Ruées vers les terres ? Quelles complicités belges dans le nouveau Far West mondial ?

This report synthesises the findings of the global Commercial Pressures on Land research project, coordinated by the Secretariat of the International Land Coalition (ILC) with the support of one of its members, CIRAD, and the collaboration of more than 40 grassroots and civil society organisations, academics, and research institutions from around the world.Twenty-eight case studies, thematic studies, and regional overviews resulting from this project have already been published.1 In addition, this report incorporates the latest data emerging from the ongoing Land Matrix project to monitor large-scale land transactions.

Rome / January 2012 / 84 pages

This study has five main parts. The first gives a global overview and emphasizes the indisputable reality of the large-scale land acquisitions. The second details the target countries and regions. It looks at the determinants of investment decisions and inquires whether investors really target marginal land. Thirdly, this study examines the investor countries, the investors and their characteristics. The fourth part focuses on learning more aboutt he drivers of the global increase in demand for land. Finally, the processes of large-scale land acquisitions are examined, including an assessment of compensation and potential benefits.

Bern/Montpellier/Hamburg / avril 2012 / 52 pages

This research finds that both food speculation and the financing of land grabs are issues with great significance for Europe. It appears that a broad list of EU-based private financial institutions – banks, pension funds and insurance companies – are involved in trading or marketing investment products based on agricultural commodity futures or other agricultural commodity derivatives and complex instruments. A significant number of financial institutions across Europe appear to also be involved in financing land grabs directly or indirectly.

Brussels (Belgium), January 2012 / 44 pages

Despite the spate of media reports and some published research, international land deals and their impacts remain still little understood. This report is a step towards filling this gap. The report draws on a literature review; on qualitative interviews with key informants internationally; on national inventories of approved and proposed land acquisitions since 2004 in five African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali and Sudan), as well as qualitative case studies in Mozambique and Tanzania; and on legal analysis of applicable law and of a small sample of land deals.

Rome, London / June 2009 / 130 pages