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By Maheswary Sivapragasam
The writer is a lawyer specializing in housing and property laws.
COLOMBO (IDN) — As land forgery continues unabated in Sri Lanka, something has to be done to prevent the prevalent rate of land fraud, with legal owners and innocent buyers unknowingly falling into these traps.
According to news sources, the Registrar General N C Withanage had said, as far back as March 2019, that 40 to 50 per cent of land deeds in Sri Lanka are forged documents.
Viewpoint by Charles Xu
This article was first published on Qiao Collective and was adapted in partnership with Globetrotter. Charles Xu is a member of the Qiao Collective and of the No Cold War collective. Source: Globetrotter
NEW YORK (IDN) — Much has been made of the “diplomatic boycott” by the United States and its allies of the 2022 Beijing Olympics. But what much of the major Western media coverage misses is the historical and geopolitical significance of these games to China—as one of only three Asian host nations for the Olympics (along with Japan and South Korea), and the first Global South country to host the Winter Games.
By Ikbale Bouziane*
MARRAKECH (IDN) — It is common that each religion has its own new year celebrations that mark events or simply cherish the divine orders of days and months. These festivities usually mark the end or beginnings of new cycles of prosperity and being thankful for God’s blessings. However, the Jewish culture celebrates an entire holiday that is specifically dedicated to trees. The choice of trees emphasizes their importance to human beings and the environmental ecosystem as a whole.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Over the course of his 90 years, Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu gave voice to his beloved nation in its struggle for change and reconciliation under Black majority rule. His last wishes for a green burial have sparked a tweetstorm on the mostly unfamiliar practice among devoted followers of “the Arch”.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — World-famous Kenyan conservationist and fossil hunter Richard Leakey, cited for “great contributions to human origins and wildlife conservation”, has passed away in Nairobi. He was 77 years of age.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta expressed “deep sorrow” at the news of Leakey’s death.
His will and ego made him the most powerful, respected man in African conservation. In the end, they’re what brought him down.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) — Kenya’s crucial rainy season came up short this year with only a few showers, wiping out livestock and putting millions of people at risk.
Photographs from Wajir County, near the border with Somalia, show dying and dead cows in a desert dotted with thorn trees. The longest dry spell in memory is pushing pastoralists nearer to starvation. “If they die,” said one herder referring to his camels, “we all die.”
By Ibrahim Mayaki and Wanjira Mathai
Dr Mayaki is the CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, while Ms Mathai is the Vice President and Regional Director for Africa at the World Resources Institute.
JOHANNESBURG; South Africa (IDN | Africa Renewal) — Six years ago, African leaders recognized that the degradation of 65 per cent of Africa’s agricultural land threatens economic and environmental ruin for millions of farmers.
Viewpoint by Leigh Ann Winowiecki, Research Theme Leader, Soil and Land Health, World Agroforestry (ICRAF)
LONDON (IDN) — A world without healthy soil is a world in which little grows. Yet, for those who live in the roughly 25 to 40 per cent of the Earth’s surface that is degraded, this is what the future could hold.
Healthy soil stands at the centre of all our pressing global challenges and will be crucial in achieving the aims of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, launched in June this year.
Viewpoint by Arunabha Ghosh and Isabel Studer Noguez
While Dr Arunabha Ghosh is CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, Dr Isabel Studer-Noguez is Director of Alianza University of California-Mexico. Both sit on the international expert panel for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) initiative Environment of Peace.
STOCKHOLM (IDN) — When world leaders meet in Glasgow for the climate change summit (COP26) (October 31-November 12), they should be aware that their decisions will cast a long shadow over the future both of climate and security.
Viewpoint by Julia Rohe-Frydrych and Luis Ebert
BERLIN (IDN) — Markets have not been kind to biodiversity. Activities up and down the economic value chain take an enormous toll on the planet’s ecological riches, and many people believe conservation and private-sector commerce are mutually opposed. In recent years, some conservationists and economists have started to argue that biodiversity is essential to long-term business survival.
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.