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20th NZASIA Biennial International Conference

On November 22-24 2013, the New Zealand Asian Studies Society is hosting their 20th biennial international conference in Auckland, with the theme of “Environment, Dislocation and Cultural Space.” This is an excellent entry point for DFDR researchers.

 

Please see the website www.nzasia2013.org.nz.

INDR colleagues, Jane Singer and Susanna Price, are putting together a panel entitled:

Concepts, Processes, and Case Studies of Development Forced Displacement (DFDR) and Climate Change-induced Displacement and Resettlement in Asia.

They now invite papers on the topic of Development Forced- or Climate Change- Induced Displacement and Resettlement in Asia – or on both. If you know of others who may wish to contribute, please forward this event.

If attendance is possible, please send an abstract directly to Susanna and Jane via the submission form by close of business, June 5th. This will enable them to put together the panel(s) and to meet the deadline for NZASIA abstract submissions and panel proposals.

Abstracts should be no more than 200 words. Please also supply the abstract title and the name, institutional affiliation and email address of the researcher/presenter.

Last Updated (Thursday, 16 May 2013)

Manual de Entrenamiento – Training Manual

Capacitación para el manejo de riesgos en reasentamientos

INDR colleague, Michael Cernea, has released a new training manual in Spanish – translated by Prof. Scott Robinson and his team:

Capacitación para el manejo de riesgos en reasentamientos

(Capacity building for resettlement risk management: Risk analysis and the risks and reconstruction model in population resettlement– training course).

Introduction

“This training course is one of the tools to promote knowledge and dissemination as part of the program, REGIONAL TECHNICAL ASISTENA of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), focused on training for the  Risks Administration during Relocations (RETA 6091). The theme of this particular program RETA, and this training course, is specifically dedicated to ‘building capacity to manage risks relocations associated with populations.” The countries benefiting from RETA 6091 are Cambodia, People’s Republic China (PRC) and India, but this instrument Training is designed to be used when necessary in other countries Asia and the Pacific.”- Michael Cernea.

Original page can be found under Professional Training.

Last Updated (Monday, 6 May 2013)

Ad Hoc Committee on Mining and Sustainable Development

Critique of the Model Mining Development Agreement Project

How are, or should, the rights and lives of local people be considered when governments and mining companies negotiate secret agreements, granting companies access to the subsoil beneath them?

Such agreements are usually secret – non-disclosed to those “in the way” but they may threaten the existence of groups with ill-defined property rights. Tribal and indigenous peoples are especially vulnerable since Government may have an adversarial role with them before the mining deal is negotiated.

In 2009, the Mining Law Committee of the International Bar Association collected and analyzed over 50 existing mine development agreements to prepare a Model Mining Development Agreement (MMDA) as a tool, or set of tools, that can be used by mining companies and host governments for mining projects. As a compilation of existing agreements, the resulting protocol did not pay attention to critical social and local economic issues that are increasingly being considered by the sector, particularly when they seek financial guarantees form international lenders.

INDR President Ted Downing appointed a talented committee, an Ad Hoc Committee on Mining and Sustainable Development, to critically review the draft protocol. On 11 April 2013, the INDR Committee presented their preliminary findings to Luke Danielson, a member of the Mining Law Committee and their revised version will be published shortly on this page.

Learn more about mining and forced displacement:

Avoiding New Poverty: Mining-induced displacement and resettlement. Theodore Downing 2002. London: International Institute for Environment and Development.

Mining and Indigenous Peoples: Stakeholder Strategies and Tactics. Indigenous Peoples and Mining. Theodore Downing, Carmen Garcia-Downing, Jerry Moles and Ian McIntosh. 2003 IN Finding Common Ground:Indigenous Peoples and their Association with the Mining Sector. World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the International Institute for Environment and Development (UK). P. 11-46.

 

World Bank Sponsored Conference on Management of Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Benefit Sharing

Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad in partnership with the  World Bank is organizing a two day International Conference on Management of Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Benefit Sharing (MLARR) on 20th and 21st May 2013.  It is organized by the talented World Bank’s Lead Social Development Specialist, Chaohua Zhang.

Conference offers a cross country experience on Land  Acquisition, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and benefit-sharing in infrastructure investments.  It offers an excellent opportunity for practitioners/policy makers throughout the world to gain timely insights on the diversity of policy/institutional reforms, experiences and approaches in dealing with land  issues in infrastructure projects.

Conference objectives:

• To promote awareness and disseminate information regarding policy developments in Management of Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (MLARR)
• To promote knowledge about good practices in planning and implementation of resettlement programs.
• To share knowledge and experiences in benefit sharing across projects/sectors
• To foster mutual cooperation, collaboration, research and networking amongst regional organizations and governments in the field of MLARR.

Contact: Chaohua Zhang, Lead Social Development Specialist in the South Asia, Social Development Unit, World Bank
czhang1@worldbank.org and read the conference brochure.

Last Updated (Monday, 8 April 2013)

New Book: Bort-les-Orgues, Words under the Lake: Words and Witness Accounts

Title: Bort-les-Orgues, les mots sous le lac. Récits et témoignages, Privat, 2012

Translation: Bort-les-Orgues, Words under the Lake: Words and Witness Accounts

Author: Armelle Faure

ISBN: 978-2-7089-8354-0

Available at: Éditions Privat & Amazon.fr

The dam of Bort-les-Orgues in France (a lake of 22 kilometers long on the Dordogne River) has displaced 140 families 60 years ago. The dam has always been considered as a feat of engineering, among the tallest dams in Europe at that time, but the rural families who lived there have been forgotten too long. 31 witnesses talk about the life that they had in their beloved side of the Dordogne, in their farms, with the cattle, and their social life after the end of WWII. When the three train stations that took people to Paris were drown by the artificial lake, they have lost their transport connections and all the commercial activities related. The aristocratic family d’Arcy had to abandon their medieval castle, as the productive farms, land and wood were destroyed. The château de Val stands on the side of the artificial lake, surrounded by the water. No one wanted to move far from their former settlement, although, with the submersion of the land, they had lost their farming activity. The 62 households of Port-Dieu have fought for the creation of a new village in Confolent, on the hill above the submerged Port-Dieu, in order to stay together. With the help of the prime minister Henri Queuille, they won they fight.  The words recorded and transcribed in the book are very moving and they have a profoundly universal tone, both with dignity and emotion. The international norms have been built and improved along the XX°c. Today people are displaced and resettled with more effective planning and action. Development agents around the world can learn about the experience of the displaced people of the Dordogne Valley. They witnesses tell how important it is to listen to the needs of local communities and of individual households.

Last Updated (Monday, 8 April 2013)

Oxford International Conference on Development-induced Displacement and Resettlement

The International Conference on Development-induced Displacement and Resettlement took place on 22-23 March at Oxford.  This Conference is a volunteer initiative of PhD Candidates and hosted by the Refugee Studies Centre. It aimed to revive the discussions on DIDR and to facilitate critical engagement with the current impasse. It will facilitate cross-communication between different stakeholders, disciplines and perspectives; and will seek to bridge research and practice with a view to fill the knowledge gaps and move the DIDR studies forward.

For further information and registration, see http://www.didrconference.org/index.html.

The Full Program is available here.

Become a Member

Last Updated (Friday, 5 April 2013)