It’s a proposal that has left many landowners unhappy. Worldfocus’ Ivette Feliciano, Bryan Myers and Ara Ayer report from Santa Cruz, where many of Bolivia’s largest landholders — ranchers, cattlemen and industrial farmers — live. 

The attacks in Mumbai have brought new attention to an old dispute between India and Pakistan about the land of Kashmir.

The region of 13 million straddles Pakistan, India and China, but India has controlled the majority of Kashmir for decades. Pakistan controls a much smaller area, as does China.

Since 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars over the part of Kashmir controlled by India. Though India is mainly Hindu, two-thirds of the population in this part of Kashmir is Muslim, the predominant religion of Pakistan.

An anti-Indian insurgency in Kashmir has recently intenstified, and India believes such insurgents may have been responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.

Haley Duschinski is a cultural anthropologist at Ohio University who regularly travels to Kashmir, most recently in February. Her research focuses on violence and war, human rights and transitional justice in Kashmir within the context of the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan.

Thank you all for your questions. Professor Duschinski has answered them here.

The region of 13 million people straddles Pakistan, India and China, but India has controlled the majority of Kashmir for decades, while Pakistan controls a smaller area.

Vikram Singh, a fellow with the Center for a New American Security, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the importance of Kashmir, the Lashkar-e-toiba group thought to be behind last week’s attacks in India and what Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice’s visit to India may mean for the conflict over Kashmir.

Have questions about Kashmir? Ask cultural anthropologist and Ohio University professor Haley Duschinski here.

A coal mine in Mongolia.

As the world searches for natural resources, focus centers on Mongolia, which is rich in silver, copper, gold, molybdenum and coal.

The economic crisis may provide an impetus for the Mongolian government to more actively invest in its mining industry. Foreign companies like Vancouver-based Entree and multinational group Rio Tinto are exploring the country’s mineral-rich regions.

Mineral development was a contentious issue in Mongolia’s recent election.

Rebecca Darling, the director of natural resources and development programs at The Asia Foundation in Mongolia, writes at the “In Asia” blog that Mongolia must substantially reform the mining industry, as years of mismanagement and poor business practices have left Mongolians wary. She provides a case study of one domestic company that has revamped its mining practices and set an example for Mongolian and international companies alike.

In Mongolia: A new mining legacy

In the northwest corner of central Mongolia’s Tov province, 80% of the land in Ugumuur town has been licensed to 18 Mongolian, Russian and Chinese miners. Activity hums dusk to dawn.

Ugumuur is a boom-town but like many towns in Mongolia, it is deeply scarred by a legacy of poor mining practices in the 1990s. Citizens have been divorced from land-use decision-making, they observe environmental damage and often imported labor crowded them out of the local mining market. These are sore points with locals, who, according to one, say that they would support mining if “we are engaged and employed, and if companies reclaim land when extraction is completed.” These concerns are voiced by communities in Khentii, Hovsgol and other provinces across Mongolia.

For mining to develop, Mongolia must shed its legacy of poor practices, and some domestic companies are helping with this. One, Monpolimet, is adopting an array of best practices that will be stoked when Australian, Canadian and other foreign firms begin operations and help reinforce positive trends in corporate social responsibility.

Monpolimet is among the top 10 Mongolian miners and has committed to engagement and social responsibility in Ugummur. The company has adopted reclamation practices that increasingly conform to best practices, including reseeding with endemic plants, and engaging citizens. The company also contributes to a community fund that supports training for student water-quality monitors.

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Wolfiewolf under a Creative Commons license.

AUDIO: Edward Wong of The New York Times reports from Beijing about the impact of land reform on China.

Land in the city of Changshu in China’s eastern Jiangsu Province.

On Sunday, the Communist Party of China passed laws allowing peasants to trade and rent land, though they remain unable to buy or sell it.

Leaders were expected to pass a program that would enable peasants to purchase and sell land, but the issues of purchase and sale have disappeared from public discourse despite earlier coverage. Rumors of disagreement within the Communist Party are circulating.

Some communists argue that “privatization” reforms undercut the party and ultimately strengthen Western capitalism in a country already straddling communist and capitalist systems.

Advocates suggest that the reforms would improve food security and relieve rural poverty.

The “Poligazette” blog writes that new freedoms for China’s villagers are a step in the right direction for the oppressive country.

The “Sinomania” blog writes that reforms are monumental and will “open the door to finally giving rural Chinese what they’ve long[ed] for for centuries — their own piece of China.”

The “China Aid” blog writes about the decision of Hu Jintao — Communist Party general secretary and president of the People’s Republic of China — to support the land reforms despite enormous risk, and argues that the Communist Party is digging its own grave.

China Economic Review’s “Editor’s Journal” writes about the promise of the reforms and their potential effects on the agriculture industry.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user iansand under a Creative Commons license.