11-12 Oct 2012 - PARKROYAL - Yangon - Burma

Will discuss issues around ownership of our natural resources and farming land and what it means for food security.

Special session on "Securing agricultural products across the GCC and the role that can be played by the ASEAN countries."

This conference will build on the inaugural Global AgInvesting Asia event in December 2011. At that meeting, hundreds of allocators, fund managers, and industry executives came together to discuss the burgeoning asset class of agriculture and its surrounding themes.

L'association aGter organise une rencontre-débat avec Samuel Nguiffo, secrétaire général du Centre pour l'Environnement et le Développement du Cameroun (CED), à partir de l'analyse du giga-projet de plantation de palmier à huile Herakles.
La réunion aura lieu le lundi 17 septembre 2012, de 18h00 à 20h00 (heure de Paris, France) dans la salle de conférence du Jardin Tropical de Paris : 45 bis Avenue de la Belle Gabrielle à Nogent sur Marne (station RER A Nogent sur Marne à 20 minutes de Châtelet).
Inscription préalable nécessaire auprès de Marta Fraticelli, par mail ([email protected]) ou par téléphone (01 43 94 72 59).

On Special Assignment this week we expose a controversial land deal in Mozambique involving South African sugar giant, Tongaat Hulett and government officials in Mozambique. The KZN based company acquired an initial concession of 30-thousand hectares to grow sugar cane. However, in their quest for bigger profits they have acquired additional land of thousands of hectares.

Our investigation has found that this land belonged to small-scale farmers who depended on it to feed their families. The peasants were convinced to give up their land to Tongaat–Hulett in exchange for jobs in the sugar cane plantations. However, as we have discovered, this controversial deal is one-sided and is said to be behind the displacement and loss of livelihoods for hundreds of small-scale farmers.

Tongaat Hulett’s Mozambique expansion has seen the company grow its profits by nearly two hundred percent per annum. However local farmers are yet to reap the benefits. Our investigation has also found that the company’s alleged poor water management systems and its dumping of toxic chemicals into the Inkomati River, are negatively affecting local communities who are highly dependent on this water source.

What recourse do these communities have?

“BITTER HARVEST” is produced by Frank Ferro and will be aired on Thursday the 13th of September 2012 on Special Assignment – broadcast on SABC 3 at 21:00.

Investment in agricultural land by international actors has increased dramatically in recent years. The food price crisis in 2008, initiated by droughts in grain-producing parts of the world, triggered an international rush for farmland, primarily in Africa and Latin America. The effects on local development and land rights were rapidly brought to global attention. However, there has been a surprising silence on one fundamental aspect of this rush; the water that is needed for agricultural production on the acquired land. It seems that water is forgotten in all attempts to guide the international community on how to deal with the crucial issue of land acquisitions. This is why the High Level Panel at this year's World Water Week in Stockholm, will address "The Global Rush for Water and Land". Watch the webcast: http://bambuser.com/v/2937627

Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) partners are currently documenting the scope and impact of large-scale foreign investments in agriculture that is displacing communities in rural areas in Mindanao (Philippines), Indonesia, Sarawak (Malaysia) and other places in Asia. The outcome of this documentation will be used by local partners in their campaigning and strategising at the national level. The national strategy building is important as land deals are brokered and land laws are amended or enacted at the national level. Thus, approaches and strategies on how to create pressure points for policy makers need to be developed. At the regional level, there will be a strategy-building process where the platform is opened to other organisations from other countries. Experiences from the three focus countries will be shared as well to other communities that are facing similar situation e.g., Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan, India, etc. The regional strategy building is set to take place in Penang, Malaysia on July 19-20, 2012. Affected communities will be invited to the strategy building. It will also be opened to groups which are working on the issue and are willing to collaborate with PAN AP and its partners. Collective campaign plans at regional level are expected to emerge from this meeting, as well as exchanges of strategies on campaigning and raising awareness on land grabbing that have worked for other communities.

La Via Campesina et la Campagne mondiale pour la Réforme agraire - Jakarta, Indonésie, 9-16 juillet 2012

La Via Campesina et la Campagne mondiale pour la Réforme agraire - en appliquant la méthodologie d'un atelier- séminaire international sur la Mise en oeuvre d'une Réforme agraire au XXIème siècle - souhaiterait analyser le contexte mondial actuel, la dynamique et les demandes locales à propos de la crise de l'agriculture afin de pouvoir arriver à une vue d'ensemble claire et commune ainsi qu'à un agenda dans le but de mettre en oeuvre une réforme agraire qui devra inclure la souveraineté alimentaire, l'agro-écologie, la biodiversité et les intérêts des femmes et des jeunes. Serikat Petani Indonesia (SPI) accueillera l'atelier et le séminaire avec la participation des membres de LVC ainsi que d'autres mouvements sociaux, de chercheurs progressistes et de nos alliés.

The International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) Annual Thematic Conference at the University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany, 4-6 July 2012, is on “The Food Crisis: Implications for Decent Work in Rural and Urban Areas”. There will be several panels on land grabbing and the financialisation of food and agriculture.