Oil palm, billed as a way to improve local economic opportunity and reduce poverty in the tropics, may not live up to that billing, a recent report shows. On the front lines of oil palm expansion, the indigenous forest-dwelling Arfak people of West Papua Province, Indonesia believe they are not the beneficiaries of the palm’s promise.
The Coalition has increased scrutiny of foreign purchases of rural land, but how much is currently owned overseas and are the concerns valid?
- Guardian
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11 February 2015
The grazing lands of the Maasai community in East Africa are being viewed as the next frontier for land grabbing.
- Intercontinental Cry
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27 November 2014
Kenya's Lake Turkana is a vital source of life for humans and animals alike. But its lifeline is about to be cut by a push for the development of irrigated plantations.
- GlobalPost
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05 November 2014
Conversation with Maria Antonelli about the main drivers and implications of land transactions around the world, with a particular focus both on the role of EU.
- ClimateScience&Policy
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22 October 2014
Land grabs in the developing world create a system so unequal that resource-rich countries become resource dependent.
New book, “Palms of controversies: Oil palm and development challenges,” says the problems is not the oil palm but the way people have chosen to exploit it.
La multinationale indienne qui s'était fait un nom dans le secteur des fleurs coupées au niveau mondial et a récemment acquis plus de 300 000 ha en Éthiopie pour produire des denrées alimentaires à destination des marchés étrangers, poursuit son déclin douloureux et généralisé.
- TJN et al
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13 October 2014
Ce qui inquiète l’opinion publique malagasy dans ce projet a trait aux exigences de ces pays voisins de pouvoir obtenir des concessions de terres d’une superficie d’environs 20 000 ha.
MIGA—the political risk insurance and credit enhancement arm of the World Bank Group—plays an important role in making agricultural FDI more effective by reducing investors’ perceived risks to encourage market entry while applying environmental and social performance standards that boost the project’s sustainability.
Peuples Solidaires et ActionAid dénoncent aujourd’hui la façon dont les gouvernements encouragent la ruée mondiale vers la terre à travers des mesures incitatives offertes aux investisseurs privés et aux entreprises.
Le projet de Tochka était censé régler les problèmes démographiques et agricoles de l’Égypte. En 2008, plus de 30 000 ha ont été attribués à une compagnie saoudienne. Fin 2013, une compagnie émiratie y annonçait l’achat de 40 000 ha.
There are countless examples of governments handing it over at bargain prices to foreign investors, ranging from hedge funds to biofuel producers.
La course aux hectares agricoles gagne la France.
Des villageois ont fait reculer de puissantes multinationales, et cela se passe au Liberia.
Des personnalités politiques européennes et américaines unissent leurs voix à l’inquiétude internationale concernant le barrage de Gibe III et les plantations irriguées qui lui sont associées.
- Survival France
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27 Mar 2014
Last week representatives of communities, indigenous peoples and NGOs met in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia to discuss deforestation and the rights of forest peoples.
Can we minimize downsides and maximize benefits of transnational land investments?
Paradis agricole, la Roumanie est de plus en plus convoitée par les investisseurs étrangers, au risque de voir ses terres arables lui échapper.
As investment deals between big business and the government are made across Tanzania, those working on behalf of small-scale farmers argue that more needs to be done to ensure their needs are not overlooked.
Japanese experts provide an analysis of the ProSavana project's concept note for the development of a large-scale agricultural project in Northern Mozambique.
- Landgrab-Japan
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20 December 2013
Women in Sierra Leone are losing their land and livelihoods in the face of land grabs, discriminatory traditions and customs, and the lack of a strong legal framework, reports Mariama Tarawallie of the Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food (SiLNoRF)
- Open Democracy
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16 December 2013
In four years, Hassad Foods has accumulated 255,000 hectares of agricultural land with the aim of producing 165,000 tonnes of grain and 100,000 lambs annually.
For the world’s people to have secure access to the quantity and quality of food needed for a decent life, the land grabs and the development of large, highly mechanized factory farms must stop.
- Monthly Review
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02 November 2013
Throughout Merauke Regency in the southern part of West Papua, a land controversially annexed by Indonesia 50 years ago, indigenous communities are having to learn fast how to resist corporate manipulations.
- Awas MIFEE
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23 October 2013
Alors qu’en France, un projet de surtaxe de l’huile de palme fait toujours débat, que se passe-t-il chez le premier producteur mondial de palme, l’Indonésie ? Expropriation de communautés locales, soumissions contraintes des petits agriculteurs aux grandes firmes contrôlées par l’Etat…
Anywaa Survival Organisation (ASO) recently had an opportunity to interview affected community representatives and leaders who fled their homes in Gambela and Lower Omo because of government land grabs.
- InterContinental Cry
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17 October 2013
"Le Parlement européen a choisi le juste milieu", analyse Olivier De Schutter, "mais il envoie un signal très clair au marché : plus d’huile devra encore être produite et plus de pressions seront encore exercées sur les terres dont la valeur va encore augmenter."
On the margins of the annual World Bank land and poverty conference in April a donor roundtable agreed to establish a first global donor working group on land, which was launched recently. Video interview with the first chair of the group, from DFID.
- Donor Platform
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01 September 2013
Wilmar says it plans to expand its oil palm plantations holdings in West Africa and to start producing sugar in Burma.