HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

This is the equivalent to the number of people who go hungry in the world today. In its new report, Our Land, Our Lives, Oxfam warns that more than 60 per cent of investments in agricultural land by foreign investors between 2000 and 2010 were in developing countries with serious hunger problems.

However, two thirds of those investors plan to export everything they produce on the land.

Nearly 60 percent of global land deals in the past decade have been to grow crops that can be used for biofuels.

Unprecedented Rush for Land

The report comes as Oxfam steps up its campaign to end land grabs that violate the rights of the world’s poorest people. Oxfam supports greater investment in agriculture and to small-scale farmers.

However the unprecedented rush for land has not been adequately regulated or policed to prevent land grabs. This means that poor people continue to be evicted, often violently, without consultation or compensation. Many lose their homes and are left destitute, without access to the land they rely on for food to eat and make a living.

In Liberia, 30 per cent of the country has been swallowed up by land deals in just five years. Already an area of land the size of London is being sold to foreign investors every six days in poor countries. Oxfam calculates that land deals tripled during the food price crisis in 2008 and 2009 because land was increasingly viewed as a profitable investment. With global food prices again hovering at record levels urgent action is needed to stop the threat of another wave of land grabs.

World Bank to Act… Now!

Oxfam says the World Bank must act now to temporarily freeze its agricultural investments in land so it can review its advice to developing countries, help set standards for investors and introduce more robust policies to stop land-grabs. The World Bank is in a unique position as both an investor in land and an adviser to developing countries.

The Bank’s investments in agriculture have increased by 200 per cent in the last 10 years, while its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, sets standards followed by many investors. The Bank’s own research reveals that countries with the most large scale land deals are those with the poorest protection of people’s land rights. And since 2008, 21 formal complaints have been brought by communities affected by Bank projects that they say have violated their land rights.

Unbridled Land Rush

Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam’s Executive Director, said: “The world is facing an unbridled land rush that is exposing poor people to hunger, violence and the threat of a life-time in poverty. The World Bank is in a unique position to stop this from becoming one of the great scandals of the 21st century.

“By implementing a temporary freeze, and reviewing its approach, the Bank can set an example to all investors and governments that could help put a stop to these human rights abuses and ensure that investors genuinely help boost development in some of the poorest communities. Investment should be good news for developing countries – but it is important that it is truly beneficial and does not harm people or consign them to greater poverty, hunger and hardship.”

“The world is facing an unbridled land rush that is exposing poor people to hunger, violence and the threat of a life-time in poverty.” –  Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director, Oxfam International

Oxfam wants to see progress towards the freeze at the World Bank’s first Annual Meeting since Jim Kim was installed as its new President, in Tokyo on 12-14 October. Putting a stop to its investments in the short term will give the Bank time to put its own house in order.

World Bank to Send Strong Signal to Global Investors to Stop Land-grabbing

Specifically, Oxfam wants the World Bank’s freeze to send a strong signal to global investors to stop land-grabbing and to improve standards for:

• Transparency – ensuring that information about land deals is publicly accessible for both affected communities and governments.
• Consultation and consent – ensuring communities are informed in advance, and can agree or refuse projects.
• Land rights and governance – strengthening poor people’s rights to land and natural resources, especially women, through better land tenure governance as set out by the Committee for Food Security.
• Food security – ensuring that land investments do not undermine local and national food security.

Hobbs said: “The World Bank, with a remit to tackle global poverty, has a responsibility to help stop land grabs and must take urgent action because the rush for land is only likely to accelerate as competition for food and natural resources intensifies.  It must ensure that poor people’s rights are protected.”

Act now to stop land grabs. Read the report: ‘Our Land, Our Lives’: Time out on the global land rush. Read the Land grabs Q&A

Notes to Editors

• According to the International Land Coalition, 203 million hectares of land was acquired in major deals globally between 2000 and 2010.
• The same research shows that 106 million hectares of land in developing countries was acquired by foreign investors between 2000 and 2010.

Source: Oxfam release.

Land Grabs Q&A

Oxfam research shows that big land deals in poor countries are leaving people homeless and hungry. Families are being unfairly evicted from their land and left with no way to grow food or earn a living. Land grabs are big business for rich investors – with a big cost for poor people.

1. What Is a Land Grab?

Land acquisitions become land grabs when they violate human rights, fail to consult affected people, don’t get proper consent and happen in secret. Land grabbers overlook the possible social and environmental impacts of the land deal.

2. What’s the Problem with Big Land Deals – Isn’t Investment a Good Thing?

Responsible investment is an important part of fighting poverty. But big land deals are happening so quickly and on such a large scale that poor people are more vulnerable to the injustice of land grabbing than ever before.

3. So What Does This Mean for People Living on the Land?

Where land grabs occur, communities lose the land they rely on to grow food and feed their families. Their homes, jobs and livelihoods are taken from them – sometimes violently – and there is nothing they can do about it.

4. Why Is There Such a High Demand for Land?

High food prices and a demand for new fuels have both played a part, making land a more profitable investment. Combined with an increasing demand for food, this makes land seem like a pretty safe bet for savvy investors.

5. Who’s Involved?

From Guatemala and Indonesia to Liberia and Sudan, land is being looted by investors of all shapes and sizes. Governments, food exporters, tourism providers, Wall Street speculators – the list goes on.

6. But If Investors Use the Land to Grow Food, Won’t It Work Out OK in the End?

Investment in developing countries is desperately needed. But not investment that deprives poor people of their access to land and natural resources. Most investors intend to export the food they grow back to rich countries. Others will use it to meet huge biofuel targets for the developed world. They’re making the hunger problem much worse.

7. Is There a Solution?

Yes. The World Bank not only funds many large land deals, but also influences how land is bought and sold. We need it to freeze big land deals and set a fair standard for others to follow – protecting the rights of poor people while encouraging positive investment to fight poverty.

Take Action

Sign the petition to the president of the World Bank

Source: Oxfam campaign http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/campaigns/land-grabs-faq

*Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty. 

2012 Human Wrongs Watch