Discusses highlights from a recent academic article exploring whether 3,000 bilateral and regional investment treaties protect ‘land grab’ deals and how these impact the land rights of rural people. Argues that, if not properly thought through, international treaties to protect foreign investment could compound shortcomings of local and national governance, undermining the rights of people impacted by the investments.

In many parts of Africa, legal services organisations have developed innovative ways for using legal processes to help disadvantaged groups have more secure land rights. Their approaches, tools and methods vary widely – from legal literacy training to paralegals programmes, from participatory methodologies to help local groups register their lands or negotiate with government or the private sector through to legal representation and strategic use of public interest litigation.

From the mid-2000s, a commodity boom underpinned a wave of land use investments in low- and middle-income countries. While agribusiness, mining and petroleum concessions often involve promises of jobs and public revenues, they have also prompted concerns about land dispossession, exclusionary investment models and infringements of the rights of vulnerable groups. One of the major challenges is in empowering rural people to make informed choices, exercise their rights and have their voices heard.

A historical analysis of the current land invasion crisis, examining the chequered past of the white farmers. Contrasts the present situation with the eviction without compensation by whites of Chief Tangwenya and his followers. Examines the different interpretations by the British and Zimbabwean Governments of the agreement over land reached at Lancaster House in 1979. Argues that the present media coverage lacks historical perspective and is doing the country a disservice. There are more questions needing to be asked about Britain’s role

Argues that the seizure of farmland for commercial diamond mining in Angola’s Lunda provinces is causing widespread hunger and deepening poverty. Fields are destroyed where crops are cultivated and arbitrary measurements taken to determine how much to pay the peasants; only US$0.25 per square metre of land seized. The law which ought to provide some protection is routinely ignored. Calls on the companies involved to start negotiations with farming communities to ensure fair compensation for people who lose access to their land through the granting of diamond mining concessions.

Includes cultural contextualization on the use of land in Madagascar; legal framework: what rights’ protection for Malagasy peasants in the framework of land grabbing and the growing commercial pressure on land?; land, one resource, many drivers – energy, mining, forestry, pharmaceutical industry, tourism. Brings out the voices and testimonies of those directly involved including local communities who are victims of these land grabs in 5 regions – Ihorombe, Sofia, Alaotra Mangoro, Analanjirofo and Itasy and on the island of Nosy Be in the Diana region.

Dramatic changes are underway in Southern Africa, with growing interest by foreign and domestic investors to access land for farming, mining and other commercial operations. This book of case studies documents situations in which commercial projects are planned or are being implemented on land held by rural communities in Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It aims to provide an accessible and vivid window into the lived realities, views and responses of rural people who are affected by such deals.

RISD, a Rwandan NGO, presented its study of land use and implementation of villagisation in Kigali Rural, Ruhengeri, Gikongoro and Butare to offer an informed contribution to land policy development and the villagisation process and to stimulate discussion and dialogue through dissemination of its findings. The paper examines the history of the policy, the main determining factors, and the problems which have surfaced. since its inception.

Outlines Oxfam’s land research on the Copperbelt in 1998. Updated version of 1998 paper examining how people whose livelihoods once depended on the copper mines have begun looking for land and the problems they have encountered on forest and ZCCM land, with the 1995 Lands Act, and with party politics. Highlights the lack of coordinated responses to the problem and concludes with the main developments following the sale of the mines in 2000 and the attitudes of the new owners towards squatters.

Includes a broader view of the global land grab; Southern Africa: under-utilised and opening up for business?; biofuels everywhere, but not enough to eat; extractive industries: mining and forestry; reversals and state capitalism in Zimbabwe; the next Great Trek? South Africans head north; where is the food?; towards a typology; reflecting on these trends: what fresh insights?; conclusions.

As the development of Liberia’s natural wealth intensifies, a coherent set of policies that address questions of persistent gender inequality, sustainable rural livelihoods and long-term security of access to natural resources is needed. The capacity of rural women to maintain the local food economy must be preserved and enhanced, as must their ability to make informed decisions regarding the sustainable exploitation of natural resources.

Successive governments in India have emphasized the need for industrial expansion and privatization as the foundation for economic stability and growth. This focus has led to the policy-induced transformation of rural and peri-urban landscapes into use for industry and infrastructure. These transformations have caused social conflicts and ecological impacts for land and resource-dependent people.