Final process report: Commercial pressures on land
The final report of this process, in which all process activities and results are described, can be downloaded here.
Commercial pressures on land
Global economic and policy trends have emerged that boost the commercial value of land and investors' interest in land worldwide. Long-term increases in food consumption (and thus demand and prices), and increasing consumption of agrofuels are creating new demands for large tracts of agricultural land. Coinciding with the liberalisation of trade, competition for land is more and more played out directly between local land users, national economic elites, and transnational investors.
Despite the magnitude of this phenomenon, most evidence is currently indicative or anecdotal. There is as yet very little systematic monitoring of these trends, research into the impacts, or exploration of the opportunities that may be created for rural development. These trends pose both a threat and an opportunity to the rural poor, of whom many have weak and unrecognised land tenure rights. On the other hand, where poor people have secure land use rights, these same trends may actually offer opportunities for development.
Through this DPRN process the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) of the University of Groningen, the International Land Coalition (ILC), and Oxfam Novib address the above named threats and opportunities. By facilitating the communication, exchange and debate on the analysis of land rights problems, approaches and policies, it is aimed to provide an evidence base for influencing global, regional and national policy processes on rural land.
Seminar
The 8 July 2009, almost a hundred development practitioners from all over the world convened in Utrecht to participate to the DPRN Expert Seminar “Commercial Pressures on Land: rethinking policies and practice for development”.
Representatives of civil society, intergovernmental organisations, research institutes, governments as well as private sector have animated the debate addressing the increasing phenomenon of the so called “land grabbing”.
The seminar was articulated around three different panels, each of which tried to capture a different aspect: (i)the southern stakeholder perspective, which included representatives of southern governments, research institutes and civil society organisations; (ii) the corporate and multistakeholder initiatives, which analyzed possible ways for redressing social and ecological effects caused by foreign corporate activity in Southern countries and (iii) the international community perspective, where international IGOs and NGOs explored possibilities for a sustainable way forward.
Read the Full programme.
Below you can find downloadable versions of the presentations for each panel.
Seminar paper
In preparation of the seminar, Michael Taylor of the ILC published a discussion paper titled ‘Increasing commercial pressure on land: Building a coordinated response’. The 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 and comments on recent trends in land transactions. It furthermore discusses ten myths that are commonly associated with ‘land grabbing’, and outlines key emerging concerns that responses to the phenomenon should address. Lastly, the paper puts forward some key considerations and questions for building a coordinated response.
