Various new publications on the global land grab have been issued recently:
Biofuels – Economy, Environment and Sustainability
Africa for sale? Positioning the state, land and society in foreign large-scale land acquisitions in Africa
Special issue Development & Change Journal: “Governing the global land grab: the role of the state in the rush for land”
More information:
Biofuels – Economy, Environment and Sustainability
Zhen Fang
2013, InTech
This edited book overviews the social, economic, environmental and sustainable implications of biofuels. It includes publications by LANDac researchers (Annelies Zoomers, Lucía Goldfarb) and researchers from related projects (Ari Susanti, Suseno Budidarsono). Freely accessible publication – creative commons license.
Africa for sale? Positioning the state, land and society in foreign large-scale land acquisitions in Africa
Sandra J.T.M. Evers, Caroline Seagle, Froukje Krijtenburg, VU University Amsterdam
2013, Afrika-Studiecentrum series 29, Brill Publishers
The past several decades have witnessed a rise in foreign and domestic investments in Africa’s arable land. While such land projects are currently the focus of widespread media and scholarly interest, the role of the state in driving, negotiating and facilitating these acquisitions deserves closer attention. This book analyzes how state land policies, stakeholder interactions and privatization schemes interact to facilitate large-scale land acquisitions. It includes a study of the various forms of state intervention, the influence of foreign agencies, governments and private entities, and a look at how states interact with local populations. The inclusion of case studies in settings throughout the African continent should attract the interest of both an academic and non-academic readership.
Includes chapter by LANDac chair Annelies Zoomers: “A Critical Review of the Policy Debate on Large Scale Land Acquisition: Fighting the Symptoms or Killing the Heart?”
Special issue Development & Change Journal: “Governing the global land grab: the role of the state in the rush for land”
March 2013: Volume 44, Issue 2. Edited by Wendy Wolford, Saturnino M. Borras Jr., Ruth Hall, Ian Scoones, Ben White, includes 12 articles on large-scale land acquisitions worldwide and the role of the state.
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by admin
LANDac annual report 2012
LANDac has published its 2012 annual report, which can be accessed here.
In this annual report LANDac looks back at its achievements, results and lessons learned, while also focusing on new challenges for the coming years.
The report starts with a short introduction of the IS Academy LANDac, followed by a brief description of the evolving policy debate. LANDac activities in 2012 will be described: knowledge generation and dissemination, knowledge sharing and dialogue, advisory services and help desk, learning and training events, and the platform function.
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by admin
New publications
Various new publications on the global land grab have been issued recently:
Biofuels – Economy, Environment and Sustainability
Africa for sale? Positioning the state, land and society in foreign large-scale land acquisitions in Africa
Special issue Development & Change Journal: “Governing the global land grab: the role of the state in the rush for land”
More information:
Biofuels – Economy, Environment and Sustainability
Zhen Fang
2013, InTech
This edited book overviews the social, economic, environmental and sustainable implications of biofuels. It includes publications by LANDac researchers (Annelies Zoomers, Lucía Goldfarb) and researchers from related projects (Ari Susanti, Suseno Budidarsono). Freely accessible publication – creative commons license.
Africa for sale? Positioning the state, land and society in foreign large-scale land acquisitions in Africa
Sandra J.T.M. Evers, Caroline Seagle, Froukje Krijtenburg, VU University Amsterdam
2013, Afrika-Studiecentrum series 29, Brill Publishers
The past several decades have witnessed a rise in foreign and domestic investments in Africa’s arable land. While such land projects are currently the focus of widespread media and scholarly interest, the role of the state in driving, negotiating and facilitating these acquisitions deserves closer attention. This book analyzes how state land policies, stakeholder interactions and privatization schemes interact to facilitate large-scale land acquisitions. It includes a study of the various forms of state intervention, the influence of foreign agencies, governments and private entities, and a look at how states interact with local populations. The inclusion of case studies in settings throughout the African continent should attract the interest of both an academic and non-academic readership.
Includes chapter by LANDac chair Annelies Zoomers: “A Critical Review of the Policy Debate on Large Scale Land Acquisition: Fighting the Symptoms or Killing the Heart?”
Special issue Development & Change Journal: “Governing the global land grab: the role of the state in the rush for land”
March 2013: Volume 44, Issue 2. Edited by Wendy Wolford, Saturnino M. Borras Jr., Ruth Hall, Ian Scoones, Ben White, includes 12 articles on large-scale land acquisitions worldwide and the role of the state.
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by admin
LANDac PhD research disseminated in Costa Rica and Nicaragua
Local workshops on residential tourism and its implications for development
Though often gone unnoticed in the debate on large-scale land acquisitions, tourism and in particular residential tourism* can be important causes of land alienation. LANDac PhD graduate Femke van Noorloos did research on residential tourism and its implications for development in Costa Rica, and was invited by the development NGO Alba Sud to provide local students, professors and policy makers in Nicaragua and Costa Rica with more insight into his topic. In April and May 2013 she gave guest lectures for a wide public at the Universidad Nacional (UNA) in Liberia, Costa Rica, and at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN) in Managua, Nicaragua. Proceedings and powerpoints of the Nicaragua workshop can be accessed on Alba Sud’s website (in Spanish):
http://www.albasud.org/viewnews.php?id=428
In addition, two Spanish-language papers on her PhD research were published and widely disseminated by Alba Sud :
http://www.albasud.org/publ/docs/58.pdf (general overview of the thesis)
http://www.albasud.org/publ/docs/60.pdf (focus on residential tourism in the ‘land grab’ debate)
*Residential tourism is the temporary or permanent mobility of relatively well-to-do citizens from mostly western countries to a variety of tourist destinations, where they buy (or sometimes rent) property. This mobility is driven by the search for a better way of life, a lower cost of living, etc. The residential tourism industry, with its focus on land transactions and urbanisation, constitutes an urgent research topic in debates on land and development.
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by admin
16-05-2013 letter of the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation about land grabbing
In this letter to the Dutch House of Representatives, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Lilianne Ploumen, discusses the Dutch efforts to oppose land grabbing following a consultation with different stakeholders in April this year. She also responds to the situation around land rights in projects of The World Bank. The letter (in Dutch) can be accessed via this link:
http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten-en-publicaties/kamerstukken/2013/05/16/kamerbrief-inzake-nederlandse-inzet-bij-tegengaan-landroof.html
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by admin
Current short-term research of LANDac
Farmers’ organizations and land policies
LANDac partner Agriterra, in cooperation with the East African Farmers Federation (EAFF), has set up a short-term research project on the role of farmers’ organizations in policymaking on land governance in Uganda. The study looks at the existing strategies and institutional arrangements in different regions that have varying underlying causes for increased pressure on land, such as urbanization, oil exploitation etc. The types of actors involved in processes of land transactions, the existing strategies and institutional arrangements are studied. Vertical and horizontal linkages that formal and informal membership organizations make use of, and the way in which these result in organizations’ agency for actually influencing decision making are mapped. The inventory provides an insight into conditions for increased transparency and for effective participation of farmers’ organizations in policymaking on land allocation and land re/allocation processes.
For more information, please contact the LANDac secretariat: landac.geo@uu.nl
Good practices of large-scale investments in land
Much attention has been given to the issue of ‘land grabbing’ in the last decade. Less information is available about good practices of large-scale investments in agricultural land. LANDac partners IDS-Utrecht University and the Royal Tropical Institute in cooperation with AidEnvironment have started a short-term research project that aims to identify good investment practices in terms of land use and land acquisition. The objective is to provide guidance to public and private investors and stimulate responsible investment in farmland. Four critical issues relating to responsible investment have been identified: community engagement, securing legal rights to land, corporate responsibilities in government-led land acquisition, and resolution of land-based conflict. Cases are drawn from (Dutch) public and private investors that are funding large-scale farming. The proposed good practices should be in line with international principles and standards, such as the UN Voluntary Guidelines on Land Tenure and the IFC Performance Standards.
For more information, please contact the LANDac secretariat: landac.geo@uu.nl
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by admin
Article: untangling the myth of the global land rush
A recent article in The Broker by Annelies Zoomers (Chair LANDac) and Evert-jan Quak analyses the implications of the global land rush on food security and inequality. The Broker is an independent platform and online magazine on globalisation and development.
http://www.thebrokeronline.eu/Articles/Untangling-the-myth-of-the-global…
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by admin
Summerschool 2013 coming up in July
From 8-19 July 2013 LANDac organises the fourth Utrecht Summerschool Land Governance for Development.
The two-week intensive course will introduce students to the multiple dimensions of land governance in Africa, Asia, Latin America and beyond. Students will acquire the most up-to-date knowledge on new land pressures and learn how to place these in broader theoretical debates. In addition, they will learn about best practices in land governance from different contexts and on different levels: local, national and international. The guiding question is how to optimize the link between land governance, sustainable development and poverty alleviation. At the end of this course students will have a thorough knowledge of current problems related to land and development, but they will also have practical knowledge of possible solutions. The topics are discussed in mini-courses including lectures and solution-oriented practicals led by recognised experts from academia, policy and practice. The course is useful for Masters’ students, academics and practitioners from anywhere in the world who are interested in or work in the fields of land governance, development studies, natural resource management, conflict studies etc.
More information and registration here. A detailed programme will be available soon.
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by admin
Short article on land grab in Latin America (in Dutch)
In December 2012 LA Chispa published a background article on land in Latin America: “Land for sale: five questions and answers on the ‘land grab’ in Latin America” (in Dutch). Click here to read the article.
LA Chispa is a Dutch Magazine on Latin America and the Caribbean.
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by admin
Report: round-table “Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in the context of land governance”
On 28 November 2012, LANDac and Oxfam Novib organised a round-table discussion on Free Prior and Informed Consent in the context of land governance, with Marcus Colchester (Director Forest Peoples Programme) as the main presenter and Kristen Genovese (Center for International Environmental Law) as a discussant. The event took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague and was attended by about 25 representatives from NGOs, policy and academia.
A report of the roundtable discussion is available here.
Marcus Colchester’s presentation can be viewed here.
Last Updated: 26th July 2019 by admin
Report: seminar Kenya land reform – from paper to practice
On Tuesday 9 October 2012, LANDac together with ActionAid and the African Studies Center organised the seminar Kenya Land Reform: From Paper to Practice. Will Kenya’s new land bills safeguard people’s land rights and food security?
Kenyan ActionAid activist David Barissa shed his light on the new land legislation in the country, followed by reflections by Marcel Rutten (ASC) and Caroline Archambault (UU), and a general discussion.
The report of this event is available here.
For more information on land grab in Kenya and its implications for smallholder farmers, an interesting study on the Tana River Delta was conducted by the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF) in 2010: ‘Land Grab in Kenya – Implications for Small-holder farmers’: