ASEAN

Threats of and actual displacements of rural communities in the Mekong have been on the rise amid increasing land deals for corporate plantations, mining, logging, biofuels, food crops for exports.

ASEAN Guidelines on Promoting Responsible Investment in Food, Agriculture and Forestry adopted by ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) in October 2018 through a multistakeholder process involving the ASEAN Secretariat, Grow Asia, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation and a World Bank trust fund.

An ASEAN criminal court, like the ICC in The Hague, could criminally prosecute land grabbing in southeast Asia, some argue

Disputes over land tenure threaten social harmony in a number of ASEAN countries

The Asia-Europe People’s Forum has urged the 51 state leaders of the Asia-Europe Meeting Summit to protect the tenure rights of small-scale food producers and to ensure a more equitable governance of natural resources.

Land rights advocates are hoping ASEAN will come up with a regulatory framework to check private sector investment in land, particularly for agriculture, as land grabs and land-related conflicts soar in the region.

Qatar will make more investments overseas to produce key agricultural and horticultural commodities to ensure food supply security at home and will simultaneously focus on raising self-sufficiency in local produce.

Land deals, whether as direct purchases or long-term leases, are being brokered in poor countries by advanced capitalist countries and their TNCs

Southeast Asian countries took big steps towards formalizing food-for-oil deals with Gulf states at a June meeting between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

L'appel est quasiment passé inaperçu la semaine dernière. Mais les six pays du Conseil de coopération du Golfe ont proposé, à Bahreïn, aux dix membres de l'Asean un partenariat dans le domaine alimentaire : des terres agricoles contre du pétrole.

"We believe there are many opportunities for investment in Thailand and Philippines and for both countries in Bahrain," a Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry representative said. "Food security is one area we are trying to emphasise. We had discussions in planting and growing bananas and rice in both countries."

Asian nations want to secure their energy needs, while Gulf Arab states are targeting investments in farmland to secure their food supply.