Resources

By: Christoph Kubitza

In the wake of global climate action, large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) for renewable energy and carbon offset projects will increase the pressure on land. In addition, deforestation-free value chains that are also intended to reduce carbon emissions will require changes in the conduct of LSLAs. We assessed …

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 …

Joining both online and in person, over 110 participants attended the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) side event on 12 October 2022, at which a panel of experts discussed human rights violations in global land acquisitions and agricultural supply chains. Still frequently occurring, these violations have triggered a range …

In 2019, the Land Matrix established it’s PhD programme as part of its drive to strengthen data analysis and promote research activities. Three years later, the Initiative is proud to congratulate the first two students to finalise their PhD theses and complete the programme, Quentin Grislain and Wegayehu Bogale.

The …

Authors: Lorina Fedorova, Christoph Kubitza, and Danya-Zee Pedra

The Russian attack on Ukraine has upended the lives of millions of Ukrainians and is causing one of the most severe humanitarian crises in Europe in decades. Aside from the humanitarian threat, economic concerns have begun to surface as people start to …

Author: Nyaguthii Maina
Published: 2022
Source: International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

Globally, there has been positive momentum to develop and implement new national laws and international guidance frameworks to promote “responsible” investment in land and agriculture, but Africa still lags far behind other regions in responsible investment practice. Today, …

Author: Christoph Kubitza

The 2022 LANDac International Conference took place under the theme “Governing land for the future. What (r)evolutions do we need?” from 29 June to 1 July. As always, the event was hosted in the small city of Utrecht, the Netherlands, bringing together both researchers and practitioners. This …

The month of May marked a milestone for many of us involved in the land sector, as we were finally able to come together in person for the first time since the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic at one of the main events in the calendar – the Global Land …

Source: The Manila Times
Published: 29 June 2022

A recent report published by the Land Matrix Initiative has shed some light on the extent of so-called large-scale land acquisitions (LSLA) in the Philippines, and the news is not encouraging. The Philippines is among the top five countries in all …

Author: Ben Kritz
Source: The Manila Times
Published: 28 June 2022

LAND use is a touchy subject in any country, and particularly so here in the Philippines. The seemingly endless struggle to produce enough food for a steadily expanding population is constantly handicapped by strong competition for control of …

The closer we get to the harvest season, the more often we hear the global community’s statements that Russian aggression in Ukraine is spreading terror and hunger far beyond our country. How the war will affect the world’s food security and the possible ways of dealing with the issue were …

Authors: Mykhailo Amosov
Source: Ecoaction
Published: 19 May 2022

As we witness a time when a third of Ukraine’s arable land is under current occupation by Russian troops or was previously occupied and is still mined by Russia, it’s obvious that the economic interest in the most profitable use of …

An estimated 10 million hectares — a third of Ukraine’s total farmland — has been knocked out of production either because it's occupied by Russian troops or because the land is strewn with landmines, unexploded shells and the charred remains of tanks and other military hardware, said Mykhailo Amosov, …

Authors: Mykhailo Amosov and Maria Diachuk, Ecoaction Center for Environmental Initiatives
Source: Euromaidan Press
Published: 15 April 2022

Russia’s war against Ukraine has escalated the threat of hunger around the world. Ukraine is a major supplier of food products to the world, especially, to the developing countries. The Russian invasion …

Source: Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Switzerland
Published: 7 April 2022

Much arable land in developing countries is inefficiently managed or lies fallow: Since this became the accepted, World Bank-endorsed narrative in 2008, it has shaped the agricultural policies of many developing countries. At the same …

Author: Katarina Kusic and Sladjana Lazic
Source: Lefteast
Published: 11 March 2022

While the recent protests in Serbia have focused on environmental protection specifically and the increasingly authoritarian nature of the ruling party more generally, the catalyst for the protests is land. They started in reaction to a planned lithium …

The Land Matrix Initiative and all its partners are deeply shocked and concerned about the russian aggression and war against Ukraine and the violation of international law. We express our solidarity with our partners from Ukraine, and all the Ukrainian people.

We call for the war to be stopped immediately. …

Source: Kyiv School of Economics
Published: 4 March 2022

Background
Wheat and corn account for almost of 30% of all calories or simply all food (in various forms) in the world. Ukraine and Russia together export about 30% of all wheat and about 18% of all corn in the world. …

Source: UNCG
Published: 16 march 2022

For more than 20 days, a war on an unprecedented scale has been going on in Europe. Russia started this war, expecting to take control of key Ukrainian cities and break down the resistance in just a few days. It has become evident that …

Author: Irish Baguilat, Coordinator for the UNDFF and Women Farmers' Agenda of AFA
Source: Asian Farmers' Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA)
Published: 6 January 2022

The pandemic and its consequences have had a huge impact on the livelihoods and welfare of small-scale family farmers. As expressed and observed, the …

In September this year, the Land Matrix Initiative published its third analytical report, Taking stock of the global land rush: Few development benefits, many human and environmental risks, based on data collected on large-scale land acquisitions around the world.

According to this report, Ukraine ranks second among target countries …

Author: Kaamil Ahmed

Source: The Guardian

Published: 15 November 2021

Growing rush for land is destroying ecosystems and disrupting lives to satisfy global demand for goods, study warns

Businesses and governments must stop the growing rush of commodities-driven land grabbing, which is “trashing” the environment and displacing people, says new …

У вересні цього року, міжнародна ініціатива Land Matrix опублікувала аналітичний звіт “Підбиття підсумків глобальної «земельної лихоманки» – незначні вигоди, суттєві ризики для людей та довкілля” на основі зібраних даних про масштабні придбання земель по всьому світу.

Згідно з цим звітом, Україна знаходиться на 2-му місці серед країн світу за загальною …

Authors: Christoph Kubitza and Danya-Zee Pedra

Current spikes in global food prices bring up old memories of similarly escalating food prices in 2007/2008 and the associated rush for agricultural land in developing countries. Seeing these recurring patterns in prices, it is ever more urgent to understand if the past global …

Here’s how the United Nations should harness science and technology to improve nutrition and safeguard the environment.

Authors: Joachim von Braun , Kaosar Afsana , Louise O. Fresco & Mohamed Hassan

Source: Nature

Published: 30 August 2021

The world’s food system is in disarray. One in ten people is undernourished. …

Author: Madalitso A. Kamenya, Agricultural Economist, Land Matrix Africa (hosted by the University of Pretoria)

Land is one of the most valuable assets in Malawi, but is considered underdeveloped. To increase productivity, efforts have therefore been made to increase large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) throughout the country. However, information on these …

Apparel brands are said to be eyeing Uzbekistan as a potential source of cotton, particularly with Xinjiang cotton now the subject of US sanctions. A process of reform has made significant progress on forced labour issues in Uzbekistan, but now another issue has arisen: land-grabs. In this special piece for …

Oxfam Blogs guest post by Wytske Chamberlain and Wegayehu Fitawek of Land Matrix Africa, hosted by the University of Pretoria 

Remember the global riots over food set off by sharp spikes in commodity prices in 2008? The biofuel hype as THE solution to dirty oil? And the financial crisis that …

Are the Philippines’ Protected Areas (PAs) and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) free from the encroachment of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs)? What policies and programmes can we recommend to ensure that these PAs and KBAs are protected? What mitigating actions can we do in areas where there are already LSLAs?

The …

Pour répondre au manque d’informations transparentes sur les investissements à incidences foncières, la société civile Sénégalaise, au sein du cadre de réflexion et d’action sur le foncier au Sénégal (CRAFS), a lancé en 2015 une plate-forme multipartite, appelée Observatoire National de la Gouvernance Foncière (ONGF), pour suivre les dyna-miques …

Aplicando el coeficiente de Gini para analizar las grandes transacciones de tierra realizadas desde el año 2000, esta investigación, del proyecto Grandes Transacciones de Tierras (GTT), a través de la Iniciativa Land Matrix, revela que el Chaco de Salta es una de las regiones más afectadas por el desmonte …

“Land Grabbing from the inside” -- Who is involved? What are the consequences? Why is it so difficult to fight?

Throughout the month of November, Land Matrix LAC, in collaboration with the ILC LAC, will be carrying out an exciting Outreach Campaign to explore the issue of land grabbing in …

Authors: Wegayehu Fitawek and Prof Sheryl L Hendriks

Source: The Conversation

Published: 1 September 2020

Large-scale land acquisitions have been increasing in developing countries following the 2007/8 high food price crisis. Countries with limited agricultural potential, like Gulf states, have been driving foreign acquisitions in developing countries. Many …

The Uganda Land Observatory has developed a dynamic new website dedicated to capturing existing knowledge and collecting new data on land deals in the country. The goal of the Uganda Land Observatory is to strengthen land governance and improve transparency in land transactions to promote greater consistency with the Africa …

Ghana has seen a significant surge in large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) in recent years, and has in fact become one of the LSLA hotspots in Africa. However, since the way in which the number of transactions, estimated size of land, and categorisation of LSLAs is captured varies considerably between different …

Authors: Mykhailo Amosov and Valentin Pugachev

Published: February 2020 (original)

Source: Ecoaction

Some Ukrainian agro-companies are contravening the law by illegally operating in protected areas of nature reserves and slopes. At the same time, local authorities continue to make such land privately owned and do not control its use.

These …

Author: Phillan Zamchiya

Published: 2020

Source: Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS)

Abstract: Globally, Africa remains the largest continent attracting land-based investments from the world. Data from the Land Matrix indicates that there were 422 transnational land deals concluded in the agricultural sector (42% of all global deals) …

Source: Land Portal

Published: 27 November 2019

African countries must act faster to purge corruption in the land sector by harnessing technology and innovation, African Development Bank Senior Vice President Charles Boamah urged on Monday.

Boamah, who was speaking to policymakers and stakeholders at a conference on Land Policy in …

Author: Mykhailo Amosov

Published: 2019

Source: Ecoaction

For nearly thirty years, the question of land reform has occupied Ukrainians. The current stalemate on land policy seems unbreakable. This article, by Mykhailo Amosov from our Eastern Europe Regional Focal Point, Ecoaction, considers how the ‘land question’ has developed over …

The African continent is the most targeted region for large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) in the global south. Given the sheer scale of this, monitoring these deals can be extremely challenging – but it is crucial that we do so, as access to land is closely linked to a number of …

Author: Fredrick Mugira

Source: New Vision

Published: 26 March 2019

In the hilly southwestern region of Uganda, a life-line river of about five million people has had up to 80 percent of its water dry up. The national environment watchdog, NEMA, says the prime factor drying Rwizi River is illegal …

Author: Scott Schang

Source: Land Portal

Published: 7 June 2019

In the past decade, significant international attention has focused on “land grabs” in developing countries by companies and others hungry for land to grow food and procure resources for the world’s growing population. Tens of millions of acres of land …

Authors: Angela Harding and Danya-Zee Pedra

Source: Africa is a Country

Unsustainable palm oil industry practices—the result of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLA) across Africa's tropical belt—have resulted in a number of social and environmental concerns. Palm oil is one of the most rapidly expanding crops in Africa, and has been …

With construction set to begin imminently in order to turn Daraitan into the reservoir for the Kaliwa Dam in Rizal, Philippines, there is great concern about the impact this will have on the area and the indigenous people (IP) living there. Daraitan is part of their vast ancestral domain in …

Authors: Giger, Markus; Nolte Ward Anseeuw, Kerstin; Breu, Thomas Michael; Chamberlain, Wytske O.; Messerli, Peter; Oberlack, Christoph; Haller, Tobias

Published: 2019

We are pleased to announce that members of our very own Land Matrix team have authored a chapter in the newly released book The Commons in a Glocal World: …

Depuis la crise financière de 2008, la terre agricole s’impose de nouveau sur les marchés internationaux comme un placement lucratif. Si nombre d’investisseurs sont à la recherche d’une rentabilité intéressante, on observe aussi dans cette course à l’achat de terres arables de nouveaux acteurs et de nouveaux enjeux : après …

En este último número del boletín del Punto Focal América Latina, contamos con actualizaciones sobre las actividades en la región, incluyendo:

• Nuevas grandes transacciones de tierras en América Latina

• Contribución para un libro de acaparamiento de tierras

• Taller para la identificación de grandes transacciones de tierras

• Foro: Intercambio de Conocimiento …

In this latest issue of the Latin America Focal Point newsletter, we feature updates on activities in the region, including:

• New large scale land acquisitions in Latin America
• Contribution to a book about land grabbing
• Workshop of the identification of LSLA
• Forum: Exchange of knowledge on Semi-arid regions of Latin …

Authors: Jérémy Bourgoin, Elodie Valette, Simon Guillouet, Djibril Diop and Djiby Dia

Published: 2019

In current literature, certain scholars have stressed the role of the private sector in the process of revitalizing agriculture through agribusiness-led development. Others have underlined the global risks of poorly negotiated land acquisitions that disadvantage farmers …

By Israel Bionyi Nyoh, Communications Specialist Africa, International Land Coalition Africa

Uganda has new combat gear – and it’s not going to be used to tear down homes and destroy lives. Instead it will arm the country with a platform to fight for land rights, peace and justice, and comes …

In this latest issue of the Latin America Focal Point newsletter, we feature updates on activities in the region, including:

• New phase and strengthening of the regional partners network
  
• Start-up of the National Land Observatory of Argentina
  
• Strengthening the Focal Point in research issues
  
• Collaboration between the Focal Point Latin …

Focus: Nicaragua Grand Interoceanic Canal

The Latin America Focal Point of the Land Matrix, Fundapaz, published a newsletter on their latest activities. Here is a summary of the contents: 

• Focus: Nicaragua Grand Interoceanic Canal 
• Updating of existing deals in Latin America 
• New land deals of uploaded to the database …