Community land represents the backbone of rural life. Its loss—whether due to conflict, infrastructure projects, private investments or natural disasters—has grave consequences from loss of livelihood to broader environmental and social harms.
Communities affected by Maryland Oil Palm Plantation in southern Liberia have called on banks to refrain from joining a $1.5 billion syndicated loan for the palm oil giant Wilmar International. They now been accused of being anti-development and opposing the newly elected Liberian government.
Friends of the Earth Netherlands launched a report warn that Dutch Banks ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank have to take responsibility for the disastrous environmental and social consequences of providing finance to the palm oil sector at large scale.
Greenpeace Africa published a report explaining how Singaporean based Halycon Agri and its Cameroonian subsidiary- Sudcam operate a sordid rubber plantation business threats the ecosystem and local and indigenous communities in the south of Cameroon.
An overview of Phoenix's farms in Kazakhstan, at Baimyrza and Pushkinskoye, as captured by drones used in monitoring the operations across 100,000 Hectares of farm land.
Global Witness annual figures show at least 207 land and environmental activists were killed in 2017 across 22 countries, almost 4 a week, making it the worst year on record.
Customary land registration processes can easily be captured by local ‘big men’ and companies with disastrous consequences for local people, says study on oil palm expansion in Papua New Guinea.
Golden Veroleum quits Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil in response to accusations from a global watchdog that it failed to get consent from communities before expanding onto their lands.
Ramón Bedoya says his father, a land activist, was shot by local paramilitaries in league with agribusiness and narcos who fill the void left by Farc rebels
Villagers in a southern Philippine island of Mindanao massacred amid conflict between indigenous community and coffee plantation
Food security of the Gulf states is heavily dependent on foreign imports. Europe and the Americas have been the traditional markets supplying food to them, but recent development of African Continental Free Trade Area may encourage Gulf investors to embrace potential opportunities in Africa.
Governments should recognize indigenous and community land rights, engage in better monitoring of company misconduct during land acquisitions, and ensure that businesses secure the free, prior and informed consent of the people who live on the land before they begin operations.
