Land grabbing and the importance of words
Among many indigenous peoples, words are considered sacred, and must be used with care. But in today’s digitalized, high-speed, globalized world, words are not viewed this way. They are used (Read More)
OUR VIEWPOINT
THE TENTACLES OF LAND GRABBING
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Territoriality vs. Land grabbing
According to the dictionary, to “grab” is to seize suddenly or roughly, sometimes forcibly or unscrupulously. It carries a connotation of greed, of grasping what one wants with no concern (Read More)
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MONOCULTURE TREE PLANTATIONS – Uganda – Promotion of plantation agriculture – a disgrace to human kind and environment
Uganda like many other African countries is in the campaign drive of promoting plantations under the guise of creating income and other benefits for Ugandans, destroying a lot of natural (Read More)
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MONOCULTURE TREE PLANTATIONS – Land grabbing for oil palm in the Philippines
The indigenous network ALDAW in the Philippines(Ancestral Land/Domain Watch) is deeply concerned about the findings of a recent study it carried out in Southern Palawan. The research shows that oil (Read More)
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CERTIFICATION – FSC: Certified land grabbing
The certification of industrial tree plantations by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has served as a tool to legitimize the large-scale monoculture plantation model. The FSC’s internationally recognized certification scheme (Read More)
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OIL – Land grab for oil: The crude reality of oil drilling in the Niger Delta
While land grabbing is generally associated with the taking over of land for large scale monoculture plantations, grown for export-crops or conservation projects like REDD, the Ogoni people in the (Read More)
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REDD – Brazil: Open letter from Acre challenges legitimacy of REDD+ “consultation” in California
Organizations and individuals in the state of Acre and other states in Brazil sent an open letter this month to the governor of California and the California REDD Offset Working (Read More)
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REDD Violation of the right to be consulted paves way for more REDD land grabbing
REDD has been contentious ever since it was presented during UN climate talks in Bali, Indonesia, in 2007 as a way to supposedly reduce deforestation. In addition to pointing out (Read More)
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BRICS, development and land grabbing
In March 2013, the presidents of the so-called BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – met in Durban, South Africa. Surrounded by security barriers so that (Read More)
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The World Bank and land grabbing
In an international context of growing privatization and concentration of wealth, a process that is also manifested through land grabbing, financial actors are seeking out mechanisms that will enable their (Read More)
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GE TREES
Genetically Engineered Eucalyptus Plantations Threaten Communities and Forests Around the World In the United States, the US Department of Agriculture, which oversees the approval and release of GMOs in the (Read More)
PEOPLES IN ACTION
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No REDD in Africa Network launched at the World Social Forum
Outraged by the rampant land grabs and neocolonialism of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest degradation), Africans at the World Social Forum in Tunisia took the historic decision to (Read More)
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Brazilian Amazon: Military incursion in the territory of the Munduruku people for construction of mega dam
The Eastern Amazon Forum (FAOR) of Brazil issued a public statement in April in support of the Munduruku indigenous people, in response to the recent invasion of their lands in (Read More)
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Opposition to mining in Guatemala leads to repression and death
On March 17, several indigenous community leaders from the village of Montaña de Santa María Xalapán, located in southeastern Guatemala in the municipality of San Rafael Las Flores, were kidnapped. (Read More)
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Converting coal plans to burn biomass only replaces one disaster with another
The big coal burning utilities in the UK and elsewhere are trying to get around new EU sulphur dioxide regulations that would otherwise require them to shut down. DRAX, the (Read More)
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River in Guatemala “grabbed” by oil palm and sugar cane plantation owners
In Champerico, Guatemala, the Bolas River had completely disappeared, after it was diverted and dammed to provide water for oil palm and sugar cane plantations. The loss of the river, (Read More)
RECOMMENDED
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‘Quick-fix’ development gives away more than it gets back
“‘Quick-fix’ development gives away more than it gets back.” Samuel Nguiffo, from the Center for the Environment and Development (CED) in Yaounde, Cameroon, gives an overview of land grabbing in Africa (Read More)
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Special Focus: REDD+
“Special Focus: REDD+”, a blog site devoted to academic articles on REDD, with a critical focus put together by Tracey Osbourne, a professor of Political Ecology at the University of (Read More)
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EJOLT Environmental Justice Project updates
“EJOLT Environmental Justice Project updates”, April 2013. At http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=19d3da1852472c315fcece5dd&id=1853241149&e=e8c7b5f4d4
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Land concentration, land grabbing and people’s struggles in Europe
“Land concentration, land grabbing and people’s struggles in Europe,” a new report by European Coordination Via Campesina and Hands off the Land network which shows that land grabbing and access to (Read More)
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EU ETS myth busting: why it cannot be reformed and should not be replicated
“EU ETS myth busting: why it cannot be reformed and should not be replicated,” a report released by a group of 45 organisations busting the myths that are holding up the (Read More)