Rights Of Local People Research Articles

Analisis Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Melalui Program Pemanfaatan Serat Olahan Daun Nanas Subang (Pesona Subang)

Social responsibility is an important issue in the corporate context. Moreover, companies operating in the natural resource exploration and mining (extractive) sectors have an obligation to carry out social responsibility as an effort to develop and guarantee the rights of local people and communities around the company area. One of them is the social responsibility carried out by PT Pertamina EP Regional 2 Zone 7 Subang Field which focuses on efforts to manage pineapple leaf waste into natural fiber which has high economic value through the implementation of the Subang Pineapple Leaf Processed Fiber Utilization Program (Pesona Subang). This study aims to examine the implementation of the Pesona Subang Program from a community empowerment perspective starting from planning, implementation, and ultimately generating impacts and benefits for the community, especially the community of Cikadu Village, Cijambe District, Subang Regency. This research uses descriptive qualitative methods through literature sources and all forms of documentation and reporting publications related to the program. Program Pesona Subang provides benefits and positive impacts not only for dealing with the problem of pineapple leaf waste into natural fiber with high selling value, but also strives for the sustainability of the program which is supported by innovation in production management and adequate infrastructure for community productivity. Apart from that, participation from beneficiary communities and local communities is also the main key in the success of achieving this program, so that people are independently motivated.

The transition of sokshing (leaf litter forest) property rights and management: A case study of Punakha and Wangdue district, Bhutan

Prior to the government's involvement, the local communities had customary rights over the forest including access to, use of, and management of forest resources in Bhutan. However, the fate of customary rights changed with the provision of new governance. A case of sokshing (leaflitter forest) and its management under new regulations are discussed in this study. The sokshing which was de facto independent and owned by private households and communities, was nationalized under the provision of the Forest Act of 1969. Subsequently, the Land Act of 1978 permitted the use of sokshing for the collection of leaf litter and fodder, restraining the use of standing trees and land. However, with the Land Act of 2007, the user right was abolished and sokshing was completely nationalized and deregistered from lagthram (private land registration record), infringing the people's customary rights. This study examined how an individuals responded to changes in the legal ownership of sokshing and its effect on the sustainability, management, and preservation of sokshing land. To achieve this, 61 households comprising both sokshing and non-sokshing owners were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Ostrom and Schlager's bundles of rights framework were used to examine the changes in the forest property rights of local people. The results revealed that despite the enactment of the 2007 land act, the majority of respondents continued to manage and use sokshing for the production of leaf litter. However, there were concerns among local people about the ownership of their sokshing land due to poor implementation of the land act and lack of clarity on land property rights. Therefore, to address the concerns and ensure the sustainable management and utilization of sokshing land, it is recommended that the Land Act of 2007 be amended to include provisions for thorough consultation and participation, the development of a comprehensive management plan, and the promotion of equity in the use and management of sokshing resources.

Reflections on the corporate social responsibility landscape for Canadian mining transnational corporations in the aftermath of Nevsun Resources Ltd v Araya

This paper explores the corporate social responsibility (CSR) landscape for Canadian mining transnational corporations (TNCs) in the wake of the landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Nevsun Resources Ltd v Araya, which settles, as concrete law, the right of foreign victims of transnational torts committed by Canadian TNCs to bring an action in Canadian courts. The paper acknowledges that there has been an increasing tendency by the Canadian government to create, by way of legislation, legal responsibility for some of the corporate behaviours that had been only governed by CSR initiatives. It argues that the right of action established in the Supreme Court decision adds to the introduction of legal responsibility into the realm of social responsibility, thus calling into question the continuing relevance of CSR initiatives for mining TNCs. It concludes that despite the apparent encroachment upon the social responsibility sphere by legal responsibility, CSR initiatives still hold a place of importance for mining TNCs. Canadian mining TNCs will continue to use the CSR front to gain acceptance in local communities, but may now be potentially held legally responsible through extraterritorial litigation in Canada when their activities run afoul of their own CSR creed or programme and/or violate the rights of local people in their host countries.

A tribute to whom defend the forest: Hyptidendron dorothyanum (Lamiaceae: Hyptidinae), a new species from the Amazonian domain

Amazonia, despite being famous as the most prominent tropical forest, is currently suffering high rates of degradation, with recurrent fires and deforestation, which could shortly lead it to be classified as a biodiversity hotspot for conservation. Although the known flora of the domain displays exceptional richness, its diversity is far from being well known, with several new species being described each year and lots of areas still poorly collected. During the preparation of a revision of Hyptidendron (Lamiaceae, subtribe Hyptidinae), a small genus with 21 species, unidentified and unmatched specimens from the Amazonian domain were uncovered. Here we describe and illustrate these specimens as Hyptidendron dorothyanum sp. nov., named in honor of Sister Dorothy Stang, murdered for her support for the biodiversity of the Amazon and her defence of the rights of local people. The new species, currently known from just two gatherings from Amazonas and Pará States is compared with its most closely related species, Hyptidendron canum, H. arboreum, H. asperrimum and H. leucophyllum. We also provide a distribution map, a preliminary conservation assessment, as well as comments on the phenology and ecology of the new species. This paper calls attention to the importance of the conservation of Amazonia and its rich but still not completely known diversity.

Balancing water rights in metropolitan water conservation areas: the case of Chengdu, China

ABSTRACT Water justice can be a delicate balancing act. Conservation regulations ensure urban areas’ water demands are met, but these may conflict with the water rights of local people living in catchment areas. No metropolis wants to face water shortages, yet prioritising municipalities’ rights over those of local people can result in water injustice. This paper explores water rights and water justice, defining both to show how the latter is achieved by balancing the former. It examines Chengdu’s water catchment area using field observation, interviews, and document analysis and investigates the causes of water conflict through the lens of local culture. The study then outlines a water justice framework involving domestic habits and lifestyle, production of water, and management principles with the aim of providing parity of rights that highlight local cultural factors. The justice criteria outlined here could also be used in other places where power structures disregard local people’s water rights.

'When the cat is away, the mice will play': the political ecology of tobacco production and manganese mining in Nansanga farm block in Zambia

Large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) have emerged as an important policy issue in development discourse. Governments in host countries play a critical role in engineering policy landscapes for enclosing local community resources for capital accumulation by business entities with more financial resources and access to power. Case studies have highlighted failed implementation of LSLA deals, resulting in cancellations, scaling down, abandonment or change of investment business models. However, few attempts have been made to understand what accounts for such failures and what happens when both state policy and private sector implementation of land deals fail. Taking Nansanga farm block, a government of Zambia-led LSLA deal currently in limbo, this article presents a study that aimed at understanding the political ecology of tobacco production and manganese mining as opportunistic economic activities – that is, activities that are taking advantage of new infrastructure created by an otherwise 'failed' government project and flourishing in an area where local people's rights were previously protected through customary tenure. Drawing on stakeholder interviews, the study shows that the government's role in the development of Nansanga vanished; creating a development vacuum that opened the door to opportunistic tobacco production and open pit manganese mining. Tobacco and mining, heavily extractive as they are of forest resources, have emerged as double-edged swords: in the short term increasing financial inflows and job creation on one hand, and, on the other, leading to flight from production of traditional crops, deforestation and land degradation, anomie and deracination as some land use and land users are (re)defined.

Irrigation System Of Turkestan In The Second Half Of 19th Century And Early 20th Century

This article describes the state of irrigated agriculture in Turkestan, water sources, classification of major rivers and their tributaries, geographical location, irrigation system, sources of water supply, types of traditional irrigation methods used by the local population in the second half of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Moreover, an attempt is made to reveal the participation of local people in the construction, repair, cleaning of irrigation facilities, the implementation of centuries-old rules of irrigation, the rights of local people to use water through a number of sources, statistical collections, scientific literature and research works in the article.

Assessment of losses to the local population due to restrictions on their ownership rights to land and property assets: The case of the Tunkinsky National Park, Russia.

The impact of protected areas on local communities is the subject of intense discussions as part of the implementation of the global ecosystem protection agenda. Conflicts between the interests of environmental protection and the needs of socio-economic development become particularly acute when large areas of land are taken out of economic circulation as a result of organizing protected areas. In this case, there is an urgent need for detailed and reliable information about the social impacts of such land withdrawal on the well-being of the local population. An analysis of the methodological approaches widely presented in the literature, used to assess the social impact of protected areas, testifies to the insufficiency of completed and practically applicable methodological guidelines for the areas with significant restrictions for people who form part of the protected landscape. In this study, we understand the cost estimate of the social impact of national parks on the local population as a quantitative calculation of the losses due to restrictions on their ownership rights to land and property assets. The methodological approach consists in considering the category of losses as a sum total of the actual damage and lost profits. The assessment algorithm includes three stages: systematization of social impacts on citizens, development of indicators and data collection, and calculation of actual damage to the population and lost profits. The assessment is performed using the example of the Tunkinsky National Park located in the Tunkinsky municipal district of the Republic of Buryatia, a region of the Russian Federation, where there are 14 rural settlements with a population of more than 20,000 people. The results of the calculations show that the losses of the rural population due to legal restrictions on the registration of land dealings amount to 170.4 million USD. Taking into account the potential amount of administrative fines and the value of property subject to demolition, the losses amount to 239.2 million USD. It is more than an order of magnitude greater than the amount of own revenues of the Tunkinsky municipal district in 2011–2019. The results obtained demonstrate the real picture of the impact of restrictions on the rights of local people to land within the boundaries of national parks and are useful for developing measures to account for their interests and include protected areas in the socio-economic development of regions. The methodological approach developed by the authors can be used in other national parks, where it is necessary to optimize the policy of improving land use for local residents.

KEBIJAKAN PEMERINTAH DAERAH KABUPATEN SINTANG TERHADAP PEMBATASAN HAK PETANI LADANG TRADISIONAL DALAM PEMBUKAAN LAHAN DENGAN MEMBAKAR

Sintang district’s regional government has issued its decree no. 57 year 2018 about the proposed land opening ceremony for people in sintang district. Such policies restrict the rights of local people and their generation to burn-through what has always been done according to local policy values. The study used the normativejuridical approach method, conducted to identify and analyze in detail the restriction of traditional field farmers’ rights in land opening by burning that had been set in the 57th year 2018 regents’ rule and the local farmer’s traditional field wisdom in clearing by burning. Studies show that in article 6 of the 57th year 2018 regaining rule, regulatory the traditional farmers’ rights to perform land clearing by burning. The complex requirements of the conditional provisions made it difficult for traditional farmers to carry out the traditional traditions passed down in the indigenous dayak community in sintang district.

Land Conversion for Tourism Development under Vietnam’s Ambiguous Property Rights over Land

The paper aims to explore the process of land conversion for tourism development in Vietnam, under the present ambiguous and insecure property rights system. Four case studies in different geographical areas were selected to analyse land conversion and land compensation for tourism projects before and after the implementation of the new land law in 2013. The findings of this study show that, in the present legal system of land and property rights, the rights of local people are not sufficiently guaranteed due to the decisive role of the State not only in defining compensation prices for land in the case of compulsory land acquisition but also in determining whether tourism projects are in the public’s interest or not (thus deciding the appropriate land conversion approach as well as affecting price negotiations). The research also found that, although a voluntary land conversion approach (when the project is not in the public’s interest), based on the 2013 Land Law, offers land users a better negotiation position and a higher compensation payment, possibly reducing land-related conflicts between the State and land users, ambiguity over property rights in fact increased due to the government’s substantial discretion to choose between ‘public purpose’ and ‘economic purpose.’ The paper concludes with questioning whether the present legal basis for compulsory land acquisition is future proof since urbanisation pressure is likely to increase, which may lead to even more land conflicts in the near future.

Dissenting voices in a consenting village: lessons from implementation of free, prior and informed consent at a REDD+ pilot in Tanzania

Free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) is a key institutional tool in meeting social safeguards. Its implementation ensures respect of the local people's rights in an intervention. This paper presents a case of FPIC implementation at a REDD+ pilot site. Data were obtained through key informant interviews and focus group discussions with proponents and village members of the Lindi REDD+ project. Findings indicate that the inclusive approach to FPIC by taking the consultations to the hamlet level did not deliver a flawless process. The consent decision was reached by a majority vote, not consensus. There was some dissent, prompting the early establishment of project implementation committees. Consent was obtained, though it was not absolutely free, prior and informed. Future REDD+ projects should consider having FPIC as an independent and earlier process, separate from the main implementation of the project in order to uphold local peoples' rights in a less anxious process.

Extractive Industries and Public Participation in Russia: The Case of the Oil Industry in Izhemskii District, Komi Republic

This article focuses on the participatory rights of local people living in the areas of extensive oil industry operations in the Izhemskii district of the Komi Republic in Russia. The district has long been suffering from oil leaks and resulting negative environmental impacts. Lukoil-Komi bought the business directly after the Soviet era and inherited the ecological threats related to old and rusty pipelines. Lukoil-Komi has promised to put things in order, but a great deal remains to be done.This article scrutinizes how statutory law and private governance interact in protecting the participatory rights of local people living in the vicinity of oil production in Komi. First, we evaluate what participatory rights Russian legislation guarantees to local people when oil production arrives in a new area or when new wells are being explored or opened. Second, we elaborate how the major oil company in the region – Lukoil-Komi – fulfills its corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the area of participatory rights and how local people feel about their possibility to exercise their participatory rights. As participatory rights, we discuss both procedural justice with public hearings and distributive justice in the form of benefit-sharing between the company and local community. The wider perspective on participation is due to Russian CSR practices. In Russia, companies tend to earn their Social License to Operate (SLO) through benefit-sharing, often within private governance. This practice is based on the social partnership agreements between authorities and companies. These contracts have path-dependent features resembling earlier Soviet solutions. The same can be claimed to apply to a wider SLO with more focus on local communities. We argue that Lukoil-Komi has not yet been able to achieve an SLO (local acceptance) due to the lack of participatory rights and continuing environmental problems. Most local people are not willing to trade a clean environment and participatory rights for the social benefits the company offers. However, the social partnership agreement concluded between Lukoil-Komi and a local NGO, Izvatas, could be a step forward in achieving a local SLO.

Historical Changes of Land Tenure and Land Use Rights in a Local Community: A Case Study in Lao PDR

Land-titling programs, land and forest allocation programs, and projects on state-allocated land for development and investment in Laos have been key drivers of change in land tenure. These have triggered major shifts in land use rights, from customary, to temporary, and then to permanent land use rights. This article explores how government programs to grant land use rights to individual households have affected the way people have been able to acquire and secure land tenure. For our case study, we selected the village of Napo, the target of many land tenure changes in the past four decades. We collected data from district offices, group discussions with village organizations, and interviews with selected households. The study shows how land use rights shifted over time and reveals that households obtained most of their agricultural land and forestland through a claim process. Original households were mainly land claimers, while migrants were land buyers. The process of formalization and allocation of tenure triggered inequality among households. Attention is needed in future land governance and tenure reforms in order to safeguard the land use rights of local people in an equitable manner.

Pengayaan Pengetahuan Lokal, Pembangunan Pranata Sosial: Pengelolaan Sumberdaya Alam dalam Kemitraan

For three decades, the management of natural resources has been oriented towards increased production and profit in the national economy or for certain stakeholders, sacrificing conservation and the prosperity of local people. The unavoidable results are the deterioration of natural resources, ecological pollution, and a decline in the people's ways and standards of living. This paper attempts to show that the sustainable management of natural resources can only be achieved if the state surrenders its domination and delegate rights to the local people as active actors. Besides the stories of how rich local knowledge, are some studies point out that local people have limited knowledge of the ecosystem, which carries the implication of weaknesses in natural resource management. Other cases focus on how the social institution (rules, conventions and control mechanisms) needed to overcome the problems of resource management has not been internalized, or has either been marginalized, or substituted by ineffective government institutions. The cases of rice farmers in Lampung and fish farmers in South Sulawesi as illustrated in this paper will show that special attention should be given to the enrichment of local knowledge, along with the creation, establishment and development of social institutions. For the sustainable management of natural resources in this country, it is important to consider the local people's rights of managing resources on their own, and the need for facilitation on the basis of partnership.

Neoliberal Politics of Resource Extraction: Moroccan Argan Oil

This article addresses the intertwining and co-production of normative and technological strands in the politics of natural resource extraction. It explores how the integration of a forest resource in the global economy by means of normative and technological appropriation is associated with the delegation of responsibility for its conservation and the sustainability of its extraction management to local-use rights holders. In the process, such entanglements involve the commodification of a local staple as a niche product exploitable on a global scale. The transformation of the access rights of local people into responsibilities is addressed as an implicit form of ‘de facto soft land and resource grabbing’ (e.g. Zoomers 2010; Sassen 2013; Seufert 2013). This article aims to contribute to the ongoing debate around forms of ‘accumulation by dispossession’ (Harvey 2003; Kelly 2011; Corson 2011). The specific case study involves the emergence of argan oil on the world market.

Delivering community benefits through REDD +: Lessons from Joint Forest Management in Zambia

In implementing reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), significant attention is being paid to ensuring that communities stand to benefit. Safeguards to protect local people's rights and interests have been formulated in response concerns over the potential negative impact on communities of forest preservation. To fulfil safeguards, many sub-Saharan African countries are looking to community-based natural resource management (CBNRM). Current critiques of CBNRM projects outline the importance of project design and policy context in shaping whether or not communities actually stand to benefit. This paper explores these aspects in a case study of Joint Forest Management (JFM) in Zambia, and examines the role of Zambia's REDD preparedness programme in shaping them. The case study was evaluated using stakeholder and policy document analyses, informed by interviews, and tied into the broader forest governance network. The findings highlight the way in which the politics and policies of forest governance in Zambia shape the on-the-ground JFM project and influence community benefits. In the case studied, even with careful local-level project design, JFM would be hindered in its delivery of REDD safeguards. Therefore, for REDD to deliver community safeguards, it must be considered as a broader process of political and governance change.

Institutional dimensions of the developing REDD+ process in Cameroon

The reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) initiative has emerged in recent years as a mechanism to simultaneously address climate change, biodiversity, and poverty reduction challenges at the margins of tropical forests. Congo Basin countries, including Cameroon, have embraced the opportunities that REDD+ provides, with great expectations. Yet, it needs to be investigated whether the enabling institutional environment, which is required for implementing REDD+, is present. Understanding is still limited on how to build adequate and strong institutional relations that could shape the reforms towards the establishment of efficient emissions reductions schemes. Furthermore, uncertainty remains on the operational mechanisms of REDD+, suggesting that, to catalyse effectiveness, there is a need to come up with a governance model nested in relevant policy frameworks. This study builds on a modified ‘4Is’ framework – Institutions, Interests, Ideas and Information – to analyse REDD+ and explore stakeholders' perceptions on the local forest governance potential. A structural implementation model to optimize the effectiveness of REDD+ is developed. Findings suggest that governments need to review existing policies to take into account participation, local people rights, and information access as a way to stimulate actors' willingness to contribute to emissions reductions and carbon stock increases under REDD+ regimes.

Sustainable development through a rights-based approach to conserve protected areas in China

Protected areas are the world’s most effective tool for biodiversity conservation. However, neglecting human rights can affect the conservation of protected areas. A rights-based approach to conservation meets the need to better balance human rights protection and protected areas conservation and can make an important contribution to sustainable development. Protected areas in China, with a total surface of 1,562,257 km2, play a vital role in the world. The protected areas with a high biodiversity value are usually located in the western part of China, which mostly are economically poorer areas. The conflicts between conserving protected areas and protecting human rights of local people and communities seem to be inevitable in China. Hence, deciding how to adopt a rights-based approach to conserve protected areas becomes an important issue. However, there is a distinct lack of literature paying attention to this issue. With the aim of adopting a rights-based approach to conserve protected areas in China, this paper tries to fill this gap in three parts. Firstly, the existing legal instruments in China referring to the right to information and the right to participation are briefly analyzed. Secondly, it explains concisely why a rights-based approach can help to solve the conflicts as well as its advantages and challenges, especially with respect to the Chinese situation. Thirdly, it explores how to adopt a rights-based approach to protected areas conservation, in order to solve the conflicts in China.

Urban Forest Justice and the Rights to Wild Foods, Medicines, and Materials in the City

Urban forests are multifunctional socio-ecological landscapes, yet some of their social benefits remain poorly understood. This paper draws on ethnographic evidence from Seattle, Washington to demonstrate that urban forests contain nontimber forest products that contribute a variety of wild foods, medicines, and materials for the wellbeing of urban residents. We show that gathering wild plants and fungi in urban forests is a persistent subsistence and livelihood practice that provides sociocultural and material benefits to city residents, and creates opportunities for connecting with nature and enhancing social ties. We suggest that an orientation toward human-nature interactions in cities that conceptualizes the gathering of forest products as a legitimate social benefit may support and expand urban forest justice. Urban forest justice recognizes the rights of local people to have control over their own culturally appropriate wild food and health systems, including access to natural resources and to the decision-making processes affecting them.

Protected areas, poverty and conflicts: A livelihood case study of Mikumi National Park, Tanzania

This paper investigates livelihoods of communities around Mikumi, Tanzania's fourth largest national park, and impacts of living close to the park. People are very poor in the area, also beyond the areas close to the park. The average income is around 0.45 USD per person per day. People report food shortages in two out of the last five years. Even “the least poor group” earns no more than an average of 2 USD/cap and day.Main incomes (80%) are derived from agriculture and non-farm incomes. There is a differential diversification pattern where poor people depend more on selling their labour within agriculture, while the less poor group depends more on non-farm activities. Environmental (forest and natural resources) incomes are low, compared to what is typically found in such rural areas, making up 6.3% of total incomes. Living close to the park incurs costs in the range of 2 to 20% of total household incomes, mainly through wildlife raiding crops and livestock; the scale depending on village location.The study documents that attempts to reduce tensions between local people and the park through outreach activities yield negligible results compared to the costs people incur, and do little to reduce the conflict-ridden park-people relations.Although the park may not necessarily be a “poverty trap”, it must be seen as yet another and substantial constraint for people securing their livelihoods. Increasing land scarcity, population densities, income inequalities all imply mounting pressures that aggravate resource use conflicts. Furthermore, the present situation with external political interference in selection and implementation of outreach activities is not conducive to progress. Given that 24% of Tanzania consists of wildlife protected areas, much more focused, rights-based and location specific approaches should be developed to reduce losses, and to secure local people's rights to income from the parks and due compensation for accrued costs. People should have formal rights to access park resources that can be subjected to controlled, sustainable harvesting. The present park management culture in terms of attitudes, values and norms needs to change through training in how to work with local people. Such interventions would help reduce conflict levels.