Nearly 7,000 people from more than 30 countries, and from almost every Brazilian state, gathered at the Alternative World Water Forum (FAMA) from 17 to 22 March 2018. The purpose of this mobilisation was to challenge the legitimacy of the World Water Forum, which is organised every three years by the private think-tank World Water Council together with its corporate partners.
The island of Bali is home to a rich and unique system of agriculture, based around traditional water management systems developed over the last 1200 years. However, growing pressure from the expansion of the tourist trade as well as the effects of climate change are putting these systems at risk. Farmers are fighting to preserve their livelihoods and maintain a base for local food sovereignty in Bali, but significant changes to policy and practice are needed to protect their rights to land, water, and seed.
Ian Scoones, Jun Borras, Lyda Fernanda Forero, Ruth Hall, Marc Edelman, Wendy Wolford, Benjamin White
31 January 2018
Article
Religion, gender dynamics, place and cultural identity – all inform rising authoritarian populism in rural areas, alongside class interests and inequalities. Mobilising alternatives to capture by regressive political forces is not straightforward.
In this article, Ian Scoones discusses the implications and challenges for how we think about agrarian issues in the context of authoritarian populism.
This research unpacks the experiences of a small-scale fishing community who face different struggles as a result of governance structures impinging on their fishing rights and food sovereignty.
Are EU countries guilty of human rights abuses related to land grabbing? How do EU countries contribute to land-grabbing outside of Europe? Our analysis identifies the key mechanisms through which human rights challenges emerge from land grabbing and points to the obligation of the EU and its Member States to implement a set of policy regulations.
ERPI is starting a Working Paper series, supported by a limited number of small grants, to allow for the writing up of original research. In parallel they are inviting short contributions in a variety of media that help to map out responses and alternatives. The Initiative will hold a major international conference, bringing this work together, with the aim of thinking together about new directions, both for academic research and practical action.
Projects protecting Jakarta against floods are likely to damage the environment and could threaten the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people. The Dutch government, supporting these projects, should question how it balances its interest in supporting Dutch companies with its stated policies of sustainable and inclusive development.
A call for papers and proposals for workshops as part of the annual colloquium on food and agriculture to be held in 2017 April 24th / 26th in Basque Country.
A false picture of a sustainable industry was painted for investors and other participants, last month at the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) , which ignores the harmful impacts of the aggressive expansion of the palm oil industry on local communities
The convergence of multiple crises – food, energy, environmental, climate change and finance – in combination with the rise of important global political economic players has triggered profound agrarian and environmental transformations worldwide. There is a global rush to control natural resources in order to produce food, fuel, and energy for climate change mitigation and adaptation purposes; partly as a result of financialization of agriculture, nature, food systems and farmland. How does one govern such complex and fluid ‘value webs’?
Democratic land control is inseparable from human rights. Demands for democratic land control need to be understood in the context of broadly distinct political conditions that in turn each require distinct political intervention, namely, respect/protect, promote, and/or restore democratic land control.
There are some big problems with the current draft of the policy and they stem mainly from its failure to recognise that land has more than an economic function.
On World Fisheries Day, fisher peoples and their allies are taking to the streets and beaches to fight against ocean grabbing in all its forms - including Marine Protected Areas imposed without consultation that rob and criminalise local communities and benefit only privileged outsiders.
Not only are the small-scale fisher communities best placed to ensure food sovereignty, but they are also the starting point for any serious transition towards an ecologically and socially just food regime. We need a revolution to bring the oceans back into the global commons.
A call for papers that offer rigorous and innovative analysis to continue deepening and broadening our understanding of global land deals – in specific regional context, with special attention to climate change and the role of China and other middle income countries within the region.
TNI's Agrarian Justice team reiterates the hazardous consequences of current ocean governance and policy frameworks, which have been repeatedly raised by social movements representing fisher people at the Global Oceans Action Summit.
The phrase “land grab” has become common in Myanmar, often making front page news. This reflects the more open political space available to talk about injustices, as well as the escalating severity and degree of land dispossession under the new government.
