RCEP trade deal will intensify land grabbing in Asia
- GRAIN
- 15 July 2019
RCEP will not just change rules on the export and import of goods and services; it will change how governments decide on rights to land and who has access to it.
RCEP will not just change rules on the export and import of goods and services; it will change how governments decide on rights to land and who has access to it.
A Chinese-backed firm is growing bananas on 2,000 hectare of land promised by the government of Laos as compensation to survivors of a 2018 dam collapse.
Vinamilk, Vietnam’s largest dairy company, has teamed up with Lao and Japanese businesses to build an organic dairy farm and resort in Xieng Khuang province, Laos. The first phase of the farm will cover 5,000 ha and the second phase is expected to expand the farm to 15,000-20,000 ha.
A Lao villager held in jail since 2011 as a leader of a land protest in the country’s Salavan province has died in custody. The seizure of land for development or agricultural use has been a major cause of protest in Laos and other authoritarian Asian countries
Concessions of land made by the government of Laos to Chinese banana farms are leaving villagers in one northern district without enough land of their own to feed their families, RFA sources say
Lao authorities have released a villager held since 2017 for protesting the loss of land awarded by the government to a Vietnamese rubber company, but 11 others remain in detention, with another reported to have died in custody last year.
A 3,552 ha land concession in XiengKhuang province will be granted to Lao-Jagro Development XiengKhuang Co, which is 51% owned by the Vietnamese dairy company Vinamilk.
A civil society organization in Laos has called on the government to proceed with its case against ten villagers jailed for more than a year over a land dispute in a transparent manner and demanded an update on their health conditions in prison.
Lao villagers being refused compensation by Vietnam-owned rubber company, which says the land belongs not to the villagers but to the state. The villagers signed agreement on 2009 to leased their land under promise they'll secured work and profit sharing with the company, but haven't received anything until now.
Vinamilk’s general director informed shareholders that the company had found a Japanese partner to build a certified organic dairy farm in Laos
Companies acquired concessions amounting to the size of a small European country, while rural residents of Southeast Asia’s Mekong region saw their landholdings shrink or disappear over the past two decades
Lao workers at Chinese-operated banana plantations are falling ill in large numbers from exposure to chemicals used on the farms, with many suffering from respiratory or liver problems
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