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Call for applications 2026: New Thinking on Integrating Biodiversity and Social Justice short course

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PLAAS
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What South Africa’s Constitutional Court ruling on the Tafelberg property means for equitable access to land and spatial justice

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PLAAS
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New Publication: Bridging divides against erratic democratic trajectories

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PLAAS stands in solidarity with African citizens

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Call for applications: The Political Economy of Land Governance in Africa 2025 short course News & Events

Call for applications: The Political Economy of Land Governance in Africa 2025 short course

Across Africa, the majority of both rural and urban residents have insecure tenure rights, either in law or in practice. They face the legacy of land dispossession, colonial legal codes, contested customary tenure systems, and growing pressure on land in the face of commercial investments. How can land rights and land governance in Africa be strengthened? To address these challenges…
PLAAS
February 17, 2025
Call for papers: Land, Life and Society Conference 2025 News & Events

Call for papers: Land, Life and Society Conference 2025

Picture courtesy of Zacharia Mashele/Ndifuna Ukwazi. Land, Life and Society International conference on the road to ICARRD+20 A global conversation about the politics of land and resource struggles in an era of global and local crises 7-9 October 2025 University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa Conference fee for three days: US$200 per attendee. PLAAS is pleased to…
PLAAS
January 30, 2025
Call for applications: Postgraduate Diploma in Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Call for applications: Postgraduate Diploma in Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies

The Postgraduate Diploma in Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies is the only programme in the land and agrarian studies field offered at a South African University, and is accredited at NQF level 8. It offers: internationally recognised lecturers with decades of established expertise in poverty, land and agrarian studies; a solid understanding of key concepts in poverty, land, agrarian reform,…
PLAAS
January 8, 2025
Salt mining.
NELGA Masterclass: Mining, Extractivism, and Land Rights in Africa FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

NELGA Masterclass: Mining, Extractivism, and Land Rights in Africa

This masterclass forms part of the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa lecture series, hosted by PLAAS. Thursday, 05 December 2024 10:00 - 13:00 SAST / CAT Register on: https://tinyurl.com/2s3tnzcc Since colonial times, the extraction and export of natural resources have defined Africa’s insertion and subordinate status in the global capitalist economy. After a period of relative stagnation,…
PLAAS
November 26, 2024
Public talk: Chinese ‘colonialism’, capital accumulation, and the Belt and Road Initiative FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events FeaturedUncategorized

Public talk: Chinese ‘colonialism’, capital accumulation, and the Belt and Road Initiative

Global capital accumulation involves international trade, a flow of profits, interest, and rent from investments, and wealth owned by a country’s investors in other countries. With the increased role of China in the global economy, some American elites have come to view China as the US’s “one peer competitor” and a threat to its hegemony. Their mobilisation in response to…
PLAAS
November 22, 2024
Watch: Living Landscapes in Action – a call for conservation to integrate social, spatial justice News & EventsNews & Events FeaturedUncategorized

Watch: Living Landscapes in Action – a call for conservation to integrate social, spatial justice

South Africa is ranked sixth in the world for its rich marine and terrestrial biodiversity. But this global accolade is characterised by deep inequalities, social and spatial injustices, and displacement of communities from their land in the name of conservation. The South African government and many other African states are signatories to the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The agreement  aims…
Deshnee Subramany
October 18, 2024
Avhatakali Sithagu
PLAAS mourns the passing of beloved PhD student, Avhatakali Sithagu Home SliderNews & Events

PLAAS mourns the passing of beloved PhD student, Avhatakali Sithagu

Tribute from her supervisor, Prof Andries Du Toit It is hard to convey the acute sense of shock and loss I feel at the news of the untimely death of Taki Sithagu, whom I had the privilege of supervising as a PLAAS PhD student since 2020. Taki was one of our Covid-19 intake students, so we never met physically: our…
PLAAS
October 15, 2024
Seminar: Land, Water, and Power – Associate Professor Cristián Alarcón-Ferrari FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Seminar: Land, Water, and Power – Associate Professor Cristián Alarcón-Ferrari

Land, Water, and Power A Comparative and Critical Political Ecology of Rural Development in Times of Sustainability Crises Date: Tuesday, 15 October 2024 Time: 12:00-13:00 SAST Venue: Zoom Register: https://shorturl.at/MfxP5 Who defines what rural development is, and how can it be understood within the wider context of capitalist development, conflicts and agrarian questions? Global climate change and sustainability conversations include…
PLAAS
October 9, 2024
Double crisis for small scale food-system actors
NELGA Masterclass: Food Systems and Land Governance News & Events

NELGA Masterclass: Food Systems and Land Governance

This masterclass forms part of the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa lecture series, hosted by PLAAS. Date: 16 October 2024 Time: 10:00 to 13:00 SAST Venue: Zoom. Please register on this link: https://shorturl.at/YHKgs Globally, food systems are changing with profound impacts on Africa, and how land is used and governed. Beyond the orthodox ideas about increasing productivity,…
PLAAS
September 30, 2024
Deforestation
NELGA Masterclass: Climate Change and Land Governance News & Events

NELGA Masterclass: Climate Change and Land Governance

This masterclass forms part of the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa lecture series, hosted  by PLAAS. Date: 17 September 2024 Time: 10:00 to 13:00 Venue: Zoom. Please register on this link: https://shorturl.at/HZRtN “Land governance concerns the rules, processes and structures through which decisions are made about access to land and its use, the manner in which the…
PLAAS
September 5, 2024