About the Book
The problem of escalating population displacement demands global attention and country co-ordination. This book investigates the particular issue of development-induced displacement, whereby land is seized or restricted by the state for the purposes of development projects. Those displaced by these schemes often risk losses to their homes, livelihoods, food security, and socio-cultural support; for which they are rarely fully compensated. Bringing together 22 specialist researchers and practitioners from across the globe, this book provides a much-needed independent analysis of country frameworks for development-induced displacement spanning Asia, Africa, Central and South America.
As global competition for land increases, public and private sector lenders are lightening their social safeguards, shifting the oversight for protecting the displaced to national law and regulations. This raises a central question: Do countries have effective ways of addressing the risks and lost opportunities for their people who are displaced? While many countries remain impervious to the problem, the book also shines a light on the few who are pioneering new legislation and strategies, intended to address questions such as: should the social costs to those displaced help determine whether a project meets the public interest and merits financing? Does the modern state need powers of eminent domain? How can country laws, systems, institutions and negotiations be reformed to protect citizens better against disempowering public and private sector development displacement?
This book will interest those working on forced and voluntary migration, property and expropriation law, human rights, environmental and social impact assessment, internal and refugee displacement from conflicts, environment change, disasters and development.
Table of Contents:
Introduction Part I Conceptual Frameworks 1. Why national law is essential for protecting public interest and providing safeguards in land acquisition and forced displacement 2. Global monitoring of the human impacts of development-forced displacement and resettlement 3. Can national and international legal frameworks mitigate land grabbing and dispossession in South-East Asia? 4. Minding the Gender Gaps: How legal gaps withhold gender-equitable outcomes in land acquisition, compensation, and resettlement 5. Higher Risk, Higher Reward? Negotiated Settlements, Wellbeing and Livelihoods in Development Displacement Part II Challenges at the Country Level 6. What does it take to mandate good national policy into law? The case of Sri Lanka’s National Involuntary Resettlement Policy 7. Assessing country safeguards as a protection/benefit for those who are displaced by development projects: the case of democratic South Africa 8. Safeguarding community livelihoods in Uganda: Analysis of a country framework for land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation 9. Indigenous People, Involuntary Resettlement, International Institutions 10. Paying resettled communities for environmental services: Legally mandated benefit-sharing for Vietnam’s dam displaced Part III Interweaving international, national and local: Country Case Studies 11. Global or local safeguards? Social impact assessment insights from an urban Indian land acquisition 12. Urbanisation resettlement in China: characteristics, risks and the revised Land Administration Law 13. Land rights on paper and in practice in Cambodia: How land rights are recognised, protected and expropriated for project development 14. Cultural and political obstacles to effective resettlement: a case study of involuntary displacement of Pehuenche families by the Pangue and Ralco hydroelectric dams in southern Chile 15. With or without international institutions? Acquisition of land rights for infrastructure projects in the weak legal framework of Timor-Leste Conclusion
About the Author :
Susanna Price is a Lecturer in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University (ANU)
Jane Singer is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies at Kyoto University, Japan
Review :
"Price and Singer have brought together a diverse and perceptive group of authors in a volume that will be compelling reading for scholars, practitioners and policy makers concerned with improving planned displacement and resettlement outcomes. The insights within come at a critical juncture for sustainable development, and underscore the need for alignment between local, national and international perspectives on this important topic." — Deanna Kemp, Professor, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, The University of Queensland, Australia
"This volume raises a crucial issue: Good country legislation is paramount as a first step towards minimising the impact of forced displacement on vulnerable people whose way of life may be irrevocably and suddenly changed. I witnessed a graphic illustration of the reservoir disruption and chaos caused by relocation of 15 longhouse communities in East Malaysia." — Jennifer Alexander, Anthropologist and Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australia
"Susanna Price and Jane Singer have assembled an amazing set of papers focused on country frameworks for displacement and resettlement. A much-needed contribution, this is sure to become a major work in the field of development studies." — Hari Mohan Mathur, Distinguished Professor, Council for Social Development, New Delhi, India
"A comprehensive analysis of the gaps between national and international standards in land acquisition and resettlement, and a must read for all stakeholders seeking to improve outcomes for affected people. This book provides the evidence that reliance on country safeguard systems alone will result in further serious human rights abuses." — Eddie Smyth, Director, Intersocial Consulting, Ltd.
"This is a necessary book. Not only does it present well-documented, thoroughly researched case studies, but it also lays groundwork for a much-needed legal framework that can handle the huge power asymmetries that occur when indigenous and other vulnerable peoples face displacement by governments and corporations promoting development projects in the name of public interest." — Renato Ponciano, Associate Professor, Engineering Department, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala
"This edited volume contains a wealth of scholarship that fill a void in development studies. Large scale development projects are often touted as essential for national growth, and yet they frequently mean displacement and harm to communities that are already marginalized. This volume contains research on this significant issue from around the globe, allowing for comparisons and the identification of trends and patterns." — Mary Jane C. Parmentier, Clinical Associate Professor, Arizona State University, USA
"This volume is an important addition to the literature on development-induced displacement. Bringing together well-known experts in the field, the volume presents intriguing case studies that analyze how countries conceptualize and plan displacement for developmental purposes and how livelihood outcomes of displaced people are addressed. The volume is an essential read for researchers, students and development practitioners alike." — Sabrina Habich-Sobiegalla, Professor for Chinese Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
"This is an important, timely book. It brings home the inadequacies of reparation for land takings by governments in the name of public interest for especially the majority poor. This will keep taking a toll until governments get to grips with the damage outdated and unjust norms are doing to their broader development and peace agendas." — Liz Alden Wily, International Land Tenure Specialist
"Based on abundant case studies from around the world this volume amply illustrates the gap between rhetoric and reality in legal and institutional frameworks to address the risks to lives and livelihoods created when development displaces people. The Introduction and Conclusion clearly explain the issues to the reader." — Hamamoto Atsushi, Professor, Toyo University, Japan
