In line with the conventional view that customary land rights impede agricultural development, the traditional tenure system in Nigeria has been perceived to obstruct the achievement of efficient development and agricultural transformation. This led to the Land Use Act (LUA) of 1978.
Food First Backgrounder, Spring 2014, Vol. 20, No. 1
Introduction: Land, Race and the Agrarian Crisis
The disastrous effects of widespread land grabbing and land concentration sweeping the globe do not affect all farmers equally. The degree of vulnerability to these threats is highest for smallholders, women and people of color—the ones who grow, harvest, process and prepare most of the world’s food.
At the turn of the 21st century, farmland was still considered an investment backwater by most of the financial sector. Although some insurance companies have had farmland holdings for years, most financial investors found farmland, and agricultural investment in general, unappealing compared to the much higher returns to be made in financial markets.
Introduction: Farmland, A Safe Investment in Troubling Financial Times
Friends of the Earth’s report, ‘What’s your pension funding? How UK institutional investors finance the global land grab’, highlights the investments of UK institutional investors, such as British Airways Pension Fund, Legal & General and Standard Life, in companies accused of grabbing land, destroying the environment, and undermining sustainable livelihoods.
This briefing paper makes the case for proactive business engagement in respecting land rights and ensuring legal, fair and inclusive practices on land use, access to natural resources and equitable development opportunities. It outlines key challenges, provides an overview of existing instruments that can help companies address issues related to land, and points to practical entry points for improved business practices.
Sudan experiences one of the most severe fissures between society and territory in Africa. Not only were its international borders redrawn when South Sudan separated in 2011, but conflicts continue to erupt over access to land: territorial claims are challenged by local and international actors; borders are contested; contracts governing the privatization of resources are contentious; and the legal entitlements to agricultural land are disputed.
Indonesia comprises more mangroves than any other country, but also exhibits some of the highest mangrove loss rates worldwide. Most of these mangrove losses are caused by aquaculture development. Monetary valuation of the numerous ecosystem services of mangroves may contribute to their conservation.
The food security crisis, international "land grabs,? and new markets for environmental services have drawn renewed attention to the role of natural resource competition in the livelihoods of the rural poor. While significant empirical research has focused on diagnosing the links between natural resource competition and (violent) conflict, much less has focused on the dynamics of whether and how resource competition can be transformed to strengthen social-ecological resilience and mitigate conflict.
As noted by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia (the “Special Rapporteur”) last August at the United Nations (“UN”) Human Rights Council, “Land rights continue to be a major issue in this country.”1 Conflict over land – combined with the widespread and systematic violation of land rights – is one of the most prominent human rights problems faced by Cambodians throughout the country, one whose roots can be traced to the abolition of private ownership when the Khmer Rouge took over power in 1975.
One of the most wellknown biofuel investments was that of Bioshape, which acquired approximately 34,000 ha in Kilwa District for the cultivation of jatropha.
Land in Afghanistan is an extremely complicated issue, proving a main source of conflict. Weak governing institutions and a lack of political will to tackle the issue seriously, however, have made it practically impossible to resolve disputes over land and property in an effective and fair manner.
