Latin America

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Large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are part of a long history of appropriation of land and natural resources by external actors, and have led to wide deforestation and expansion of agricultural “frontiers”, following a development model based on the production of agricultural commodities for external markets. This pattern of agribusiness reduces local food sovereignty and increases dependence on external stakeholders, such as marketing companies, technology providers, and transnational producers of agrochemicals.

Country profiles

Country profiles present national-level data of large-scale land acquisitions and transactions including who the investors are, what the aim of the investment is, who the former owner was and what the land was previously used for, and what the potential benefits and impacts of the land deals are.

By making this information available, the Land Matrix hopes to enhance broad engagement and data exchange, facilitating the continuous improvement of the data. Find out how to get involved here .

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Perfiles de País: Paraguay

Aunque Paraguay cuenta con una alta biodiversidad en sus seis ecorregiones, en las últimas cinco décadas el país perdió casi el 90% de la cobertura boscosa original de su territorio, debido a la expansión de las actividades agrícolas y ganaderas, en particular en la región del Chaco. Esta expansión generó …

Country profile: Paraguay

Although Paraguay boasts high biodiversity in all its six eco-regions, in the last five decades, it has lost almost 90% of its original forest cover due to the expansion of agricultural and livestock activities, particularly in the Chaco region. This expansion has also generated multiple conflicts over land tenure between …

Perfiles de País: Brasil

Brasil es el país más grande de toda América Latina y el quinto país más grande del mundo. Lamentablemente, el país también ocupa el segundo lugar a nivel mundial en términos de pérdida de bosques en las últimas dos décadas. Esta deforestación se asocia principalmente con la ganadería y la …

News & publications

Loggers have ‘grabbed’ around 1m hectares of Indigenous land in DRC

Author: Josh Gabbatiss
Published: 12 March 2024
Source: Carbon Brief

Logging companies have “acquired” roughly 1m hectares of Indigenous peoples’ territory in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2000, according to a new study.

This is part of a wider trend in which companies and governments take advantage of …

Large-scale acquisitions of communal land in the Global South: Assessing the risks and formulating policy recommendations

Authors: Jorge A. Rincón Barajas, Christoph Kubitza and Jann Lay
Published: 2024
Source: Land Use Policy

This research by Land Matrix partner GIGA conceptualises and empirically assesses the socioeconomic and environmental risks of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) for communal lands in the Global South. These risks include the displacement of …

Latin America Regional Focal Point making waves in radio campaign

The Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía No Convencional (INENCO) is currently carrying out a radio broadcasting campaign to share its research activities from the Latin America Regional Focal Point (RFP). The campaign started in April 2023 and will run for three months until July. So far, INENCO has visited …

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