The right to land plays a key role in the realisation of a plethora of human rights, including the right to food, water, housing, employment, a clean and healthy environment, an adequate standard of living, social status and the power to make decisions. Property rights over land can take many forms, from mere access rights to ownership. Due to a growing world population and various global crises and developments such as agrarian reform, land is becoming scarce. The result is that land prices increase and the poorest sectors of society are deprived of access to land whilst State authorities and foreign investors practise land grabbing to make way for palm oil, animal feed and biofuel plantations, tourist resorts, or as speculative investment. In addition, arable land is not only claimed for residential purposes, but also by industries that in turn pollute the soil and water. Many groups in society, especially in developing States, need access to land for their subsistence. It is these smallholders, landless farmers, rural youths, indigenous peoples and women who often suffer the worst consequences of land reform schemes and land grabbing practices. They are not well protected by the existing forms of land tenure and State authorities often fail to live up to their human rights obligations to respect and protect the land rights of people in all sectors of their society.Legal Aspects of Land Rights is the result of the cooperation of scholars from five Indonesian faculties of law, the Maastricht Centre for Human Rights, and the Maastricht European Transnational Research Institute (METRO), together known as the Land Rights Consortium.

This book provides a compelling view of the emerging system of environmental law in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country and one of its most rapidly developing. Whilst Indonesia owes its legal traditions to Dutch civil law, a vibrant community of Indonesian environmental law scholars, many of whom are represented in this volume, has helped forge distinctive approaches to environmental regulation. With contributions also by leading European scholars, this is a significant addition to the existing literature on comparative studies in environmental law.' - Rob Fowler, IUCN Academy of Environmental Law'In Regulating Disasters, Climate Change and Environmental Harm Michael Faure and Andri Wibisana bring together insightful analyses of how developing countries can manage serious hazards. Natural disasters have long been threats to developing countries, but now climate change is increasing many risks and posing new challenges. Using Indonesia as a case study, the volume explores issues of risk mitigation and compensation that many other countries also face.' - Daniel Farber, University of California, Berkeley This book deals with questions concerning the regulation of disasters, climate change and environmental harm in developing countries, focusing on the particular case of Indonesia and addressing regulatory problems from a multidisciplinary perspective. The contributing authors deal with issues of globalization and especially the question of how globalization affects environmental harm - for example, examining how climate change is regulated in developing countries. Particular attention is paid to the programme for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) and to the effectiveness of the Clean Development Mechanism. Specific focus is also given to the regulation of disasters and the problem of how victims of disasters can be compensated. The book considers issues of decision-making and public participation in decisions with respect to environmentally hazardous activities and finally, the subject of how indigenous knowledge and 'local wisdom' can be incorporated in environmental decision-making in developing countries is discussed. Important conclusions are drawn about how reliable institutions and instruments can be developed to guarantee decision-making which reduces the risks emerging from environmental degradation, climate change or disasters in that public interest. Recommendations are formulated to take into account the specific challenges and problems that developing countries are facing when proposing particular instruments or institutions. This book will appeal to environmental lawyers, environmental policymakers, civil servants with competence for disasters, environmental decision-making or climate change, and environmental economists. Contributors: C. Backes, D. Bram, D. Bunga, L. Choukroune, M. Faure, I.N.E. Irawan, J. Khatarina, T. Mafira, R.V. Rugebregt, M.A. Santosa, I.G.E. Sarjana, J. Spier, M.A. Suleiman, E. Vos, I.W. Wiasta, A. Wibisana, I.W.G. Wiryawan