LAND RIGHTS
The last twenty years have seen the rapid acquisition of large plots of land in the global south by national and international elites, often referred to as land grabbing. Land grabbing can be defined as the control of land – whether through ownership, lease, concession, contracts, quotas, or general power – for purposes of speculation, extraction, resource control or commodification. (Ecoruralis 2016)
Land grabbing is a violation of human rights by threatening access to food and livelihoods. The new land proprietors often favor profitable export of their crops or minerals over feeding the hungry. Peasant farmers lose access to their land and thus their income and nutrition. The environmental health of the land is compromised as industrial forms of agriculture are implemented.
CIDSE is supporting the resistance of land grabbing in Africa, by connecting church actors with social movements and organising spaces for exchange. In 2015, CIDSE contributed to the organisation of a Pan-African Conference on Land Grabbing and Just Governance in Kenya, which brought together church and non-church actors to exchange knowledge and strategies on land grabbing, resulting in the establishment of a permanent platform called “Our land is our life” for these purposes. A similar conference was organised again in 2017 in Abidjan. The reflection and discussion on land grabbing from the perspective of Laudato Si’ and Catholic Church social teachings that began at the conference in Abidjan was then concretized in a paper on the theology of land grabbing to facilitate the opening of a concrete dialogue on land issues with church actors.
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Manny Yap
yap(at)cidse.org
Stories
Publications
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EU Biofuels policy is failing
June 12, 2013EU Biofuels policy is failing. Civil society letter and Advert in the Parliament Magazine, 10 June 2013
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The right to food: a cornerstone of climate justice
December 7, 2012On Human Rights Day, CIDSE reminds world leaders why the Right to Food and climate justice go hand in hand […]
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Wake up call for the Doha climate talks
December 4, 2012After a week of negotiations with little to no progress, Ministers arrive in Doha among increasing uncertainty about a positive […]
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Keeping faith in the climate talks
November 22, 2012As the international climate negotiations re-open in Doha, should we keep faith in the possibility of a successful outcome despite […]
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EU must ensure biofuel producers in Indonesia respect land rights
November 9, 2012Tighter EU rules on biofuel production are failing to protect the land rights of Indonesia’s indigenous communities.