Land Grabbing
Land grabbing (English ) is a term for illegitimate or illegal appropriation of land, often. Carried economically or politically assertive actors Land grabbing can be done by nationals or foreigners, by small farmers or large corporations by state officials or private individuals.
As a " land grabbing " have been criticized in recent years in German-speaking business transactions in which governments or companies on foreign territories - acquired large estates - esp. in developing or emerging countries.
History
One of the most historically significant appropriations of the country in recent history occurred in the 19th and early 20th century on the territory of the United States of America. At various stages there acquired peasant settlers, but to a large extent, speculators and industrial prospects many millions of acres of land. It was based, inter alia, the Homestead Act of 1862 Since about the early 1930s, research is being conducted on the extent it here to at least one illegitimate appropriation -. Could have acted - just a land- grabbing.
The illegal appropriation of land was recognized in the early 1980s as a serious problem in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. 1982 Land Grabbing ( Prohibition ) Act was passed. Criminalization of illegal appropriation of land is no matter where and by whom. The often violent appropriation of land is also in neighboring Bangladesh, a common phenomenon that originates mostly from influential residents.
In recent decades, the land acquisition in developing countries has been shaped primarily by private profit motives. Most of the focus was on high-quality agricultural products for export (see also cash crops ), not on the production of staple foods. Later governments began to acquire land abroad, this time with the objective of food security of their own people, especially since the food price crisis 2007-2008, or renewable raw materials for the production of biofuels to grow. Especially countries with scarce land and water resources and sufficient capital, such as the Gulf States and Libya, are now major players in this market. In addition, countries with large populations such as China, South Korea and India. Investments usually take place in developing countries with low production costs and less scarce land and water resources.
In addition to the public debate on the purchase of large estates by states and large companies in Africa is sometimes emphasized that even in Africa, land grabbing is not going to run exclusively by state actors and foreign investors, but is now "everybody 's business" has become.
Foreign land acquisitions in developing countries
Examples
In November 2008 it was reported that Libya has acquired 250,000 hectares in Ukraine. In January 2009 it was announced that Qatar has acquired 40,000 hectares in Kenya. According to media reports in January 2010, China will have acquired 2.8 million acres in the Democratic Republic of Congo to build the largest oil palm plantation in the world, while Ethiopia had already leased 600,000 hectares of land to foreign investors by the end of 2009. In Madagascar, negotiations with Daewoo Logistics Corporation for the purchase of 1.3 million acres of land are said to have played a role in the cultivation of maize and oil palm plantations in the political conflicts that led to the overthrow of the government in 2009. A ( contested ) The court ruling came in 2013 in Uganda against the lawyers of the coffee plantation " Kaweri ", which is owned by the Hamburg Neumann Kaffee Gruppe. From the land of about 2,500 acres of plantation smallholders had been driven partly by force and without adequate compensation.
Assessment
The agricultural economist Harald von Witzke considers it fundamentally right that will just invested in poor countries because agricultural productivity must be increased urgently and new agricultural land was almost impossible to open. Foreign capital enables technology transfer and access to new markets. The disadvantage is for the investors that their contracts might lose because of unsafe ownership rights in a transfer of power to be valid. According to a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate food, Olivier De Schutter, can make large investments contribute to the realization of the right to food, though some institutional conditions are met, such as information, consent and involvement of the local population. Also, the education and health sectors and the labor market in the countries concerned can benefit from the investments. According to Joachim von Braun ( IFPRI ) of the land acquisition has the potential to bring much-needed investment in agriculture and rural development in developing countries. On the other hand there are concerns about the effects on the poor, whose access to land is at risk.
Hans -Heinrich Bass ( Institute for Transportation and Development, Bremen ) points out that the governments of verpachtetes country is often not a no man's land, but part of traditional land use systems, for which there is rarely enforceable property rights. Often there is no adequate compensation and for the satisfaction of local requirements 'm less space. The use of water can be a problem when surrounding regions received less water. According to Jacques Diouf, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO), the question arises whether such developments do not lead to a form of neo-colonialism.
According to the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies put initial research suggests that large foreign investment in agriculture have both positive, such as major agricultural investments, as well as negative effects, such as lack of access to land for the affected region and its population, the consequence can. Therefore, neither an exclusively positive review nor a fundamental rejection of foreign investment in agriculture would make sense. Rather, the conditions on which the foreign agricultural investment basis, such as transparency of procurement practices, are important elements.