Amid rising rural unrest that has seen millions of farmers march in India and recent arrests and killings of peasants and indigenous peoples in Cambodia, the Philippines and other countries in the region, PAN Asia Pacific (PANAP) and its partners today launched a new book documenting cases of land conflicts and community resistance in five countries.
The book, entitled “No Land, No Life! Land Conflicts and Struggles in Asia” can be downloaded for free here.
An output of a coordinated research initiative with PANAP’s key partners in its anti-land grabbing campaign, the Penang-based regional network said the book is a timely contribution to the growing rural people’s movement that has been resisting massive dislocation and systemic repression due to neoliberal policies and big business and foreign interests.
“It is part of our continuing efforts to monitor and understand global and regional trends and developments that drive land and resource grabbing; document the various cases of land conflicts in the region; document the socio-economic and human rights impacts of so-called development projects and investments on rural peoples and; learn from and share the experiences of the courageous local communities who are pushing back against the attacks on their land and life,” said Sarojeni Rengam, PANAP executive director, in the book’s foreword.
The book features five cases of land conflicts in Cambodia, India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. The research and field work were carried out last year amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
In Cambodia, the Coalition of Cambodian Farmers Community (CCFC) presented the case of an economic land concession (ELC) held by the LYP Group Co. Ltd. and its impacts on peasant communities in the Aoral and Thpong districts in the province of Kampong Speu (almost 52 kilometres west of Phnom Penh). CCFC noted how more than 3,000 families in 19 villages have lost control over their lands due to the ELC and the shift to large-scale monocrop farming.
Police and military personnel have been deployed in the communities of Kampong Speu during land clearing operations and to protect the interest of the LYP Group, which has strong ties allegedly to the ruling Cambodia People’s Party (CPP).
In India, site of recent historic farmers’ protests, the Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthidarula Union (APVVU), presented the case of the multibillion-dollar Polavaram Dam project. The mega-infrastructure project backed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank will impact rural communities the states of Andra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
The APVVU noted that the Polavaram Dam project could submerge as many as 371 villages covering some 38,000 hectares of land, of which 4,000 hectares are forest area. It could displace nearly 80,000 families, about 71% of whom are small and marginal farmers who rely on agriculture, fishing, and forest produce like bamboo handicrafts for livelihood.
In Pakistan, the Roots for Equity and Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT), jointly documented the impacts of the Peshawar Northern Bypass project. Being built in the city Peshawar (about 183 kilometres northwest of Islamabad), the bypass project is a 32-kilometre road that is part of a huge web of road routes across Pakistan intended to facilitate trade.
In its case study, Roots and PKMT focused on the village of Garhi Bajaz where the road project will pass through and impact at least 22 households, most of whom are tenant farmers. The groups have already monitored several cases of demolition of houses and destruction of crops to give way to the Peshawar Northern Bypass project. Farmers have not been compensated for the destruction and damage of their property and the loss of their crops.
In the Philippines, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Philippine Peasant Movement or KMP) presented the case of the USD 327-miilion Balog-Balog Multi-purpose Dam project which is being constructed by a joint venture involving the Chinese firm Guangxi Hydroelectric Construction Bureau Co. Ltd. The project is located in the province of Tarlac (almost 129 kilometres north of Manila).
KMP noted that the construction of Balog-Balog dam project could wipe out 29 sitios (a territory within a village) with around 1,650 families, most of whom are members of the Abelling and Umay subgroups of the Aeta indigenous group. An additional 14 sitios with 500 families near the water discharge path of the dam could be inundated as well. On top of directly displacing indigenous communities, the construction and operation of the dam would also likely affect biodiversity in the area, including the sources of livelihood of the Aetas.
Finally, in Sri Lanka, the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) documented the impacts of the government’s National Physical Plan (NPP) on fishing and farming communities in Mudcove GN Division in Trincomalee District (more than 265 kilometres north of Colombo). The NPP is a development plan intended to make “optimal, efficient, and profitable use of natural and human resources”.
NAFSO said in its case study that all in all, more than 4,400 families will be affected by the NPP projects in the Trincomalee District. In its survey of affected fishing communities, respondents reported that they have already lost 50 to 75% of their daily income as they have been disallowed by port officials to fish in certain areas covered by the projects. The government deployed military, police, and other state forces to the communities and reportedly harassed and intimidated local fisherfolk.
PANAP noted that producing the book under the current circumstances has been extra challenging and would not have been possible without the courage and determination of its partners and their communities.
“The restrictive lockdown that governments implemented to contain the COVID-19 pandemic on top of the already repressive political environment in their areas even prior to the health crisis, not to mention the health risks posed by the coronavirus, presented many challenges to our partners as they carried out the field work,” Rengam said.
PANAP said that through the book, it hopes that advocates of the people’s right to land and resources and for food sovereignty and genuine land reform will support and learn from the local struggles in the region, and build upon them to push for meaningful policy reforms both at the national and international levels. ###
Reference: Sarojeni Rengam, PANAP executive director, nolandnolife@panap.net
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