Jennifer Franco

Jennifer Franco

Co-coordinator of TNI's Agrarian Justice work

Jennifer Franco is a researcher working on land and rural politics issues.  After receiving a PhD in politics in 1997 in the US, she began working with the Philippine solidarity group in the Netherlands, and with local peasant organizations, rural community organizing and human rights groups, and research outfits in the Philippines in two regions faced with extreme landlord resistance to redistributive agrarian reform. She began working with TNI in the mid-2000s, on several projects on various topics involving local peasant movement and rural reform activists, human rights activists, and activist researchers from various countries and regions. In 2010 she joined the College of Humanities and Development (COHD) at the China Agricultural University in Beijing as an adjunct faculty and travels there twice a year to give seminars and work with junior faculty and MA and PhD students. She has lived in the US, Philippines, Canada and the Netherlands.  

Work area:

Agrarian Justice

Areas of expertise:

Peasant movements; rural democratisation and challenges; land and land reform in official overseas development policies of governments and some international institutions; European Union biofuels policy; and the global land grab.

Contact

Selected publications

From Threat to Opportunity? Problems with a “Code of Conduct” for Land-Grabbing
Contemporary discourses and contestations around pro-poor land policies and land governance
Global Land Grabbing and Trajectories of Agrarian Change: A Preliminary Analysis
The Global Water Grab: A Primer

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Recent content by Jennifer Franco

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Land grabbing in Latin America and the Caribbean in broader international perspectives

December 2011
A critical re-assessment of a UN FAO study on land grabbing finds that a too-narrow definition has obscured evidence of land grabbing on a wider geographical scale than previously thought; this research includes new evidence of cases in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Land, conflict and the challenge of pro-poor peace-building

October 2011
Land sovereignty:
There is a lot of contention over approaches to land reform policy, in terms of how to involve the state, the market and communities; but what matters most for a socio-economically and politically sustainable solution, is that the policy is genuinely 'pro-poor'.

New Biofuel Project in Isabela

October 2011
A Philippines biofuel project would appear to fit the World Bank's definition of a "win-win" scenario with its promise of jobs and conversion of 'idle land'. However a closer look unveils corporate manipulation, political corruption and exploitation of subsistence farmers that typically accompanies so-called "responsible investment"
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Agricultural Innovation: Sustaining what agriculture? For what European bio-economy?

February 2011
The Europe 2020 strategy's promotion of resource-efficient technologies and market incentives as the solution for sustainable agriculture is contradicted by experience where techno-fixes and market pressures have increased overall demand on resources.
Political Dynamics of Land-grabbing in Southeast Asia: Understanding Europe's Ro

Political Dynamics of Land-grabbing in Southeast Asia: Understanding Europe's Role

January 2011
Land Reform:
The European Union is a significant player in the widespread occurrence of land-grabbing in Southeast Asia; both through its corporate sector and public policies.

Regulating landgrabbing?

December 2010
Calls for codes of conduct for landgrabbing not only fail to tackle the main drivers of land dispossession but also legitimise a new wave of land enclosures that will affect many vulnerable rural communities.

Assumptions in the European Union biofuels policy: frictions with experiences in Germany, Brazil and Mozambique

July 2010
EU biofuels policy is based on the assumption that it will lead to greenhouse gas savings, energy security and rural development, however in-depth research in Germany, Brazil and Mozambique reveals fundamental contradictions between EU policy assumptions and practices in the real world.

Towards a Broader View of the Politics of Global Land Grabbing

June 2010
The spectre of a global land grab by foreign transnationals has captured media attention, but perhaps the bigger danger lies in the response by institutions like the World Bank, whose supposedly ameliorative measures are likely to entrench dispossession rather than prevent it.

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

April 2010
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.
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Agrofuel Crops

April 2010
In recent years, there has been renewed interest in developing agrofuels on a large scale as an alternative to fossil fuel. EU biofuels policy, in particular, assumes that the environmental impacts associated with agrofuels production will be largely beneficial. This study questions such optimistic assumptions.