land grabs

In March 2011, almost 769 families were violently expelled from the Polochic Valley in Guatemala. Their homes and crops were torched, and three people died in violence involving state and private security forces.

Across the UK last December, people highlighted the problem of land grabs – where big companies buy up land in some of the world’s poorest countries for profit. Often land grabs mean the people who live on the land are evicted. They lose their homes, livelihoods, and their way of growing food.

Durante los últimos años, Oxfam ha dado a conocer cada vez más datos sobre el impacto y las dimensiones del acaparamiento de tierras en los países en los que trabajamos. Cuando tuvimos claras la velocidad y la escala de este fenómeno, decidimos que era hora de actuar.

Over the last few years, Oxfam has uncovered more and more about the extent and impact of land grabbing in the countries where we work. When the speed and scale of this phenomenon became clear, we knew we had to act. We strongly believe that the World Bank is in a unique position to change the rules of the game, which is why we are asking them to lead the way in changing how agricultural land is bought and sold in the developing world.

While farming is increasingly reliant on women’s labour, women’s lack of secure land tenure severely limits their influence over farming decisions. Closing the gender gap in land rights would increase productivity and total output. And it would help women exercise their rights as citizens.

By Madiodio Niasse, Secretariat Director, International Land Coalition (ILC) 

Imagine if you did wake up one day to ‘Sold’ signs over the White Cliffs of Dover and the Houses of Parliament. These are prominent landmarks in the United Kingdom and selling off these national treasures would be a scandal. Now imagine if it was your house, your local school or your community that was under threat. This might not happen in the UK but for too many people in poor countries, this nightmare is not something that they can wake up from.

Last month Oxfam launched a campaign calling on the World Bank to freeze their large land acquisitions for 6 months. We felt compelled to act because of the irresponsible global scramble by banks and private investors to buy land in the developing world. As it stands, this is too often leading to people and communities losing their homes and the land they grow their food on because there aren't adequate protections in place.

Last month Oxfam launched our land grabs action, targeting the World Bank. So far they’re not shifting their policy and agreeing to freeze their large land deals, so over the next few weeks we’re going to explore the reasons that they’re giving.

La campagne d’Oxfam contre les accaparements de terres, lancée le 4 octobre, met l’accent sur l’accroissement alarmant de l’ampleur et du rythme des acquisitions de terres à grande échelle au cours de la dernière décennie.

Oxfam’s land grabs campaign, launched on 4th October, highlights the alarming increase in the speed and scale of large land deals in the past decade. It calls on the World Bank – as an investor in land deals, as a global standard setter and as an adviser to developing countries on their land policies – to freeze those of its agricultural investments that involve large land deals for 6 months while it reviews its policies and practices to ensure land grabs are prevented.