Large-scale agricultural investments (LSAI) in Ethiopia are expected to provide input for the processing industry and to bring foreign currency as well as technology transfer to the country, while the local communities will benefit from employment and infrastructure improvements related to these investments. But the results of investment projects have been rather limited so far. In the past, the land identification (and verification) process for LSAI, due to various reasons, was not implemented with the required accuracy, which often resulted in environmental and social problems.

Ce numéro de « Regards sur le foncier » est composé d’une revue bibliographique et des communications écrites par des jeunes chercheurs. Ces textes sont issus des journées d’études de juillet 2018 organisées par le Comité technique « Foncier & développement » dans le cadre du chantier de réflexion collective « Systèmes agraires et accès des jeunes à la terre ».

This paper examines how far Afghanistan’s Land Acquisition Law complies with standards required for World Bank financing of public interest projects that unavoidably extinguish or diminish existing land rights in the project area. For this purpose, the law was compared with standards laid down in World Bank ESS5 on Involuntary Settlement. Additional reference was made to ESS1 on social risk and impact assessment, and to ESS7, in regard to communities whose socio-culture and livelihoods rely distinctively and historically upon collectively-based tenure or land use.

The expansion of oil palm plantations in Papua province, Indonesia, involves the conversion of forests, among other land types in the landscapes, which are a source of clan members’ livelihoods. The way in which this expansion occurs makes it necessary to understand the factors associated with why companies look for frontier lands and what externalities are generated during both the land acquisition and plantation development periods.

The recent global surge in large-scale foreign land acquisitions marks a radical transformation of the global economic and political landscape. Since land that attracts capital often becomes the site of expulsions and displacement, it also leads to new forms of migration. In this paper, I explore this connection from the perspective of a political philosopher. I argue that changes in global land governance unsettle the congruence of political community and bounded territory that we often take for granted.

Land acquisition and use remain a critical issue of great policy relevance in developing countries such as Nigeria. This study therefore examined land acquisition and use in Nigeria within the context of food and livelihood security. The chapter used secondary data obtained from the World Bank website, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and other sources. It was found that there are gender, location and income-group considerations in the allocation of land in Nigeria.

L’accaparement des terres au Tchad est un phénomène nouveau, massif, et accumulateur visant le contrôle de large partie de terres riches agricoles. Le contexte tchadien correspond plus ou moins aux critères globalement admis pour définir l’accaparement des terres : la taille des emprises, les acteurs (passifs ou actifs), le contrôle des procédures, la légalité des acquisitions et l’utilisation des terres cédées. Les investisseurs étrangers se sont encore peu intéressés au foncier agricole tchadien. Le phénomène est porté par une classe d’investisseurs locaux.

The Annual Country Reviews reflect upon current land issues in the Mekong Region, and has been produced for researchers, practitioners and policy advocates operating in the field. Specialists have been selected from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to briefly answer the following two questions:

1. What are the most pressing issues involving land governance in your country?

2. What are the most important issues for the researcher on land?

Crowd sourced information submitted anonymously from the students of the class of 2017-2020 of the European Law School Programme from Maastricht University Faculty of Law.

Crowd sourced information submitted anonymously from the students of the class of 2017-2020 of the European Law School Programme from Maastricht University Faculty of Law.

Crowd sourced information submitted anonymously from the students of the class of 2017-2020 of the European Law School Programme from Maastricht University Faculty of Law.