The German government supports companies like M3-SA, which are responsible for large scale land grabbing, by providing loans – in this case through the African Development Bank and the DEG (Deutsche Entwicklungsgesellschaft).

Even the World Bank admits that the vast bulk of foreign investment in Africa doesn’t help the continent’s people, with aid and agricultural support often a smokescreen for multinationals looting nations’ wealth.

India can ill-afford to be tainted by accusations of complicity in land deals that disadvantage the people of Africa given the role it sees for itself in promoting co-operation among countries in the south.

Somalia’s farmland similar to its neighbouring countries is in danger of falling into the hands of transnational companies often in partnership with governments sometimes supported by the local elites.

Frédéric Mousseau, Policy Director at the Oakland Institute, argues that the United States and the European Union are working hand in hand in a takeover of Ukrainian agriculture

There’s little doubt that the use of palm oil is expanding rapidly throughout the world, and with it the need for millions of hectares of land to grow oil palm trees. The results can be devastating for local communities.

Oil palm cultivation has wrecked habitats in South-East Asia. We must avoid a rerun if the crop takes off in its native Africa

Everywhere in Africa the story is more or less the same: communal rights are being grossly interfered with, farming systems upturned, livelihoods decimated, and water use and environments changed in ways which are dubiously sustainable.

Under the initiative of the Indian Ocean Commission, Madagascar is the focus of a large project to produce and export agricultural products to ensure the food security of this regional space, raising the spectre of land grabbing.

The G8 countries are implementing a New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in six African countries that will facilitate the transfer of control over African agriculture from peasants to foreign agribusiness.

Africa is regarded as the New Eldorado, and is attracting many foreign based private or public investment companies, sovereign wealth funds and even pension funds gradually. Sadly, while foreigners continue to play a major role in growth investments, African pension funds' contributions to this growth are dismal.

Only legal recognition of commons as the communal property of communities is sufficient to afford real protection, writes Liz Alden Wily

The final version of the appeal is open for endorsement on-line until March 31, 2011

The National Renaissance Party calls on the Government of Mali to publish a full list of beneficiaries of land and the areas granted to them.

Following the suggestion of French NGOs, La Via Campesina and ROPPA, with the support of FIAN, Friends of the Earth International, CCFD – Terre Solidaire and Peuples Solidaires, took leadership to facilitate an assembly of convergence of all groups interested in launching a strong appeal against land grabbing in Dakar.

"We support continued efforts to develop principles for investment in the agricultural sector undertaken by the World Bank, regional development banks, FAO, UNCTAD, and IFAD," say G8 heads of state.

Citadel's Karim Sadek dismisses talk of land grabbing as an “academic concern”, saying “there should definitely be a priority for the produce to be sold on the local market, if there is a paying market for it”.

Forecast reports on scarcity predict global actors will move in on dwindling resources. Governments are taking notice, and so should the public, Vivian Fritschi writes for ISN Security Watch.

Ethiopia's potential can be maximized only if we Ethiopians are the producers and sellers of our own agricultural products. What Meles Zenawi is doing now is putting this upside down. He made our potential buyers the sellers of our commodity.

We should be concerned about the financialized logic promoted by investors and mega-farmers, which seeks to extract monetary value from every square inch of farmland.

Film maker Gabriela Cowperthwaite uncovers a massive global scheme to gobble up resources, pairing with the Center for Investigative Reporting to bring these shadowy operations to light.

The EU is trying to move soya production from Brazil to eastern Europe where big conglomerates are buying up fertile land in the country, depleting soils, planting illegal GMOs and polluting fresh water sources.

Whether foreigners should be allowed to buy land is one of the bones of contention surrounding the reform, with more than 80 percent of Ukrainians opposed to it.

Investigation into the controversial palm oil sector in Liberia, the role of Dutch finance and impacts on local communities

The sustained advocacy by communities affected by large land deals and civil society for change to the policies and laws governing land administration have resulted in departures from the historical norms on land rights and tenure security.

In France, the holding company Socfin and its Cameroonian subsidiary Socapalm, both affiliated with Bolloré Group, sued journalists and nongovernmental groups who reported on villagers’ protests against the companies’ palm oil plantations in their communities and land.

A new Oakland Institute report details how the Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) project promotes large-scale land acquisitions and the expansion of agribusinesses in the developing world.

On 18 November 2008, The Financial Times exposed a massive deal being negotiated between Daewoo Logistics and the government of Madagascar. Ten years later, what are we seeing?

On the occasion of the publication of Transnational Corporations and Land Speculation in Brazil, Mary Taylor of LeftEast spoke with Fábio Pitta, Devlin Kuyek and Attila Szőcs about the broader implications of the report's findings.

The story of money, power and politics behind the devastation of a forest-rich district in Indonesian Borneo.