Transnational Land Acquisitions Research Articles

Competition for water induced by transnational land acquisitions for agriculture

The ongoing agrarian transition from smallholder farming to large-scale commercial agriculture promoted by transnational large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) often aims to increase crop yields through the expansion of irrigation. LSLAs are playing an increasingly prominent role in this transition. Yet it remains unknown whether foreign LSLAs by agribusinesses target areas based on specific hydrological conditions and whether these investments compete with the water needs of existing local users. Here we combine process-based crop and hydrological modelling, agricultural statistics, and georeferenced information on individual transnational LSLAs to evaluate emergence of water scarcity associated with LSLAs. While conditions of blue water scarcity already existed prior to land acquisitions, these deals substantially exacerbate blue water scarcity through both the adoption of water-intensive crops and the expansion of irrigated cultivation. These effects lead to new rival water uses in 105 of the 160 studied LSLAs (67% of the acquired land). Combined with our findings that investors target land with preferential access to surface and groundwater resources to support irrigation, this suggests that LSLAs often appropriate water resources to the detriment of local users.

Impact of transnational land acquisitions on local food security and dietary diversity

Foreign investors have acquired approximately 90 million hectares of land for agriculture over the past two decades. The effects of these investments on local food security remain unknown. While additional cropland and intensified agriculture could potentially increase crop production, preferential targeting of prime agricultural land and transitions toward export-bound crops might affect local access to nutritious foods. We test these hypotheses in a global systematic analysis of the food security implications of existing land concessions. We combine agricultural, remote sensing, and household survey data (available in 11 sub-Saharan African countries) with georeferenced information on 160 land acquisitions in 39 countries. We find that the intended changes in cultivated crop types generally imply transitions toward energy-rich, but nutrient-poor, crops that are predominantly destined for export markets. Specific impacts on food production and access vary substantially across regions. Deals likely have little effect on food security in eastern Europe and Latin America, where they predominantly occur within agricultural areas with current export-oriented crops, and where agriculture would have both expanded and intensified regardless of the land deals. This contrasts with Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where deals are associated with both an expansion and intensification (in Asia) of crop production. Deals in these regions also shift production away from local staples and coincide with a gradually decreasing dietary diversity among the surveyed households in sub-Saharan Africa. Together, these findings point to a paradox, where land deals can simultaneously increase crop production and threaten local food security.

Transnational land acquisitions beyond the food and financial crises

Large-scale land acquisitions (LSLA) in resource-rich countries came to global attention after the food and financial crises of 2008. Previous research has assessed the magnitude of these land investments in terms of land areas acquired. In this study, we analyze the trends in the evolution of LSLA by framing the latter as virtual land trade network with land transactions occurring between 2000 and 2015, in order to shed light on the development and evolution of this system. Based on an index we introduce to represent both the number of countries and size of deals, we discover three main phases of trade activity: a steady increase from 2000 until 2007 (Phase 1) followed by a peak coinciding with the food and financial crises between 2008 and 2010 (Phase 2) and concluded by a decline from 2011 to 2015 (Phase 3). We identify 73 countries that remained active in land trading during all three phases and form a core of land traders much larger than previously thought. Using network analysis methods, we group countries with similar trade patterns into categories of competitive, preferential, diversified, and occasional importers or exporters. Finally, in exploring the changes in investors and their interests in land throughout the phases, we attribute the evolution of LSLA to the different stages in the globalization and financialization of different industries. By showing that land investments seem fully integrated as investment strategies across industries we argue for the urgency of better regulation of LSLA so that they also benefit local populations without damaging the environment regardless of their primary purpose.

Capital has no homeland: The formation of transnational producer cohorts in South America’s commodity frontiers

Most of today’s agricultural frontiers in the Global South involve large-scale agricultural companies operating across borders. While much has been written on large-scale land acquisitions and their social and ecological consequences, there is a relative lack of theoretically-informed empirical research on the decision-making of the actors driving these acquisitions. In this paper, I use the case of soy and cattle frontiers in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano woodlands of Paraguay and Bolivia to explore the mechanisms behind such transnational land acquisitions. In particular, I draw attention to the formation of “cohorts” of agricultural producers from a common origin who acquire land in the same destinations. Based on interviews with farmers and key informants and drawing from literature on agricultural frontiers, international migration, and herding behavior, I discuss the role of structural and agent-level factors in the formation and evolution of these cohorts from the early 1990s to the 2010s. In particular, I explore the importance of social dynamics, specifically network effects and herd effects, in shaping the development of these frontiers.

Claim-making in transnational land deals: Discourses of legitimation and stakeholder relations in central Uganda

Land relations and contestation over land control in Uganda are deeply embedded in socio-historical struggles for legitimacy, identity, and belonging. While contemporary processes of land governance reform attempt to address increasing pressures on land with technocratic, administrative, and legal solutions, these approaches fail to take into consideration stakeholder dynamics underlying land claims. Within the context of rising volumes of transnational land acquisitions and corresponding increase in land-related conflicts, this research investigates the processes by which various actors seek to legitimise their claims over land at the local level. Drawing on empirical research into four transnational land deals in central Uganda, we examine everyday practices of claim-making through the study of discursive legitimation and stakeholder interactions. Land deals are thus conceptualised as ‘zones of intermediality’ where various claims are mediated at the intersection between references, practices, and discourses of local and external actors. We conclude that understanding patterns of stakeholder discourses and dynamics of interaction can provide critical insights into the role of claim-making in shaping practices and outcomes of land access and control.

Accessing African Farmlands: Discourses and Practices of Transnational Land Acquisitions in Central Uganda

The surge in international interest in and acquisitions of African farmland has received considerable attention in the last decade. An equally growing body of research has attempted to explore explanatory pathways, or drivers of the phenomenon from both a local and global perspectives. But how do these land deals actually occur? There is still insufficient understanding of the strategies of access and processes of acquisition deployed by transnational actors. Using findings from five years of empirical research in central Uganda on Chinese, Indian and Norwegian owned farms, this paper analyses the discourses and practices of land acquisition deployed by transnational investors and examines how these strategies shape the process and determine the outcomes of land deals at the local level. Findings show that investors construct multiple narratives at various times and selectively deploy them in pursuit of specific interests. Careful alignment with global developmental thinking designed to attract funding and synchronizing with local policy priorities to attain access show mixed results. Cultivation of local patronage networks are predominant pathways of access, but these are fraught with risks occasioned by socio-political heterogeneity and shifting power relations across multiple levels. I argue that the identity and experiences of the investors, and their dexterity in navigating the complex diversity of local contexts are important factors that shape the processes and outcomes of transnational land deals at the local level.

After the land grab: Infrastructural violence and the “Mafia System” in Indonesia's oil palm plantation zones

Plantations are back. Colonial-style large scale corporate monoculture of industrial crops on concession land is again expanding in the global south. The biggest expansion is in Indonesia, where oil palm already cover 11 million hectares, and 10–20 million more hectares are planned, most of it in plantation style. The land dimensions of renewed plantation expansion were thrust into public debate in 2008–9, when there was a spike in transnational land-acquisitions widely described as a global land-grab. The polemical term “grab” usefully drew attention to what was being taken away: customary land rights, diverse farming systems, and ecological balance. Drawing on ethnographic research in the oil palm zone of West Kalimantan, Indonesia, this article examines what happens after the grab, highlighting the violence embedded in the material, social and political infrastructure that plantations install. Promises to reform plantations through regulation and certification ring hollow as law, government, and livelihoods are subordinated to plantation logics; a trajectory that worsens over time as plantation zones expand and become saturated, and everyone is locked in. Indonesia's plantations cannot be redeemed, hence they should not be expanded.

Changing local land systems: Implications of a Chinese rubber plantation in Nambak District, Lao PDR

This paper investigates the direct and cascading land system consequences of a Chinese company's land acquisition for rubber cultivation in northern Laos. Transnational land acquisitions are increasingly acknowledged as an important driver of direct land use conversion with implications for local land‐based livelihoods. The paper presents an empirical case study of the village of Na Nhang Neua in Nambak District, Luang Prabang Province, using a mixed methods approach to investigate the positive and negative implications for household agricultural strategies, income generation and food security. Combining the conceptual lenses of land systems and livelihood approaches, this paper demonstrates how the land use system has changed substantially because of the establishment of the rubber plantation by the company, notably in the linkages between livestock rearing, upland shifting cultivation and lowland paddy rice cultivation. The changes go beyond the immediate competition for land caused by the rubber plantation: a penalty scheme introduced by the rubber company for damage to rubber trees caused by browsing animals has led the villagers to abandon livestock rearing, causing a cascade of negative effects on the entire land use system, especially on soil fertility, rice yields and food production.

跨国土地利用及其生态影响研究

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 跨国土地利用及其生态影响 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201304250809 作者: 作者单位: 北京大学建筑与景观设计学院 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: Transnational land use and its potential environmental consequence Author: Affiliation: College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture,Peking University Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:在全球食物价格不断上涨，粮食安全已经威胁到经济安全的环境下，跨国农用地投资成为国际浪潮。跨国农用地投资推动着各国的土地资源向全球化资源转变，对土地的跨国利用成为全球土地资源优化配置的必然。在对跨国土地利用的背景及现状进行阐述的基础上，指出“代理性农业耕作”方式对区域生态环境可能造成的影响。同时，新型农业科技与跨国土地利用的结合，也在推动着农业经济发展的同时，改变着传统的土地利用模式，进而改变着区域生态环境。最后，指出需要对跨国土地利用做出理性分析并建立相关的国际规则，从而维护可持续粮食安全及生态安全。 Abstract:Attributed to economic forces and fluctuations, global food insecurity is the result of international spikes in food prices, and drives dynamic changes in global transnational land investments. In the form of private negotiations, government leases and concessions in exchange for the development of agricultural infrastructure, irrigation systems and transportation systems, foreign soil is being exchanged in commerce between countries at an unprecedented pace. Moreover, this trend has been intensified by the increased urban demand from rapidly developing countries in Asia, as well as the transition of crops from foodstuffs to feedstocks for biofuels in Europe and America. Transnational land investments promote the transformation of local national land resources into global resources, and dynamic changes in transnational land use is the inevitable result of this land resource optimization.Food security will be among China's most significant national challenges in this century. The discourse on food security in China is limited to defending the red line of 1.8 million mu of arable land, while the phenomenon of transnational land investments in a global context and its potential environmental impacts, which may also lead to food insecurity, have received relatively less attention. In fact, great international concern has arisen over China's land acquisitions for agricultural and biofuel production in the past decade. As an increasingly influential member of the international community, China should be aware of and committed to addressing challenges arising in the course of transnational land investment.Therefore, this paper firstly reviews the background and current situation of transnational land use, and identifies the potential environmental impacts of surrogate farming practice on regional ecological systems. While historically not new, the current processes of transnational land acquisition could be viewed as the largest-scale operation of long-distance farming in human history. Modern agricultural technology, which has played an important role in the improvement of agricultural economy,changes conventional modes of land use and causes further dramatic impact on regional ecological systems. Moreover, through a series of case studies, it highlights the fact that industrial agriculture promoting short-term crop yield is prioritized over long-term soil replenishment and ignores the complex ecology of soil. Water basins-ecologically fragile, economically and politically valuable-have also now become the target of a new wave of large-scale agriculture projects promoted by transnational land acquisitions. Consequently, the growing international and transnational commodification of soil threatens the longevity of vast sections of the world's arable land, the quantity and quality of fresh water, and the health of essential ecosystems world-wide, if no proper rules are established to prevent the deleterious effects of soil-mining and industrial farming practices. Finally, the paper points out the necessity of comprehensive monitoring and analysis of trends in transnational land use, as well as the establishment of relevant international rules, for the purpose of maintaining sustainable food security and ecological security. It argues that the guidelines should include the following key points: (1) Ensuring food security, which means broad-scale alignment between transnational land investments and national agriculture and food policies; (2) Consultation with and participation of local governments and agencies, ensuring greater linkage of investments with local development plans; (3) Environmental sustainability, which means quantifying and measuring environmental impacts, promoting sustainable resource use and land use policies, and minimizing the risk of negative impacts on ecosystems, natural processes, and societal goals. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Law and Development Implications of Transnational Land Acquisitions: Introduction

AbstractThis introductory article to the 2014 Special Issue of

Human Rights Against Land Grabbing? A Reflection on Norms, Policies, and Power

Large-scale transnational land acquisition of agricultural land in the global south by rich corporations or countries raises challenging normative questions. In this article, the author critically examines and advocates a human rights approach to these questions. Mutually reinforcing, policies, governance and practice promote equitable and secure land tenure that in turn, strengthens other human rights, such as to employment, livelihood and food. Human rights therefore provide standards for evaluating processes and outcomes of transnational land acquisitions and, thus, for determining whether they are ethically unacceptable land grabs. A variety of recent policy initiatives on the issue have evoked human rights, most centrally through the consultation and negotiation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests concluded in 2012. However, a case of transnational land appropriation illustrates weak host and investor state enforcement of human rights, leaving the parties to in interaction with local groups in charge of protecting human rights. Generally, we have so far seen limited direct application of human rights by states in their governance of transnational land acquisition. Normative responses to transnational land acquisition—codes of conduct, principles of responsible agricultural investment or voluntary guidelines—do not in themselves secure necessary action and change. Applying human rights approaches one must therefore also analyze the material conditions, power relations and political processes that determine whether and how women and men can secure the human rights accountability of the corporations and governments that promote large-scale, transnational land acquisition in the global south.

Reframing the Land Grab Debate: The Need to Broaden and Deepen the Agenda

Abstract This article does not present new evidence about the land rush, but reveals the urgent need of broadening the debate by including a few key issues that are so far neglected. Transnational land acquisitions are a logical outcome of globalisation and neoliberal policies resulting in processes of disembedding land from local societies. Control over land is decreasingly vested in territorially defined communities or societies, and increasingly dictated by global actors and processes, leading to a patchwork of locally disembedded land holdings responding to different translocal network logics. Global actors play an increasingly important role in reserving spaces for global goods, securing food, preserving biodiversity and mitigating climate change in widely dispersed localities. The resulting fragmentation is not conducive for inclusive and sustainable development at the local level. Findings are based on ongoing research on the consequences of transnational land acquisitions in Africa, Asia and Latin America.