From Threat to Opportunity? Problems with a “Code of Conduct” for Land-Grabbing

Jennifer Franco

Jun Borras

Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal

April 2010

From Threat to Opportunity? Problems with a “Code of Conduct” for Land-Grabbing

The dominant perception of land-grabbing as a threat is being replaced by a new story line, promoted by, amongst other, the World Bank—that of new land deals as a potential opportunity for rural development. But this supposed win-win formula raises many problems, doubts and concerns.

Download the paper - From Threat to Opportunity [PDF, 165KB]

Jennifer Franco

Co-coordinator of the CREPE-TNI agrofuels project.

Jennifer Franco, PhD., is an independent researcher. She also serves on the Asia Committee for International Development Programs at the development NGO Development and Peace (Developpement et Paix). Her previous work has focused mainly on rural social movements and democratisation in the Philippines. Her book publications include Elections and Democratisation in the Philippines (Routledge, 2001), with a new book on law and the rural poor in the Philippines forthcoming (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2010). She has published in important academic journals including the World Development, Journal of Agrarian Change, Journal of Peasant Studies, Journal of Development Studies and Critical Asian Studies.

Jun Borras

Associate Professor in Rural Development, Environment and Population at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, Netherlands. Jun is also Adjunct Professor, COHD at China Agricultural University, Beijing; a Fellow for Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy in California, Coordinator for Initiatives in Critical Agrarian Studies (ICAS), and Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Peasant Studies (JPS).

Saturnino 'Jun' M Borras Jr. is a political activist and academic who has been deeply involved in rural social movements in the Philippines and internationally since the early 1980s. Borras was part of the core organising team that established the international peasant movement La Via Campesina and has written extensively on land issues and agrarian movements.