farmlandgrab.org

English

Land deals and the law: Grievances, human rights and investor protections - A briefing note
- CCSI
- 15 Mar 2016
This briefing note provides an overview of practical solutions for governments confronting “land grievances"
Ethiopian pastor pays the penalty for speaking out
- HRW
- 15 Mar 2016
A year ago today, Ethiopian security forces arrested Pastor Omot Agwa and six colleagues at Addis Ababa’s Bole Airport on their way to a food security workshop and took them to the notorious Maekelawi police station, where torture is routine.
Stop the criminalization of environmental and human rights defenders! Free Ethiopian political prisoners!
- ASO et al.
- 15 Mar 2016
One year after their arrest on March 15, 2015, three food, land, and human rights defenders continue to languish in an Ethiopian jail on the spurious charge of “terrorism”.
Failing to address land rights violations caused by its own programs, the World Bank launches its 17th Conference on Land and Poverty
- Oakland Institute
- 14 Mar 2016
World Bank organizes costly conferences on land governance while overlooking the forced relocation of farmers and indigenous people resulting from its policies and programs.
Probe to hit foreign SEZ firms
- Bangkok Post
- 14 Mar 2016
The Thai government's much vaunted Special Economic Zones are under scrutiny amid reports of land grabs by foreign firms dodging the law on foreign acquisitions by having Thais act as nominees.
Zhejiang's Rifa Salutary bypasses Kidman, purchases $50 million of NSW farms
- AFR
- 14 Mar 2016
While most of the big corporate money has been falling over itself to buy into Australia's largest landowner, S. Kidman & Co, Rifa has quietly bought a total of seven properties in the last few months.
Institutional investors’ scramble for farmland
- Business Day
- 14 Mar 2016
Financial investors own tracts that grow maize and soya beans in Illinois and Uruguay, almonds and cattle in Australia, and sugar beets and wheat in Poland. Some are venturing into countries with potentially volatile politics, such as Ethiopia and Ukraine.
Qatar's Hassad defends Australian agriculture investment results
- AFR
- 13 Mar 2016
The Qatar backed agricultural land and food producing company Hassad has defended its financial record in Australia following a report which showed its property company had never made a profit.
Chinese interests buy macadamia farms around Dunoon
- Echo
- 11 Mar 2016
The four farms in the ‘macadamia capital of Australia’ cover 545 ha across four adjoining farms with 109,000 mature trees and were put up for sale in 2013 by one of the largest institutional managers of agricultural real estate in the US, Hancock Farm Company.
Super funds develop a taste for farming
- Weekly Times
- 11 Mar 2016
“I find it peculiar that a nation that is the venue for so much flow of funds from overseas to invest in our agricultural assets is not the same venue for Australian super funds to invest in,” ag minister Barnaby Joyce says.
Feeding the world’s most populous nation – Sino-lusophone agricultural co-operation proves to be a win-win for all
- Macau Magazine
- 11 Mar 2016
Loro Horta reports on recent Chinese overseas investment in agriculture in the Lusophone world
MALOA's position on the court judgement and the Malen land issue
- Green Scenery
- 10 Mar 2016
"We believe this was a tactic to get us into prison so that we cannot raise our voice on the unacceptable land deals in Malen Chiefdom."