Author Archive

The Oakland Institute sounds the alarm on the threat that land grabbing poses to food security and livelihoods. Land grabs–the purchase of vast tracts of land from poor, developing countries by wealthier, food-insecure nations and private investors–have become a widespread phenomenon, with foreign interests seeking or securing between 37 million […]

The report findings include: No evidence of ‘pro-poor, win-win’ scenarios in these land deals; Negative impacts on communities where such land deals are carried out; Majority of land deals are not linked to food production, but for the production of biofuels and other industrial products such as timber; Major land […]

For decades, Ethiopia has been known to the outside world as a country of famine, food shortages, endemic hunger, and chronic dependency on foreign aid. Despite receiving billions of dollars in aid, Ethiopians remain among the poorest in the world. Our research shows that at least 3,619,509 ha of land […]

Over the past few years, agribusiness, investment funds and government agencies have been acquiring long-term rights over large areas of land in Africa. Together with applicable national and international law, contracts define the terms of an investment project, and the way risks, costs and benefits are distributed. Who has the […]

Whether viewed as “land grabs” or as agricultural investment for development, large-scale land deals by investors in developing countries are generating considerable attention. However, investors, policymakers, officials, and other key stakeholders have paid little attention to a dimension of these deals essential to truly understanding their impact: gender. [issuu width=420 […]