Opkøb af store landbrugsarealer til spotpris betyder udsættelse af fattige bønder uden kompensation
British Oxfam Thursday launched a major new report highlighting the growing pace of land deals brokered around the world, often to the peril of poor communities who lose their homes and livelihoods – sometimes violently – with no prior consultation, compensation or means of appeal.
In the report “Land and Power”, the international aid agency reveals preliminary research indicating as many as 227 million hectares have been sold, leased or licensed in large-scale land deals since 2001, mostly by international investors.
Lack of transparency and the secrecy that surrounds land deals makes it difficult to get exact figures but to date up to 1.100 of these deals amounting to 67 million hectares have been cross checked. Half of these deals are in Africa, and cover an area nearly the size of Germany.)
Oxfam warns this modern day land rush follows a drive to produce enough food for people overseas, meet damaging biofuels targets or speculate on land to make an easy profit.
However, many of the deals are in fact ‘land grabs’ (jordtyveri) where the rights and needs of the people living on the land are ignored, leaving them homeless and without land to grow enough food to eat and make a living.
This is likely to get worse as the increasing demand for food, the gathering pace of climate change, water scarcity and non-food crops like biofuels compete for land. Already, nearly three billion people live in areas where demand for water outstrips supply.
Land grabs: devastating vulnerable communities
Oxfam International’s Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs said:
– The unprecedented pace of land deals and the increased competition for land is leaving many of the world’s poorest people worse off. In the scramble for more land, investors are ignoring the people who currently live on the land and depend on it to survive.
Oxfam’s report profiles the devastating effect land grabs in Uganda, South Sudan, Indonesia, Honduras and Guatemala are having on vulnerable communities.
The report is part of Oxfam’s GROW campaign which aims to secure a future where everyone has enough to eat. Women, who produce up to 80 per cent of food in some poor countries, are usually most vulnerable as they have weaker land rights.
In Uganda, Oxfam’s research indicates that at least 22.500 people have lost their homes and land to make way for a British timber company, the New Forests Company. Many evictees told Oxfam how they were forcibly removed and have been left destitute, without enough food or money to send their children to school.
There were court orders in force which named the company but eye-witnesses say that company workers took part in some of the evictions anyway. NFC denies that it was involved in any evictions.
Evicted without consultation or compensation
Læs videre og se link til hele rapporten på
http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/pressroom/pressrelease/2011-09-22/oxfam-warns-modern-day-land-rush-forcing-thousands-greater-poverty
