This paper looks into the impact of new agricultural investments on land tenure and food security especially for rural communities, women and indigenous peoples, as well as the environment.
This study is a desktop review of existing literature and a synthesis of case studies done by International Land Coalition members in Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, India, and the Philippines. Most of the data on...
Since 2007, the Philippines has seen a spate of large scale land acquisition by foreign corporations or governments. The most notorious, which had to be suspended in the face of popular opposition and legal challenges, is a deal concerning 1 million hectares between government ministries and a Chinese consortium (in the RP-China deals). Another deal concerns 1 million hectares between Chinese and...
Rapid expansion of oil palm estates in Southeast Asia is being driven by rising global demand for edible oils and biofuels. Two countries – Malaysia and Indonesia – dominate world production. The characteristics of the crop encourage large-scale monocropping. Industry requirements for extensive tracts of land are overwhelming weak governance and legal regimes, which provide little protection of...
Special Economic Zones in India are areas declared as quasi foreign territory in which private enterprises can benefit from a lucrative package of tax and regulatory exemptions. Claimed to promote exports and foreign exchange earnings, they are also criticised as merely encouraging the relocation of existing firms, causing a loss of tax revenue and the undermining of workers' rights.
On March 17, 2009, the echo of the fall of Ravalomanana’ government resounded in the national and international media. The event assumed a unique character, as land questions appeared to be among the claims that lead to the uprising. Accusations of “selling off the ancestors’ land” were brought against President Ravalomanana following the revelation of a land lease project, under obscure...
CIDA, EC, IFAD, SDC, Kingdom of the Netherlands – Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The present report analyses the illegal/irregular acquisition of land by Kenya’s elites to ascertain the types of land affected, the processes used to acquire land, and the profiles of the perpetrators, as well as to identify the victims and the impacts of land grabbing.
The phenomenon of the process of “rurbanisation” progressing throughout the world is most acutely seen in developing countries. It occurs with the emigration of urban populations towards the countryside near cities and their diffusion into rural spaces in the form of homes, infrastructure, and activities related to urban life styles. The Sèmè-Podji Commune, situated in the coastal areas of Benin...
Much of Rwanda’s marshland has traditionally been farmed by local subsistence farmers. In 2005 the Government, aiming to encourage more intensive forms of agriculture to supply new markets, passed a new land law which brought all marshes and river valleys under State control. This forms part of a new legal framework that provides incentives for investors to exploit such land commercially.
The present study offers an initial approach to the problems posed by the concentration of land ownership in Latin America, referring specifically to the recent processes in Mexico, Central America, and the Andean countries. To that end, a double perspective has been adopted: the twin trends produced by the economy and politics throughout the continent as well as national cases with their...
