SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A man in Uganda looks at land his family had cultivated for generations but that has been taken over through a land grab. (photo: Oxfam Italia via flickr)
Report: 'Unbridled' Rush for Land Grabs Leaving a Billion Hungry
Biofuels, food speculation pushing further land grabs
Oct 04, 2012
"Out of control" land grabs by foreign corporations in the last decade have taken over an area big enough to grow food for a billion people, according to a report published Thursday from Oxfam (pdf). And the continued push for biofuels and recent food price spikes may lead to even further grabs, the group says.
"The world is facing an unbridled land rush that is exposing poor people to hunger, violence and the threat of a life-time in poverty," Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam's Executive Director, stated.
For the communities affected, the land grabs have brought hunger and lack of food security, intimidation by foreign companies, loss of land and resrouces, and environmental harm.
While these land acquisitions may be used to grow food, they are not used for feeding the local community. "Instead," says the report, "the land is either being left idle, as speculators wait for its value to increase and then sell it at a profit, or it is predominantly used to grow crops for export, often for use as biofuels."
In fact, the use of the land grabs for biofuels has skyrocketed; the report states that two-thirds of the grabs have been used to grow biofuel crops like soy and palm oil in the last decade.
Oxfam says in the report that the World Bank should address the "unbridled rush" by issuing a freeze on the land grabs.
"The World Bank is in a unique position to stop this from becoming one of the great scandals of the 21st century," stated Hobbs.
"The World Bank, with a remit to tackle global poverty, has a responsibility to help stop land grabs and must take urgent action because the rush for land is only likely to accelerate as competition for food and natural resources intensifies. It must ensure that poor people's rights are protected," he added.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
"Out of control" land grabs by foreign corporations in the last decade have taken over an area big enough to grow food for a billion people, according to a report published Thursday from Oxfam (pdf). And the continued push for biofuels and recent food price spikes may lead to even further grabs, the group says.
"The world is facing an unbridled land rush that is exposing poor people to hunger, violence and the threat of a life-time in poverty," Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam's Executive Director, stated.
For the communities affected, the land grabs have brought hunger and lack of food security, intimidation by foreign companies, loss of land and resrouces, and environmental harm.
While these land acquisitions may be used to grow food, they are not used for feeding the local community. "Instead," says the report, "the land is either being left idle, as speculators wait for its value to increase and then sell it at a profit, or it is predominantly used to grow crops for export, often for use as biofuels."
In fact, the use of the land grabs for biofuels has skyrocketed; the report states that two-thirds of the grabs have been used to grow biofuel crops like soy and palm oil in the last decade.
Oxfam says in the report that the World Bank should address the "unbridled rush" by issuing a freeze on the land grabs.
"The World Bank is in a unique position to stop this from becoming one of the great scandals of the 21st century," stated Hobbs.
"The World Bank, with a remit to tackle global poverty, has a responsibility to help stop land grabs and must take urgent action because the rush for land is only likely to accelerate as competition for food and natural resources intensifies. It must ensure that poor people's rights are protected," he added.
"Out of control" land grabs by foreign corporations in the last decade have taken over an area big enough to grow food for a billion people, according to a report published Thursday from Oxfam (pdf). And the continued push for biofuels and recent food price spikes may lead to even further grabs, the group says.
"The world is facing an unbridled land rush that is exposing poor people to hunger, violence and the threat of a life-time in poverty," Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam's Executive Director, stated.
For the communities affected, the land grabs have brought hunger and lack of food security, intimidation by foreign companies, loss of land and resrouces, and environmental harm.
While these land acquisitions may be used to grow food, they are not used for feeding the local community. "Instead," says the report, "the land is either being left idle, as speculators wait for its value to increase and then sell it at a profit, or it is predominantly used to grow crops for export, often for use as biofuels."
In fact, the use of the land grabs for biofuels has skyrocketed; the report states that two-thirds of the grabs have been used to grow biofuel crops like soy and palm oil in the last decade.
Oxfam says in the report that the World Bank should address the "unbridled rush" by issuing a freeze on the land grabs.
"The World Bank is in a unique position to stop this from becoming one of the great scandals of the 21st century," stated Hobbs.
"The World Bank, with a remit to tackle global poverty, has a responsibility to help stop land grabs and must take urgent action because the rush for land is only likely to accelerate as competition for food and natural resources intensifies. It must ensure that poor people's rights are protected," he added.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.