Sarawak is a resource-rich land. Sixty percent of its 2.2 million people belong to indigenous groups collectively known as the Dayak. As indigenous peoples (IPs), the Dayaks are supposedly protected under the Constitution of Malaysia and their rights particularly recognized as Native Customary Rights (NCR) in Sarawak. Sadly, the survival of Dayak communities in the rainforests is being threatened and their human rights violated by large-scale palm oil production and logging.

Del 9 al 11 de octubre de 2013 se llevará a cabo en la Universidad Externado de Colombia un seminario internacional sobre concentración y acaparamiento de tierras, desarrollo rural y derecho a la alimentación, con la participación de importantes expertos de Brasil, Holanda, Argentina, México, Camboya, Francia y Colombia.

This international conference will bring together a wide diversity of stakeholders — governments, local communities, Indigenous Peoples’ organizations, private investors, food and resource companies, and conservation organizations — that have a direct, common, and urgent interest in clarifying and securing the ownership of these lands and resources.

The event will bring together leading scholars and political activists who are advocates of and sympathetic to the idea of food sovereignty, as well as those who are skeptical to the concept of food sovereignty to foster a critical and productive dialogue on the issue.

The 2nd Annual Africa Pensions and Sovereign Funds Investment Forum is scheduled for the 2nd – 4th of September 2013 at the Langham Hotel in London.

The annual Africa Pensions and Sovereign Funds Investment Forum will host African and international investment funds seeking to access growth opportunities driven by the continents extractive natural resources, rapidly expanding consumer class, arable land and farm resources, and remarkably improved governance across African states.

With over 95% returning participants; this investment series is the most comprehensive Africa focused investment funds and asset managers forum bringing together over 200 senior decision-makers; and a speaking faculty of more than 70 thought leaders meticulously selected from around the globe. The forum explores contemporary issues impacting investment funds and managers in Africa and other frontier markets. It is designed to bring together an exclusive network of foremost pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, development finance institutions and asset managers focused on the intersection of macro-economic developments, capital markets, traditional and alternative investments in African markets.

Senior analyst at Deutsche Bank Research Dr. Claire Schaffnit-Chatterjee looks at the opportunities and risks related to African farmland acquisitions in this August 28 webinar at 11:00 am San Francisco time.

There is no charge to register for this one-hour webinar, but space is limited. To reserve your seat, please visit, www.i2live.net.

The Pan African Land hearing looks to recognise and profile the struggles of ordinary people. It will give those affected by land grabs the opportunity to share their experiences and to explore with a high level panel what can be done to defend their rights and receive justice where they have been violated.

Panelists:
• Professor Olokushi Adebayo: Director of the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP)
• Kumi Naidoo: Greenpeace International Executive Director
• Hon. Sisa Njikelana: Committee of Agriculture of the Pan African Parliament
• Eric Wainaina: Musician from Kenya and,
• Maya Wegerif: Young Activist from South Africa.

From land grabbing to land reform

Organized by GUE/NGL in cooperation with European Coordination Via Campesina

Conference on Land Issues in Europe: from Land Grabbing to Land Reform

25th of June 2013, from 9h00 till 12h30, European Parliament ASP 1G2 - Brussels

Programme
Interpretation: EN ES FR PT DE

Live webcast: http://www.guengl.eu/news/article/events/hearing-land-issues-in-europe

9h00 - 9h20: Welcome and Introduction
• Welcome : Gabi Zimmer President GUE/NGL (Germany)
• Introduction : Javier Sanchez, Member of the ECVC Coordination Committee

9h20-10h30: 1st Panel – Access to Land, land concentration and land grabbing
• Jan Douwe van der Ploeg, Professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands - Presentation of the Land Grabbing Report
• Willy Schuster, Ecoruralis, Romanian national case study
• Eva García Sempere, Coordinator of the Spatial Planning and Environment Unit of IU-Andalusia : "Land Grabbing in Andalusia (Spain): Preparation of the Land Public Bank project" Moderator: Willy Meyer, GUE/NGL MEP (Spain)

10h30 – 11h00: Press Conference/ Coffee break.

11h00 – 12h10: 2nd Panel - Are the EU and national policies favoring equal access to land and the entry into farming by prospective (young and small) farmers?
• Tassos Haniotis, Director - European Commission, DG Agriculture - Economic analysis, perspectives and evaluations.
• Patrick Le HYARIC, MEP GUE/NGL (France)
• Antonio Onorati, ARI and President of Crocevia - Proposal for a EU Directive on Lands
• Andrea Ferrante, Member of the ECVC Coordination Committee
Moderator: Geneviève Savigny, Member of the ECVC Coordination Committee

12h10-12h30: Debate and conclusions by Joao Ferreira, MEP GUE/NGL (Portugal)

For futher information: [email protected] + 32 2 284 7557

press contact: Gianfranco Battistini [email protected] + 32 475 646628

Frères des Hommes membre du « Collectif citoyen en France contre les accaparements de terres » vous invite à une après-midi militante sur l’accaparement des terres le samedi 15 juin de 14h à 18h aux portes de Paris, dans les locaux de France Volontaires à Ivry-Sur-Seine.

The purpose of this conference is to look at large-scale international land acquisitions from a ‘law and development’ perspective and determine the various legal frameworks at international, national and local level that enable or constrain such processes.