Time: 09:50-10:50
Land remains a main source of livelihood and wealth – and of social conflict and inequality. This is exacerbated as population pressures, development needs and climate change increase the competition for scarce resources, often threatening already marginalized groups depending on the land. Property rights to land and natural resources have been fiercely contested for centuries, and are in some cases actively used as a tool for redistribution but with limited success. In the first part of this session Namita Wahi and Ankit Bhatia present the findings from the LawTransform project on Lands rights & inclusive sustainable development in India which investigates the social effects of diverse legal regulations of land in Indian states. This is used as the basis for a broader discussion on how to theorize and research the role and effects of land rights in the current global context.
Participants include: Jackie Dugard (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa), Rachel Sieder (CIESAS, Mexico), Helena Alviar (Los Andes University, Bogota/Harvard University, USA), Dan Brinks (UT Austin, USA), and Tatiana Alfonso (University of Madison, USA).