Documents - Land Rights

Understanding land grabbing, land rights in the 21st Century

It is critical for farmers and advocates of land rights as well as the general public to understand how and why land grabbing is happening to make a more effective, strategic campaigning to address and stop it. In this special, double edition of Focus Policy Review, this is one of the main themes discussed. As the lead article underscores, “land grabbing...have almost always been framed within the themes of economic investment, human rights, and governance. Underpinning these themes is the issue of power...” because land grabbing is a political issue with economic goals. We need to know the basics about land grabbing—the who, what, where, and how—in order to grasp the complexities of the issue. (source: focusweb.org/)

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on Free, Prior and Informed Consent Poster

A simplified version on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) produced by Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP, 2012).

Oil Dependency and the Peruvian Amazon: How Oil Companies Have Exploited the Rainforest of Loreto

For more than 40 years, oil activity has brought destruction to the ecosystems and the indigenous people of four river basins, all major tributaries to the Amazon, which gives life to the biggest rainforest on Earth. The operator responsible for this human and environmental disaster, Pluspetrol Norte S.A., has evaded any responsibility. The company’s contract expires on August 29, 2015, but now a new oil lot, 192, has been created and put up for sale. Three big oil companies have shown an interest, including Pluspetrol Norte S.A, but the indigenous people of the River Tigre have stated they will not permit this operator to stay one day longer on their territories. Read their testimonies and more about the impact of oil exploitation in this report (Chaikuni Institute, 2015).

Exploitation and empty promises: Wilmar’s Nigerian landgrab

This document uses first-person testimonies, satellite maps, and Wilmar’s own filings with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to demonstrate that the company failed to gain the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of communities directly affected by its operations; failed to produce adequate Environmental and Social Impact Assessments; and failed to live up to promises of infrastructure development and benefit sharing, despite these promises being a primary incentive for local communities to allow the company to operate in Cross River State. (foei.org, 2015)

My Home My Land

My Home, My Land is a graphic representation of much of the Oakland Institute's work on land grabs. Illustrated by the Institute's Intern Scholar, Abner Hauge, this publication dismantles the many myths promoted by so-called donor countries, development agencies, and corporations about the positive effects of foreign direct investments through large-scale land acquisitions. (The Oakland Institute, 2015)