Across Africa, corporations are grabbing community land and water - and nowhere more than in Liberia, where half the country has already been lost. But one community has shown it's possible to overcome intimidation, organize and resist.
… When our land is free, we're all free Silas … Siakor Jacinta Fay | 7th May 2014 News Land Grabs Africa Farming Indigenous Peoples … Africa, corporations are grabbing community land and water - and nowhere more than in …
Development secretary Justine Greening is facing questions over UK involvement in a massive land-grab in Nigeria that is evicting local farmers from 300 square kilometres of fertile farmland to clear the way for a rice farm owned and controlled from the US and Canada. A 45,000-strong community faces landlessness and destitution.
… farmers face destitution from 300 sq.km land grab backed by UK aid Oliver Tickell | 28th January 2015 News Land Grabs Nigeria Africa Farming Corporations Development gassol-lands.jpg Development secretary Justine …
New proposals on land reform in Scotland are a mixed bag, writes Craig Bayne: some good, some bad, and some downright ugly. Leading that last category is the failure to tackle offshore land ownership in tax haven shell companies, and force disclosure of the real landowners.
… Scottish land reform - don't forget the tax havens! … Bayne | 18th September 2015 Comment UK ScotlandLand Grabs Law Politics bruce-fummey-cut.jpg …
It's not just western corporations that are moving into large-scale agribusiness in Ethiopia, writes Mohammad Amir Anwar. Indian investors have acquired rights to some 6,000 sq.km of land much of it in the ecologically sensitive Gambela region, where unconsulted Nuer and Anuak peoples are suffering from forest clearance.
… known story of India's role in Ethiopian land grabs Mohammad Amir Anwar | 15th June 2015 Comment Ethiopia India Land Grabs Forests Farming Finance Indigenous … have acquired rights to some 6,000 sq.km of land much of it in the ecologically sensitive …
Liberia's Jogbahn Clan is at the forefront of efforts to resist the grab of Indigenous Peoples' land and forests for palm oil plantations. But according to the country's President, they are only 'harrassing and extorting' international investors.
… - communities join to fight the palm oil land grab Jacinta Fay Silas Kpanan'Ayoung … Siakor | 18th July 2014 News Food Farming Land Grabs Indigenous Peoples Liberia Africa … to resist the grab of Indigenous Peoples' land and forests for palm oil plantations. But …
Small farmers are losing out as the world's farmland is becoming concentrated in ever fewer hands - and food security is suffering as a consequence. If we do nothing to reverse this trend, writes Stephen Leahy, the world will lose its capacity to feed itself.
… 'Land reform in reverse' - land grabs are increasing world hunger Stephen … Leahy | 3rd June 2014 News Food Farming Land Grabs small-farmers-cut.jpg Small farmers …
Pristine beaches, clear Caribbean waters, coral reefs, fertile land ... such is the homeland of the Garifuna people, writes Jeff Abbott. It's so lovely that outsiders are desperate to seize ever more of their territory to develop for mass tourism, oil palm plantations, illicit drug production ... and the land grabs have the full support of Honduras military government, backed to the hilt by Uncle Sam.
… communities resist eviction and theft of land Jeff Abbott Waging NonViolence | 12th … August 2015 News Honduras Indigenous Peoples Land Grabs USA Tourism beach.jpg Pristine … clear Caribbean waters, coral reefs, fertile land ... such is the homeland of the Garifuna …
Communities facing around Taiwan's Taoyuan Airport are facing huge land grabs for a vast airport city that will line the pockets of powerful officials, politicians and developers, but leave them with nothing, writes Rose Bridger. Now, faced with official abuse and police brutality, they are fighting back with street protests and art projects.
… | 16th December 2014 News Taiwan China Land Grabs aerotropolis-protest.jpg … Taiwan's Taoyuan Airport are facing huge land grabs for a vast airport city that will … city of Taipei on the northern tip of the island, is not unusual in planning expansion: A …
Papua New Guinea is among the most culturally and biologically diverse nations on earth, and its laws enshrine the customary land ownership of indigenous tribes. Yet a massive land grab is under way with 12% of the country's land leased out to foreign corporations ...
… Corporate land grabs in PNG - independence betrayed? … Serah Aupong | 23rd November 2013 News PNG Land Grabs png-pm-obama.png Papua New Guinea … on earth, and its laws enshrine the customary land ownership of indigenous tribes. Yet a …
Land grabbing has been going on since the mists of time, writes Nikita Sud, and took off like never before under European colonialism. But now 'developing' countries are also getting in on the act - notably China, an economic superpower in its own right, as it ruthlessly, and often corruptly, expands its global land holdings at the expense of nature and small scale farmers.
… 'developing' superpowers join the global land grab Nikita Sud University of Oxford | 31st January 2017 News Land Grabs China India Brazil Indonesia … Pakistan Sri Lanka Bangladesh Myanmar Thailandland-grab-cut.jpg Land grabbing has been …
Farmers on Palawan are being tricked into giving land away to palm oil companies with local government support, writes Rod Harbinson. Under the palm oil company 'leases' the farmers lose all rights to their land, never receive any money, and are saddled with 25 years of debt. Those who resist the land grabs are now in fear for their lives following the murder of a prominent campaigner.
… Philippines islanders unite to resist 'land grab' palm oil companies Rod Harbinson | 7th January 2016 News Forests Philippines Land Grabs Corporations Farming Indigenous …
Federal Agencies have capitulated to an armed militia protecting a Nevada rancher running his cattle on 100s of 1,000s of acres of public land reserved for 'threatened' Desert tortoises - despite multiple court orders and over $1 million in unpaid fines.
… Ecologist | 16th April 2014 News USA Farming Land Grabs Law desert-tortoise.jpg Federal … cattle on 100s of 1,000s of acres of public land reserved for 'threatened' Desert … $1 million in unpaid fines. The Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and …
The land grab by NuGen for its triple reactor Moorside site keeps on growing, writes Martin Forwood. The 'biggest construction project in Europe' is expanding from Nugen's original 200 hectare site to 552 hectares of farmland reaching right up to two villages and an 11th Century church. But with compulsory purchase on the cards, there's nothing locals can do except keep on fighting the entire deeply flawed project.
… Moorside, Cumbria: the great nuclear land grab Martin Forwood | 7th August 2015 Activism Nuclear Energy Land Grabs UK beckermet-st-bridgets-cut.jpg The land grab by NuGen for its triple reactor …
A small community in Uganda is challenging a UN-backed international oil palm venture that has expropriated small farmers and obliterated an entire forest on a Lake Victoria island to establish a vast plantation. Three years after the grab, Friends of the Earth groups are backing the islanders legal action, which is launched today.
… banks and oil palm giants feast on the stolen land of Uganda's dispossessed Anne van Schaik … February 2015 News Un Corporations Forests Land Grabs Africa Uganda Food Farming … John Muyiisa is one of the Bugula islanders dispossessed by the IFAD-supervised …
The state government of Ekiti sent bulldozers to clear farmland for a new airport without even consulting the farmers who owned it, writes Rose Bridger. Crops, buildings and trees were all flattened. But the farmers fought back - and have now won a major legal victory that will inspire and empower other mega-project afflicted communities across Nigeria, and beyond.
… Farming Nigeria Campaigning Transport Land Grabs women applying fertilizer to … of Ekiti sent bulldozers to clear farmland for a new airport without even consulting … resistance to a massive airport on their land. A High Court judgment has been issued …
Thousands of small farmers in Poland are blockading motorways and holding demonstrations to demand land rights, a ban on GMOs and an end to oppressive health and safety regulations - and they are refusing to call off the protests until their demands are met.
… Polish farmers block motorways for land rights, no GMOs Oliver Tickell | 9th February 2015 News Farming Poland EU GMOs Land Grabs tractors-on-road-cut.jpg Thousands …
The International Criminal Court in The Hague is to broaden its focus to prosecute governments and individuals for environmental crimes, write John Vidal & Owen Bowcott. Examples include illegal deforestation, theft of resources, and expulsion of populations from their land.
… | 21st September 2016 News Law Human Rights Land Grabs rohingya-cut.jpg The International … and expulsion of populations from their land. Environmental destruction and landgrabs could lead to governments and …
A new tactic of non-violent resistance secured a future for the people of Apaa, Uganda, after a violent government-backed land grab had threatened to turn their village and farmland over to a sports hunting business, writes Phil Wilmot. The unlikely leader was Anek, a respected grandmother of the village, whose naked protest sent both troops and government ministers packing.
… fought the President for her community's land - and won Phil Wilmot Waging NonViolence … 9th June 2015 Activism Uganda Africa Protest Land Grabs anek-cut.jpg A new tactic of … Uganda, after a violent government-backed land grab had threatened to turn their village …
The Kwegu people of Ethiopia's Lower Omo Valley are facing starvation because of the loss of their land to a huge sugar plantation, the destruction of their forest and the damming of the Omo river - supported by a UK, EU and World Bank funded 'aid' program.
… Kwegu tribe starves, victims of dam and land grabs Oliver Tickell | 13th March 2015 … Africa Indigenous Peoples UK EU Development Land Grabs Farming Water kwegu in cultivation … starvation because of the loss of their land to a huge sugar plantation, the …
A land grab twice the size of France is under way in Ethiopia, as the government pursues the wholesale seizure if indigenous lands to turn them over to dams and plantations for sugar, palm oil, cotton and biofuels run by foreign corporations, destroying ancient cultures and turning Lake Turkana, the world's largest desert lake, into a new Aral Sea.
… 2015 News Ethiopia Indigenous Peoples Land Grabs Farming Water omo-tesemay.png A land grab twice the size of France is under … pursues the wholesale seizure if indigenous lands to turn them over to dams and …
Rising anger by China's dispossessed - those displaced from their homes, villages and farms to make way for ever-expanding cities and infrastructure - is posing an existential threat to the ruling regime, write Samantha Hoffman & Jonathan Sullivan. At the root of the problem is the state's inability to tackle endemic official corruption and deliver justice to its citizens.
… Tianjin, China: a village 'land grab' protest spells trouble for the … Jonathan Sullivan | 11th April 2015 News Land Grabs China Politics Development … protests taking place on the Chinese mainland. Without much fanfare or media attention, …
Developers are determined to build a massive motor sports complex on common land above the South Wales valleys, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park, writes Kate Ashbrook. But although they have planning permission, they can still be defeated. Image: Ross Merritt, via Flickr.
… The upland commons of South Wales are no place for a … June 2014 Comment Transport Commons UK Wales Land Grabs Development brecon-beacons.jpg … a massive motor sports complex on common land above the South Wales valleys, on the …
Impunity reigns in the Amazon, write Joe Sandler Clarke & Sam Cowie, and the indigenous peoples of the forest are the big losers as they suffer repeated killings and land grabs. Big cuts to Funai, the agency meant to protect Brazil's indigenous tribes, have encouraged land barons to expand their land holdings into indigenous territories and murder any who resist.
… Brazil: Increase in land killings as political crisis threatens … 7th June 2017 News Indigenous Peoples Brazil Land Grabs Politics Forests Human Rights … losers as they suffer repeated killings and land grabs. Big cuts to Funai, the agency …
All over the world, small farmers are being forced off their land to make way for corporate agriculture, writes GRAIN - and it's justified by the need to 'feed the world'. But it's the small farmers that are the most productive, and the more their land is grabbed, the more global hunger increases. We must give them their land back!
… to double world food production? Return the land to small farmers! GRAIN | 22nd November … 2014 Comment Food Farming Corporations Land Grabs … small farmers are being forced off their land to make way for corporate agriculture, …