Irish Examiner | 4 June 2013
by Rosamond Bennett and Tom Lodge
THE struggle over land is a defining feature of Ireland’s political history.
As a nation we understand the importance of land as a safety net for those who have nothing to fall back on in hard times.
The dispossession and marginalisation of the rural poor are nothing new. However the scale and pace of the large scale acquisition of land — or land grabbing — in the developing world in the last decade is unprecedented and is having disastrous consequences for the world’s poor.
Land deals under consideration or negotiation worldwide between 2000 and 2010 amounted to a total of 203m hectares, equivalent to over 23 times the size of this island, with many more deals going unreported.
Governments are quietly allowing control of vast tracts of land to pass into powerful and wealthy hands, sometimes for the next 100 years.
The rush for land is being driven by the growing demand for food, fuel, and other commodities — much of which is driven by the demands of Western nations. In particular the increasing use of crops to fuel Europe’s cars is driving land grabs and deforestation, fuelling hunger, and accelerating climate change.
In theory investment should benefit citizens in developing countries by providing infrastructure and jobs. The reality is that the land rights of very poor people count for little. They lose the land they rely on to grow food and feed their families. Their homes, jobs and livelihoods are taken from them — sometimes violently. Ownership is often based on the customs and practices of past generations rather than papers filed in a deeds office, a reality often of little consideration.
Food produced is exported back to wealthy countries, often exacerbating hunger problems. Overwhelmingly, the impact is the violent denial of the human rights and livelihoods of those living in poverty.
Women are particularly vulnerable due to systematic discrimination in their lives and the frequent failure to recognise their land rights. This is made worse by their exclusion from political decision-making and the high levels of poverty and gender-based violence experienced by women.
Across the world, land grabs are undermining development efforts.
* In Sierra Leone, it is estimated that 18% of its land was grabbed in recent years, most of which is linked with agri-business and biofuel production.
* In Angola, forced evictions and illegal housing demolitions have become the norm for people in the overcrowded capital — from 2002 to 2006, 3,000 homes were destroyed leaving 20,000 people homeless.
* With 5.2m people internally displaced since 1985, Colombia has the highest number of displaced men, women and children in the world. While measures have been adopted to benefit victims of violations and to return land, in practice perpetrators have not been brought to justice and little land has been returned.
* In the West Bank, illegal Israeli settlements take up Palestinian land and water resources and create restrictions on movement that impede access to education, healthcare, and employment, as well as restricting the economy — all contributing to poverty.
Despite the massive power imbalance between the foreign investors, wealthy governments, multinationals and people living in poverty, there has been some successful resistance.
In Angola, as a result of eight years of campaigning by a Christian Aid partner, SOS Habitat, the government has built homes in one area for a community who were evicted. They also successfully lobbied authorities for a school, a clinic and water pumps.
In a major victory, 123 families in Las Pavas, Colombia, who were forced off their land at gunpoint two years ago, were supported by civil society organisations and won the legal right to return to the land.
Despite the restrictions of the occupation, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees supports farmers to do agriculture work.
But civil society cannot do this alone. All too often, the communities worst affected are no match for their own governments. Political leadership is urgently needed, particularly as the G8 summit approaches and a new set of development goals are set later in the year. Without an adequate focus on land grabbing, any targets to tackle poverty will not be realised. Three quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas and most depend on farming. Landlessness is closely linked to under-nutrition in developing countries. This issue cannot be ignored.
Ireland, as a donor and European Union member, has a clear role. The EU’s biofuels policy is having a disastrous impact on the enjoyment of the right to food in a number of developing countries. The Government and the European Parliament must end the use of food to fuel tanks. Given the scale of land grabs that have already occurred consideration should be given to reparation and redress for those whose land has been seized.
Responses should not only be guided by states but also by the views and experiences of affected communities; their voices are not heard enough in existing debates. Often they appear as passive victims for whom protection is needed and solutions must be prescribed. The rural poor are experts on their circumstances and aspirations and their views must be central.
* Rosamond Bennett, CEO Christian Aid Ireland, and Prof Tom Lodge, Centre for Peace and Development, University of Limerick. The two groups have brought activists and academics from some of the countries most affected by land grabbing to participate in a two-day seminar today and tomorrow.
The struggle over land is a defining feature of Ireland’s political history.
by Rosamond Bennett and Tom Lodge
THE struggle over land is a defining feature of Ireland’s political history.
As a nation we understand the importance of land as a safety net for those who have nothing to fall back on in hard times.
The dispossession and marginalisation of the rural poor are nothing new. However the scale and pace of the large scale acquisition of land — or land grabbing — in the developing world in the last decade is unprecedented and is having disastrous consequences for the world’s poor.
Land deals under consideration or negotiation worldwide between 2000 and 2010 amounted to a total of 203m hectares, equivalent to over 23 times the size of this island, with many more deals going unreported.
Governments are quietly allowing control of vast tracts of land to pass into powerful and wealthy hands, sometimes for the next 100 years.
The rush for land is being driven by the growing demand for food, fuel, and other commodities — much of which is driven by the demands of Western nations. In particular the increasing use of crops to fuel Europe’s cars is driving land grabs and deforestation, fuelling hunger, and accelerating climate change.
In theory investment should benefit citizens in developing countries by providing infrastructure and jobs. The reality is that the land rights of very poor people count for little. They lose the land they rely on to grow food and feed their families. Their homes, jobs and livelihoods are taken from them — sometimes violently. Ownership is often based on the customs and practices of past generations rather than papers filed in a deeds office, a reality often of little consideration.
Food produced is exported back to wealthy countries, often exacerbating hunger problems. Overwhelmingly, the impact is the violent denial of the human rights and livelihoods of those living in poverty.
Women are particularly vulnerable due to systematic discrimination in their lives and the frequent failure to recognise their land rights. This is made worse by their exclusion from political decision-making and the high levels of poverty and gender-based violence experienced by women.
Across the world, land grabs are undermining development efforts.
* In Sierra Leone, it is estimated that 18% of its land was grabbed in recent years, most of which is linked with agri-business and biofuel production.
* In Angola, forced evictions and illegal housing demolitions have become the norm for people in the overcrowded capital — from 2002 to 2006, 3,000 homes were destroyed leaving 20,000 people homeless.
* With 5.2m people internally displaced since 1985, Colombia has the highest number of displaced men, women and children in the world. While measures have been adopted to benefit victims of violations and to return land, in practice perpetrators have not been brought to justice and little land has been returned.
* In the West Bank, illegal Israeli settlements take up Palestinian land and water resources and create restrictions on movement that impede access to education, healthcare, and employment, as well as restricting the economy — all contributing to poverty.
Despite the massive power imbalance between the foreign investors, wealthy governments, multinationals and people living in poverty, there has been some successful resistance.
In Angola, as a result of eight years of campaigning by a Christian Aid partner, SOS Habitat, the government has built homes in one area for a community who were evicted. They also successfully lobbied authorities for a school, a clinic and water pumps.
In a major victory, 123 families in Las Pavas, Colombia, who were forced off their land at gunpoint two years ago, were supported by civil society organisations and won the legal right to return to the land.
Despite the restrictions of the occupation, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees supports farmers to do agriculture work.
But civil society cannot do this alone. All too often, the communities worst affected are no match for their own governments. Political leadership is urgently needed, particularly as the G8 summit approaches and a new set of development goals are set later in the year. Without an adequate focus on land grabbing, any targets to tackle poverty will not be realised. Three quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas and most depend on farming. Landlessness is closely linked to under-nutrition in developing countries. This issue cannot be ignored.
Ireland, as a donor and European Union member, has a clear role. The EU’s biofuels policy is having a disastrous impact on the enjoyment of the right to food in a number of developing countries. The Government and the European Parliament must end the use of food to fuel tanks. Given the scale of land grabs that have already occurred consideration should be given to reparation and redress for those whose land has been seized.
Responses should not only be guided by states but also by the views and experiences of affected communities; their voices are not heard enough in existing debates. Often they appear as passive victims for whom protection is needed and solutions must be prescribed. The rural poor are experts on their circumstances and aspirations and their views must be central.
* Rosamond Bennett, CEO Christian Aid Ireland, and Prof Tom Lodge, Centre for Peace and Development, University of Limerick. The two groups have brought activists and academics from some of the countries most affected by land grabbing to participate in a two-day seminar today and tomorrow.
