Climate Land Bank Idea Gets Major Boost in New ADB Report

7 August 2019

Article

A new report on Promoting Affordable Housing in Yangon, Myanmar published by the Asian Development Bank has, among other recommendations, urged the government of Myanmar to consider establishing a National Climate Land Bank to proactively address the looming climate displacement crisis in the country. The report notes that "Myanmar’s housing sector is struggling to cope with rapid urbanization, internal migration, and new demand from recent economic growth. These challenges are most apparent in the Yangon Region, where estimates suggest there will be a housing shortage of 1.3 million units by 2030. This publication assesses the current housing market situation in Yangon. It identifies reform options and offers practical recommendations to support the Yangon Region Government’s implementation of its affordable housing agenda and related policies." With a specific recommendation to establish a climate land bank, the report continues "The central importance of land for security, stability, and economic development is already well-recognized by the present government and by all organs of civil society, which have commenced identifying state land resources for eventual distribution to landless rural poor households as part of broader land reform efforts. In this context, the establishment of the MNCLB would be a further element of broader land…...

The People of Myanmar Need National Agreement on Restitution

24 February 2019

Article

A new 76-page report prepared by DS Director Scott Leckie with the collaboration of Jose Arraiza of NRC, with the support of the Joint Peace Fund, outlines the components of what an eventual agreement in Myanmar on housing, land and property restitution could look like. The report, entitled BUILDING AGREEMENT ON RESTITUTION RIGHTS WITH THE MYANMAR PEACE PROCESS AND NATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK examines all of the necessary components that would need to find recognition within an eventual national agreement designed to ensure that everyone with a viable HLP restitution claim could submit these to an independent judicial body with enforcement powers strong enough to ensure the full enjoyment of restitution rights throughout all corners of the country. Millions of people with legitimate restitution claims have yet to be able to have these claims heard by judicial bodies with the power to enforce these claims to return to, recover and/or re-inhabit the homes and lands from which they have been forced to flee over the past several decades. The report points out that HLP restitution rights are widely recognised in international law, and that many other countries have adopted restitution laws and procedures as key elements within peace processes and the…...

DS Director Interviewed on the 70th Anniversary of the UDHR – Listen here!

11 December 2018

  DS Director Scott Leckie was interviewed on 10 December 2018 on Australian Radio station 3CR on the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and how human rights are affected by the effects of climate change. Have a listen here: https://audio.3cr.org.au/3cr/beyond-zero-community/2018/12/10/1700/201812101700_beyond-zero-community_64.mp3...

The Guardian reports on climate displacement in Myanmar

4 November 2018

Article

Have a look at Libby Hogan's article 'We feel like hermit crabs': Myanmar's climate dispossessed, published on 1 November 2018 in The Guardian. The article is one of the first published by international media sources focusing on Myanmar's latest displacement crisis, that of looming and massive climate displacement. DS Director Scott Leckie was interviewed for the article which also explores the need for the government of Myanmar to establish a national climate land back to deal effectively with climate displacement. You can access the article here: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/nov/01/we-feel-like-hermit-crabs-myanmar-climate-dispossessed....

DS & NRC Report – Restitution in Myanmar: Building Lasting Peace, National Reconciliation and Economic ProsperityThrough a Comprehensive Housing, Land and Property Restitution Programme

13 October 2017

  http://issuu.com/displacementsolutions/docs/dis5244_ds-nrc_restitution_in_engli?e=31296948/54230902 http://issuu.com/displacementsolutions/docs/dis5244_ds-nrc_restitution_in_engli?e=31296948/54230902...

Interview with Scott Leckie on DS efforts to find solutions to climate displacement

9 August 2017

Video

In this video Displacement Solutions' director, Scott Leckie is interviewed on the activity we're undertaking around the world to combat climate-based displacement. Scott's significant experience in housing rights and land restitution provide him a unique vantage point in assessing both the problems inherent to, and the solutions necessary to tackle this growing problem. "No-one wants to move" he offers, but with sea-levels rising at higher-than-expected rates, there's little choice. "We need to find somewhere in the range of 12.5 to 50 million acres of land, globally" he tells the interviewer from the Graduate Institute Geneva. View the whole interview here...

Commemorating 10 Years of Action – the 2016 DS Annual Report

6 August 2017

Article

Ten Years of Action It is hard to believe that DS has now been active for ten busy and eventful years. This has been quite a ride for our (intentionally) small and flexible organisation, and one involving an wonderful team of dedicated HLP experts from around the world working in a range of displacement hotspots. From developing the Peninsula Principles, to spearheading global efforts to obtain land for climate displaced people, developing IDP return designs in Timor Leste, Somalia, Colombia, Bhutan and many more, carrying on-site investigations in Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Panama, Kiribati, Bangladesh and other climate change-affected areas, to conducting HLP rights analysis and restitution design work in Myanmar, advising the UN on HLP issues in Syria, publishing several books, inaugurating the world’s first law school courses on climate displacement, and writing DS reports, producing films, building homes for climate displaced families in Chittagong, and so much more, this first DS decade has been an exhilarating one. Since our founding on 28 December 2006, DS has worked in some 35 countries to assist in finding rights-based solutions to forced displacement in all of its forms. Besides our legal experts, we have had the honour of working with villagers, community…...

Major New DS/NRC Report on Myanmar’s Next Challenge: Making Restitution a Reality and a Part of the Peace Process

30 March 2017

Displacement Solutions and the Norwegian Refugee Council have called for dialogue on the establishment of a new nationwide restitution programme that would return homes, land and properties to their rightful owners and its inclusion in the peace process. The new report Restitution in Myanmar: Building Lasting Peace, National Reconciliation and Economic Prosperity Through a Comprehensive Housing, Land and Property Restitution Programme explores both the progress made towards ending practices of land grabbing and forced displacement, as well as pointing out the still considerable gaps between law and policy in the country and international law and best practices. Based on the extensive global restitution experiences of both organisations, the report takes the view that redressing housing, land and property abuses and creating pathways by which those affected can access legal remedies for these losses. Though some important strides have been made to address some manifestations of land grabbing by the NLD-led government, millions of people throughout the country and overseas, including refugees and IDPs, have not yet been able to formally reclaim their homes. The report argues that restitution must form a central component of the peace process and find a prominent place within any eventual peace agreements. The report continues…...

Land Solutions for Climate Displacement Works in Colombia: Government-Supported Gramalote Relocation Moves Ahead

20 March 2017

On 11 March 2017, a group of 54 families moved in the newly built town of Gramalote, Colombia some seven years after the decimation of the town as a consequence of the La Niña phenomena. They are part of the nearly 3,300 climate displaced people who were affected by the massive mudslide that destroyed their community in December 2010. Other families will continue moving throughout 2017 as their houses and other public buildings such as the school and hospital are finalized. It is expected that the 1,000 new houses will all be completed by March 2018. Despite challenges during the reconstruction process, especially during the initial stages, the outcomes so far are very encouraging. In many ways, Colombia is setting a positive example of how to deal fairly and equitably with effects of climate displacement and resultant planned relocation. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the government of Colombia rightfully committed itself to rebuilding the entire town and ensuring that those affected would receive new homes for the homes they lost. Seven years later, it appears that the government is admirably keeping its promise.  We hope governments everywhere will do the same and engage directly in preventing, repairing and resolving…...