Sweden

Major asset managers, cowed by the cost, the risk and the controversy involved in investing in farmland, are joining forces to increase investment in the historically under-capitalised sector.

Executive summary of Swedwatch's report on the Swedfund-supported Addax Bioenergy project in Sierra Leone

“In the very short term land will became scarcest for Mozambicans because the government is attracting foreign investors arguing that we have huge unused land“, a spokesperson for UNAC told IPS. “What happens, in fact, when investors come, their appetite is centered on land already being used by locals.”

Sweden's second buffer fund hopes to increase its agricultural and timberland investments beyond the current 10% strategic benchmark for real estate, the fund's chief investment strategist has told IPE

Land grabbing i fattiga länder har ökat dramatiskt under senare år. Det visar den nya rapporten ”The race for land” som Forum Syd, Afrikagrupperna och Kooperation Utan Gränser lanserade i december.

This report from Afrika Grupperna, Forum Syd and Swedish Cooperative Centre examines different drivers behind the recent escalation of land deals as well as common arguments legitimating land grabbing, looking at case studies from Cambodia and Mozambique.

A Swedish pension fund has become the latest of a series of purchasers of Australian farmland, a buying spree which has fuelled public concerns, and raised discussion over curbs on foreign ownership.

TIAA-CREF's Westchester group buys 17,200 ha Cobran Station, once Australia's largest rice farm, while Sweden's Forsta AP-fonden buys the 16,000 ha Merri Meric farm near Henty.

Este caso necesita de su Acción Urgente, exigiéndole al gobierno sueco a través de cartas: que lleve a cabo una evaluación de los impactos de su Plan de Ayuda al Desarrollo sobre los derechos humanos en Mozambique, que regule a los inversionistas que operan desde Suecia y que introduzca un mecanismo de monitoreo que siga de cerca las actividades empresariales de las compañías.

The Right Livelihood Award Foundation co-organised a seminar in the Swedish Parliament on June 14, 2012 where a new report on land grabbing by researchers of the Right Livelihood College Campus in Lund was released.

Sweden's SEK216bn (€24bn) buffer fund AP2 and TIAA-CREF have increased commitments to an agricultural property company launched last year to $2bn (€1.6bn), attracting interest from several Canadian investors.

Swedfund, the Swedish development investment company, has invested tens of millions in a company that will produce ethanol in Sierra Leone, but the local people affected by water shortages and hunger when the company took over their land. Now the inhabitants urge Sweden for help.