This book explores the existing and diverse institutional bottlenecks of land acquisition, ranging from legal and social to political and even environmental within the Asian context. It identifies the short- and long-term risks associated with land sale through regional case studies and aims to propose a more sustainable policy framework. One such policy framework proposed is that of Land Trust for mitigating some of these risks. For instance, recent studies argue that land trust or land lease is one of the best ways to increase the rate of return to invite private investors into infrastructure investment and industrialization.

A rare snapshot of a continent in the process of rapid development, this book offers an invaluable resource for scholars, activists and politicians alike.