Increasing commercial pressure on land: building a coordinated response

Jul 2009

The food price crisis of 2007-2008 brought to public attention a wave of large-scale acquisitions of land in developing and transition countries by foreign investors. The predominant investors in these deals have been governments and government-backed institutions; the dominant rationale to secure national food and energy supplies. The food price spike in 2007-2008 is said to have been a “wake-up call” for many food importing, capital-rich countries, provoking attempts by such countries to circumvent the open world market and to secure dedicated sources of imports. At the same time, there are reports that farmland ownership is increasingly being seen as a vehicle for investment by agribusiness, and also by the financial industry.
Investment in farmland for offshore food production (often in food insecure countries) is one face of a much wider trend of increasing demand for land for not only food, but also fuel, fibre, tourism, mining and ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration. Expected long-term trends in all of these sectors are promoting investor interest in land that was previously marginal to economic interest, driving rising land prices globally. Increasing competition over such land between investors, local communities and others carries high risks of conflict, as the recent clashes over resource concessions in indigenous territories in Peru have demonstrated.
Investors interested in exploiting the commercial potential of land and natural resources are more and more coming into direct competition with local populations, for whom such resources are a critical source of livelihoods. The current wave of large-scale land acquisitions is seen as posing both threats and opportunities. It is suggested that they pose a threat to the land rights of the poor, particularly to customary and common-property rights-holders; to the food security of the host countries; and to the environment. Alternatively, these acquisitions may be seen as bringing investment into a sector and into regions that badly need it, perhaps helping to achieve poverty reduction and development goals, and to meet the world's food needs.
This paper takes stock of current understandings of, and responses to, commercial pressures on land by organisations within and beyond ILC’s membership. It outlines key current initiatives to engage with the phenomenon; comments on recent trends in land transactions; discusses ten myths that are commonly associated with ‘land grabbing’; outlines key emerging concerns that responses to the phenomenon should address; and puts forward some key considerations and questions for building a coordinated response.

By: M. Taylor, T. Bending (ILC secretariat)

 
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