon City, Philippines), which tackled the land grab phenomenon that is infecting the rural Southeast Asian landscape. In 2009, 20,000 hectares were forcibly taken from Cambodia farmers to grow sugar for export. 17,000 hectares of forests and indigenous people’s land are turned into a palm oil plantation in Indonesia. Agricultural lands are being converted to a Special Economic Zone and a critical watershed is being explored for mining in the Philippines. Some 150 guests came from the academic community and civil society organizations from various Asian countries to hear about the cases on land rights violations. (Link: Asian People’s Land Rights Tribunal)
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