• Seeds of discontent

    Watch this trailer for a powerful new documentary about how supposedly well-meaning Dutch and Swedish investments can result in land grabbing and human rights abuses in one small community in Mozambique.  

  • Food Sovereignty: A Critical Dialogue

    The concept of food sovereignty has exploded in the agrarian studies literature over the past decade, the aim of this critical dialogue was to explore whether or not the subject of food sovereignty has any intellectual future in critical agrarian studies, and if so, on what terms.

  • A foreseeable disaster

    Why despite ten years of accumulating evidence on the social and environmental cost of agrofuels, does the European Commission persist with its failed policies? An analysis of the EU's bioeconomy vision, how it is fuelling land grabs in Africa, the agrofuels lobby that drives policy, and the alternative visions for energy that are being ignored.

  • UPDATE: Land concentration, land grabbing and people’s...

    Land issues and 'land grabs' are mostly associated with the global South, however 13 country studies in this updated landmark report reveal an accelerating grab and concentration of land across Europe.

  • The Sugarcane Industry and the global economic crisis

    An examination of ethanol production in Brazil, highlighting the role of financial capital, the territorial expansion of agribusiness and the impacts on labour relations and indigenous peoples and peasant farmers.

 

The ‘agrarian justice’ cluster brings together research and analysis on political struggles in rural areas around access, control and ownership of resources and land, as well as on international agrarian movements struggling against dispossession and working to construct alternatives. Read more about this project

Articles

Activities 2012 Agrarian Justice

The concept of ‘land grabs’ – acquisitions of vast areas of land in poorer nations and regions – came to prominence during the global food price spike of 2007/8. tni has critically analysed mainstream formulations of the problem, from the angle of who controls the land itself and who has the power to decide how it is used and for what purposes – issues that tie into a broader and deeper questioning of the underlying development model.
See video

Land & Sovereignty in the Americas: Sergio Sauer, Brazil

Sergio Sauer talks of history of land struggles in his native country and the dualistic roles his government plays to both restrict and expand land grab patterns in and out of Brazil.
See video

Land & Sovereignty in the Americas: Bob St. Peter, Maine

Bob St. Peter, a landless farmer and the head of Food for Maine’s Future, knows first hand the struggles of family farms in America today.
See all articles

Publications

Bittersweet Harvest

Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive Development International
A European Union (EU) trade initiative intended to reduce poverty in the world’s poorest countries has driven thousands of Cambodian farming families into destitution and led to serious human rights violations. This report assesses the human rights impacts of the EU’s ‘Everything But Arms’ (EBA) trade scheme in Cambodia. 

Governing the Global Land Grab

Jennifer Franco
Jun Borras
Chunyu Wang
The rise of flex crops—crops with multiple uses across food, feed, fuel and industrial complexes—has far-reaching implications for global land governance.

Protecting carbon to destroy forests

TNI, FDCL, Carbon Trade Watch and IGO
This paper provides historical background and reports of experiences on the ground to show how land and nature enclosures are central to REDD+, and why it therefore cannot be fixed.
See all publications

Events

September 2013

Food Sovereignty: a critical dialogue

At this event leading scholars and political activists will engage in critical and productive dialogue with those who are skeptical to the concept of food sovereignty to examine what food sovereignty might mean and what policies it implies.
June 2013

Land Issues in Europe - from Land Grabbing to Land Reform

Organized by GUE/NGL in cooperation with European Coordination Via Campesina.
April 2013

Land Grabbing: insights from Romania

Attila Szocs, who monitors large scale agricultural land purchases in Romania, and Dan Cismas, a biodynamic farmer and co-president of the EcoRuralis peasant association, tour European capitals and cities to highlight, debate and raise public awareness on the social, environmental and economic impact of large scale land acquisition by both, foreign and national companies.  
See all events

News

Seeds of discontent documentary unveils how foreign investors fuel land grabs

1 October 2013
A powerful new documentary film “Seeds of discontent” was launched today that draws attention to the role of a Swedish investment firm, Dutch pension fund and Norwegian church endowment firm in land grabbing in Mozambique.

China ‘land grab’ sees it given control of 5% of Ukraine, accused of ‘neo-colonialism’

25 September 2013
Ukraine has agreed a deal with a Chinese company to lease 5% of its land to feed China’s burgeoning population, it was reported on Tuesday.

L'agriculture biologique : peut-elle nourrir le monde ?

23 August 2013
L'écologiste, dans son numéro estival, propose un dossier sur l'agriculture biologique et montre qu'il est possible de manger bio, avec une agriculture qui fasse vivre les paysans.
See all news