London Mining Network is an alliance of human rights, development, environmental and solidarity groups working in support of communities around the world who are badly affected by mining companies based in, or financed from, London.

One such company is Antofagasta plc, one of the larger mining companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. The majority of its operations are in Chile. The most significant shareholders in Antofagasta are members of the Luksic family, a wealthy Chilean family which is also involved in a number of other businesses.

Few land disturbances impact watersheds at the scale and extent of mountaintop removal mining (MTM). This practice removes forests, soils and bedrock to gain access to underground coal that results in likely permanent and wholesale changes that impact catchment hydrology, geochemistry and ecosystem health. MTM is the dominant driver of land cover changes in the central Appalachian Mountains region of the United States, converting forests to mine lands and burying headwater streams.

Over the last decade, there have been considerable concerns raised regarding the social and environmental impacts of large-scale land concessions for plantation development in various parts of the world, especially in the tropics, including in Laos and Cambodia. However, there is still much to learn about the various connections and interactions associated with reactions to what are often referred to as “land grabs”, and the ways they are associated or not associated with broader social movements and networks opposed to land grabbing.

Combating inequality in Latin America requires addressing the extreme concentration in access to and control over land, as well as in the distribution of benefits from its use.

Rubber prices in northern Laos have fallen significantly over the last few years, eroding much of the initial enthusiasm of both farmers and government officials about rubber providing a way out of poverty for poor upland farmers. This thematic study examines responses to this price drop by Lao rubber growers and state institutions in northern Laos. It also examines the reasons that prices are what they are, given that price volatility was identified as a risk during the mid-2000s, and that in at least some cases, steps were taken to protect contract farmers from falling prices.

The scholarly debate around 'global land grabbing' is advancing theoretically, methodologically and empirically. This study contributes to these ongoing efforts by investigating a set of 'small-scale land acquisitions' in the context of a recent boom in banana plantation investments in Luang Namtha Province, Laos. In relation to the actors, scales and processes involved, the banana acquisitions differ from the state-granted large-scale land acquisitions dominating the literature on 'land grabbing' in Laos.

Political reactions ‘from below’ to global land grabbing have been vastly more varied and complex than is usually assumed. This essay introduces a collection of ground- breaking studies that discuss responses that range from various types of organized and everyday resistance to demands for incorporation or for better terms of incorporation into land deals. Initiatives ‘from below’ in response to land deals have involved local and transnational alliances and the use of legal and extra-legal methods, and have brought victories and defeats.

In this oil research paper, we have set out the challenges confronting oil producing countries in sub-Saharan Africa by giving case studies of Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. We have also critiqued the draft National Oil and Gas Policy under formulation as well as the legal framework. We argue that the oil Dutch Disease and conflict nexus associated with oil producing countries are not a given since there are examples such as Norway which have utilised their oil revenue for transformation and sustainable development.

Uganda discovered commercial quantities of oil in the country in 2006 and ever since, there has been increased activity in the exploration of oil and gas. The exploration activities are being undertaken in the Albertine Graben in mostly the districts of Hoima, Buliisa, and Nwoya by international oil companies contracted by the government. Currently, there are three licensed companies namely, Tullow Uganda operations Ltd , Total E&P and CNOOC Uganda Ltd operating in the districts of Hoima, Buliisa and Nwoya within the Albertine Graben.

We believe that law should in principle assist vulnerable communities in changing power relations. Law is fundamentally a ‘neutral’ set of rules that constrains power by requiring decisions and actions of those in power to comply with legal rules, rights and obligations. Unfortunately, we have seen the powerful appropriate law as a tool for only protecting and strengthening their interests.

 Writ­ten sub­mis­sions on the Regulation of Agricultural Land Holdings Draft Bill made to the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform 

Writ­ten sub­mis­sions on the MPRDA Amend­ment Bill 15D of 2013 to the Gaut­eng Leg­is­la­ture, made on behalf of the Land Access Move­ment of South Africa (LAM­OSA), the Amadiba Cri­sis Com­mit­tee (ACC), and Bench Marks Foun­da­tion.