In defense of land rights: A monitoring report on land conflicts in six Asian countries 12 This regional report provides a perspective and summary of the six country studies and highlights key discussion points and recommendations from the Asian regional workshop. Concepts on land conflict Case approach. The data indicator used in the country reports are the “cases of land and natural resource conflict.” Conflict cases are defined as situations wherein “two or more stakeholders perceive that their interests are incompatible, express hostile attitudes, or … pursue their interests through actions that damage the other parties.” Interests can differ over: (a) access to and distribution of resources; (b) control of power and decision-making; (c) cultural, social, and political identity; and, (d) status, particularly those embodied in systems of government, religion, or ideology (as cited in Engel and Korf, 2005). In all the studies, land conflicts also cover disputes over water resources, trees, forests, and rights to natural resources. Latent and manifest conflict. It is important to understand the context of conflict, as well as the behavior of stakeholders – particularly how they interact and respond as the conflict unfolds. All conflicts start as latent conflict – a situation wherein stakeholders may be unaware, or else aware yet not taking action on how their goals and interests are competing over control of land, resources, and decision-making. When there is inaction or withdrawal, the conflict remains latent. But when stakeholders contend or assert their rights or interests, it escalates into a manifest conflict or a situation where stakeholders take action to contend or assert their rights or interests over control of land, resources, and decision-making. ANGOC In cases where conflicts are not resolved, or the outcomes from third party facilitators are not acceptable, they can escalate into violence – a show of force or an imposition of will on another to achieve control through destructive means. Forms of violence. All the cases studied had an incidence of violence that occurred within the period covered. The most visible form of violence is physical (i.e., killing, injury, incarceration, torture, eviction, and displacement). However, violence can also be psychological (grave threat, verbal abuse, harassment, defamation, discrimination), economic (denial of access to resources, services and opportunities, subjecting people to servitude, undue debt and exploitative conditions) and/or political (denial of participation and