Land acquistion, investment and tenure

Central to peaceful development

Despite being central to peaceful development, economic growth and sustainable resource use, land issues have often been ignored.

Land tenure -- The subject is closely linked to poverty reduction and food security, economic development, local government and legal issues. Climate change and expanding biofuel production is likely to lead to greater competition for access to land - posing a tremendous threat to the livelihoods of millions of farmers, pastoralists, fishers and forest dwellers with no formal land tenure rights.

Land acquisition -- Due to its possible impact on local livelihoods and long-term development, the phenomenon of large-scale land acquisition has attracted considerable attention. Opinions are sharply divided from seeing it as an opportunity to overcome long years of underinvestment in agriculture which allowed countries to gain access to technology and employment and create the preconditions for sustained and broad-based development to the risks resulting from neglect of local rights, conflict, and environmental damage.

Formulating new principles

Many initiatives of officials, policymakers, think tanks, NGOs, the private sector have recently been focussing on definition of principles, guidelines and rules for governments and investors. As an input into this debate, the World Bank and partners formulated a set of principles for responsible agro investment (RAI) that respects rights, livelihoods, and resources (FAO and others 2010). Some saw these principles as narrowly promoting investor interest and argued for a broad consultation.

Rising interest in farmland

To advance the debate on how to implement the principles in practice and assess compliance, empirical evidence has been collated and processed in the World Bank study ‘Rising Global Interest in Farmland – Can it yield sustainable and equitable benefits?’

The study outlines options for different actors to minimize risks. It capitalizes on opportunities to better contribute to poverty reduction and economic growth, especially in rural areas, which the long-term increase in value that drives land acquisition processes may affect.

The plan to form a land governance initiative is seen as a possibility to increase disclosure and access to information by all parties. Further debate on how to shape such an initiative is hoped to result from an e-discussion with major stakeholder groups hosted by the Platform and IISD staged on this website soon.

http://fian.org/resources/documents/others/report-on-land-grabbing