Executive Summary: "Land acquisition issues and resultant land disputes of various types are some of the most controversial, contentious and vexing issues at play in the evolving political and economic landscape of today?s Myanmar. Few issues are discussed more fervently and frequently than issues relating to the critical question of land; who owns it, who controls it, who may seek to acquire it, disputes over it, and who is to be potentially removed from it. Innumerable recent reports indicate three overarching trends concerning the scale of land acquisition in Myanmar: (1) Large tracts of land were compulsorily acquired and conceded during the past several decades of military rule that spanned 1962-2011; (2) Additional large tracts of land have been alienated since the present government took power in 2011; and (3) Yet further large tracts of land are currently threatened with confiscation in coming years.2 2. As the political reform process begins to slow in the run-up to the planned 2015 national elections, and as the economy continues to liberalize within a legal and regulatory environment which remains disproportionately skewed in favor of State and business interests, it is clear that law is incapable in its present form of adequately protecting the full spectrum of land-related rights of ordinary citizens and communities. In addition, land registration and record keeping remains extremely poor.3 This is particularly so given the fact that farmers threatened with displacement have only what are effectively user-rights.4 These circumstances in turn lays the groundwork for potential land disputes which can have significantly negative impacts on business activities. The land sphere is increasingly seen as one of the most visible sectors of society where a collusion of economic and political elites linked to the government, military and the corporate sector find a continuing source of power and control. Arguably, given their largely inequitable, top-down and non-transparent nature, these developments place deeper and longerterm democratic reforms at considerable risk, and rather than constituting a boost to overall economic performance in the country, in fact, may undermine economic, political and social progress in this regard. At the individual company level, the legal and political basis for land relations in Myanmar can pose the very real prospect of land disputes that may undermine investment opportunities...".....This entry also has a link to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards - not in the DS study.