'Land grabbing' in the shadow of the law: Legal frameworks regulating the global land rush

The Challenge of Food Security: International Policy and Regulatory Frameworks

Volumn , Issue , 2012, Pages 206-228

  Cotula, Lorenzo ^a  

^a INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84881909577     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.4337/9780857939388.00023     Document Type: Chapter

References (64)

1. J Blas, 'Land Leased to Secure Crops for South Korea', Financial Times, 18 November 2008
2. K Deininger et al., Rising Global Interest in Farmland: Can it Yield Sustainable and Equitable Benefits? (Washington DC: World Bank, 2011), available at http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64165259&theSitePK= 469382&piPK=64165421&menuPK=64166322&entityID=000334955_2011020 8033706.
3. L Cotula et al., Land Grab or Development Opportunity? Agricultural Investment and International Land Deals in Africa, (Rome/London: Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) / International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) / International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), 2009), available at http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o=12561IIED; M Görgen et al., Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Land in Developing Countries, Eschborn, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) (2009), available at http://www2.gtz.de/urbanet/library/detail1.asp?number=7529; C Friis andA Reenberg, 'Land Grab in Africa: Emerging Land System Drivers in a Teleconnected World', GLP Report No. 1 (GLP-IPO University of Copenhagen, 2010), available at http://www.globallandproject.org/Documents/GLP_report_01.pdf; Deininger et al, above n 2; Oxfam, Land and Power: The Growing Scandal Surrounding the New Wave of Investments in Land, (Oxford: Oxfam, 2011), available at http:// www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/bp151-land-power-rights-acquisitions-220911-en.pdf;WAnseeuw, et al., Land Rights and the Rush for Land: Findings of the Global Commercial Pressures on Land Research Project, (Rome: International Land Coalition, 2012).
4. Particularly L Cotula, Legal Empowerment for Local Resource Control: Securing Local Resource Rights within Foreign Investment Projects in Africa, (London: IIED, 2007), available at http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o= 12542IIED&n=1&l=29&k=local%20resource%20control; and L Cotula, Human Rights, Natural Resource and Investment Law in a Globalised World: Shades of Grey in the Shadow of the Law (London and NewYork: Routledge, 2011).
5. See for instance F Snyder, 'Governing Economic Globalisation: Global Legal Pluralism and EU Law', in Snyder, F. (ed.), Regional and Global Regulation of International Trade (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2002); and P Muchlinski, Multinational Enterprises and the Law (2nd ed, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
6. See: http://www.mofa.gov.sa/sites/mofaen/ServicesAndInformation/news/ statements/Pages/NewsArticleID88796.aspx.
7. http://www.gov.cn/node_11140/2006-03/15/content_227686.htm, accessed in Chinese, read through translation from Google Translate.
8. Xinhua News Agency, 'Fagaiwei:Wu Haiwai Duntian Jihua'('NDRC: China Has No Plan to Acquire Land Overseas', in Chinese), 13 November 2008, available at http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2008-11/13/content_10351772.htm; J Anderlini, 'China Eyes Overseas Land in Food Push', Financial Times, 8 May 2008, available at http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto0508 20081438383016&page=2/.
9. Directive 2003/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 May 2003 on the Promotion of the Use of Biofuels or Other Renewable Fuels for Transport, article 3(b)(ii)
10. Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
11. April 2009 on the Promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources, article 3
12. L Cotula, L Finnegan, and D Macqueen, Biomass Energy: Another Driver of Land Acquisitions? (London: IIED, 2011)
13. [28] U.S.C. § 1350.
14. For examples of transnational litigation in the US, see http://www.businesshumanrights. org/LegalPortal/Home/Countrywherelawsuitfiled/Americas#71862.
15. Deininger et al, Rising Global Interest in Farmland, above n 2
16. Anseeuw et al, Land Rights and the Rush for Land, above n 3, refer to these features as the 'enablers' of the global land rush. See also L Alden Wily, The Tragedy of Public Lands: The Fate of the Commons under Global Commercial Pressure (Rome, International Land Coalition, 2011), available at http:// www.landcoalition.org/publications/accelerate-legal-recognition-commons-groupowned-private-property-limit-involuntary-lan.
17. For a more in-depth discussion of this, see L Cotula, Land Deals in Africa - What is in the Contracts? (London: IIED, 2011), http://pubs.iied.org/ 12568IIED.html.
18. Deininger et al, Rising Global Interest in Farmland, above n 2
19. Addendum to the Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, John Ruggie,'Principles for Responsible Contracts: Integrating the Management of Human Rights Risks into State-Investor Contract Negotiations: Guidance for Negotiators', 25 May 2011, UN Doc. A/HRC/17/31/Add.3.
20. OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises, 2011 Edition, available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/29/48004323.pdf.
21. 'International Finance Corporation's Policy on Environmental and Social Sustainability', 2012 edition, available at http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/policy review.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/Updated_IFC_SFCompounded_August1-2011/$:FILE/Updated_IFC_SustainabilityFrameworkCompounded_August1-2011.pdf.
22. The principles were proposed in early 2010 and are available at http:// www.responsibleagroinvestment.org/rai/node/256.
23. http://www.fao.org/bodies/cfs/cfs37/en/.
24. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food - Addendum, 'Large-Scale Land Acquisitions and Leases: A Set of Minimum Principles and Measures to Address the Human Rights Challenge', 28 December 2009, UN Doc. A/HRC//13/33/Add.2.
25. See Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, http://www.rspo.org/ and Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, http://rsb.epfl.ch/, respectively.
26. Various community groups and International NGOs v Indonesia/Wilmar Group-01/West Kalimantan, case filed July 1, 2007, http://www.cao-ombuds man.org/cases/case_detail.aspx?id=76.
27. Under Mozambique's Constitutions of 1975, 1990 and 2004 and the Land Act of 1997, and under the Tanzania Land Act of 1999 and the Village Land Act of 1999, respectively
28. Two Ghanaian experts estimated that 80 to 90 per cent of all undeveloped land in Ghana is held under customary tenure: K Kasanga and NA Kotey, Land Management in Ghana: Building on Tradition and Modernity, (London: IIED, 2001), available at http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?n=4&l=5&a=N%20 Kotey&x=Y.
29. Under the Land Code of 2000-02
30. K Deininger, Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction, (Washington DC:World Bank, 2003)
31. On Mali, see M Djiré, Land Registration in Mali - No Land Ownership for Farmers? Observations from Peri-Urban Bamako (London: IIED, 2007), Drylands Issue Paper No. 144, available at http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o= 12538IIED. On Ghana, see OAlhassan and T Manuh, Land Registration in Eastern and Western Regions, Ghana (London: IIED, 2005), http://pubs.iied.org/ 12522IIED.html.
32. Djiré, Land Registration in Mali, above, n 30, 4
33. KS Amanor, 'Night Harvesters, Forest Hoods and Saboteurs: Struggles over Land Expropriation in Ghana', in S. Moyo and P.Yeros, (eds.), Reclaiming the Land - The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America (London and NewYork: Zed Books, 2005), 102-117.
34. Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, available at http://www. judicial.gov.gh/constitution/home.htm.
35. R Knight, 'Statutory Recognition of Customary Land Rights in Africa: An Investigation into Best Practices for Law-Making and Implementation', Legislative Study No. 105 (Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), 2011), available at http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1945e/i1945e00.htm.
36. For instance, in Mali customary rights can only be recorded if there is 'permanent and evident' use of the land, for instance through a building or regular cultivation (article 47): rangelands or land reserves for future generations would be outside this provision
37. Deininger et al., Rising Global Interest in Farmland, above n 2.
38. I Nhantumbo and A Salomão, Biofuels, Land Access and Rural Livelihoods in Mozambique (London: IIED, 2010), http://pubs.iied.org/12563IIED.html; S Norfolk and C Tanner, 'Improving Security for the Rural Poor: Mozambique Country Case Study', FAO LEPWorking Paper No. 5. (Rome: FAO, 2007).
39. In Mozambique, article 16 of the Environment Act of 1997 and article 26 of the Investment Act of 1993; in Mali, Decree No. 08-346 of 2008, amended by Decree No. 09-318 of 2009.
40. In Mali, Decree No. 08-346 of 2008, amended by Decree No. 09-318 of 2009 (article 16); in Mozambique, Decree No. 45/2004 of 2004, article 14.
41. Nhantumbo and Salomão, Biofuels, Land Access and Rural Livelihoods in Mozambique, above n 37, writing about Mozambique; GC Schoneveld, LA German and E Nutakor, 'Towards Sustainable Biofuel Development: Assessing the Local Impacts of Large-Scale Foreign land Acquisitions in Ghana', Paper presented at the World Bank Land Governance Conference, 26-27 April 2010, writing about Ghana
42. Cotula et al, Land Grab or Development Opportunity? above n 3; Görgen et al, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Land in Developing Countries, above n 3; and Deininger et al, Rising Global Interest in Farmland, above n 2
43. An exception is Liberia, where land deals are available online, www.leiti. org.lr.
44. J-F Médard, 'The Underdeveloped State in Tropical Africa: Political Clientelism or Neo-Patrimonialism?', in C. Clapham (ed.), Private Patronage and Public Power: Political Clientelism in the Modern State (London: Frances Pinter, 1982).
45. P Chabal and J-P Daloz Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument (Oxford: James Currey, 1999), xviii
46. J-F Bayart, The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly (London: Longman, 1993)
47. Djiré, Land Registration in Mali, above n 30, and Alhassan and Manu, Land Registration in Eastern andWestern Regions, Ghana above n 30, respectively
48. In practice, matters are often more complicated: monetised land transactions like rentals or sales may emerge even in the absence of strong population pressures, while growing population pressure may perpetuate or even reinforce the collective elements of local land tenure systems. See J-P Chauveau and J-P Colin, 'Changes in Land Transfer Mechanisms: Evidence from West Africa' in L.Cotula, (ed.), Changes in 'Customary' Land Tenure Systems in Africa (London: IIED, 2007), 65-79, available at http://pubs.iied.org/12537IIED.html.
49. C Toulmin, C Hesse and L Cotula, 'Pastoral Common Sense: Lessons from Recent Developments in Policy, Law and Practice for the Management of Grazing Lands' (2004) 14 Forests, Trees and Livelihoods 243-262
50. E.g. on Ghana, seeMMortimore, 'History and Evolution of Land Tenure and Administration inWest Africa', Issue Paper No. 71 (London, IIED, 1997); and KS Amanor, Global Restructuring and Land Rights in Ghana (Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikaininstitutet, 1999).
51. L Cotula and C Toulmin (eds.), 'Till to Tiller: International Migration, Remittances and Land Rights in West Africa', Drylands Issue Paper No. 132 (London, IIED, 2004), http://pubs.iied.org/9508IIED.html.
52. Respectively, J Ubink, 'Tenure Security:Wishful Policy Thinking or Reality? A Case from Peri-Urban Kumasi, Ghana' (2007) 51(2) Journal of African Law 215-248; and L Cotula and S Cissé, 'Changes in 'Customary' Resource Tenure Systems in the Inner Niger Delta, Mali' (2006) 52 Journal of Legal Pluralism 1-29
53. J-P Chauveau, et al., Changes in Land Access and Governance in West Africa: Markets, Social Mediations and Public Policies: Results of the CLAIMS Research Project (London: IIED, 2006).
54. M Doka and M Monimart, 'Women's Access to Land: the De-feminisation of Agriculture in Southern Niger', Drylands Issue Paper No. 128 (London: IIED, 2004), http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o=9328IIED.
55. Chauveau and Colin, 'Changes in Land Transfer Mechanisms', above n 47
56. Schoneveld et al (2010), 'Towards Sustainable Biofuel Development', above n 40, writing about Ghana
57. Amanor, Global Restructuring and Land Rights in Ghana, above n 49
58. On the weakening of traditional accountability arrangements in Ghana, see Ubink, 'Tenure Security:Wishful Policy Thinking or Reality?, above n 51
59. For instance, the 1998 African Court Protocol established the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights; Protocol on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights ('African Court Protocol'), adopted by the Assembly of Heads of States and Government of the Organization of African Unity in Ouagadougou on 10 June 1998, entered into force on 25 January 2004, available at http://www.achpr.org/english/_info/court_en.html.
60. See for example the cases Mayagna (Sumo) Awas Tingni Community v. Nicaragua and Saramaka People v. Suriname, both decided by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (on 31 August 2001, http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/ iachr/AwasTingnicase.html, and on 28 November 2007, www.forestpeoples.org/ ċċċ/suriname_iachr_saramaka_judgment_nov07_eng.pdf, respectively), and the case Centre for Minority Rights Development and Minority Rights Group International on behalf of Endorois Welfare Council v. Kenya, decided by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (Communication No. 276/2003).
61. Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, adopted on 27 June 1989, entered into force on 5 September 1991, available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/indigenous.htm.
62. For a more thorough discussion of international investment law and a review of a sample of investment treaties, see Cotula, Human Rights, Natural Resource and Investment Law, above n 4
63. Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States ('ICSID Convention'), adopted 18 March 1965, into force on 14 October 1966, available at http://icsid.worldbank.org/ICSID/Front Servlet?requestType=ICSIDDocRH&actionVal=RulesMain; and Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards ('NewYork Convention'), adopted 10 June 1958, into force 7 June 1959, and available at http:// www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/uncitral_texts/arbitration/NYConvention.html.
64. See alsoWily, The Tragedy of Public Lands, above n 15