Land conflicts flare across Asia during coronavirus lockdowns

In Indonesia, two farmers were killed in March in clashes over a long-standing land dispute with a palm oil firm in South Sumatra province, according to the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), an environmental group.

BANGKOK: Lockdowns to contain the novel coronavirus in Asia have made farmers and indigenous people more vulnerable to losing their land, according to land rights activists who are backing new technologies to help track the growing number of conflicts.

More than 4.4 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus globally and about 300,000 have died, according to a Reuters tally.