Land Emerges, Land Disappears: Char Dwellers Continue Fighting for Land Tenure Security
This case study shows the challenge of securing land rights and land tenure security among a sector of Bangladesh’s landless poor whose claim to land is among the most tenuous in the world — the char dwellers. Their settlement on land that was created by river erosion and could at any time disappear in the same way provides a compelling case for the grant by the government of land rights that are not presently provided for by current land laws. The increasing risk of disasters, particularly flooding, threatens char dwellers equally if not more than other landless poor. Thus, the government must urgently match the determination of the char people to triumph from disaster to disaster by enacting and enforcing laws that address the specific circumstances of char dwellers.
