1606 Working Group News on Land Grabbing

1605 Working Group News on Land Grabbing

Working Group News on Land Grabbing – April 2016

Working Group News on Land Grabbing – March 2016

WORKING GROUP NEWS LAND GRABBING MAY 2015

WORKING GROUP NEWS LAND GRABBING APRIL 2015

1502 1503 Working Group News Land Grabbing February March

News Land Grabbing - January 2015

Independent UN Human Rights experts have written a letter to the World Bank’s President, Mr Jim Yong Kim. The human rights experts express their concern about the lack of “recognition of the central importance of respecting and promoting human rights” in the World Bank’s draft Environmental and Social Framework. This framework should provide environmental and social safeguards for the World Bank’s lending practices. The experts deplore in particular the lack of “meaningful references to human rights and international human rights law”.

News Land Grabbing – November 2014

The Guiding Principles for Large Scale Land Based Investments (LSLBI) were adopted by the African Union beginning November and aim to improve governance of large scale land based investments in a way that the investments are economically and socially beneficial to the people of Africa. The Guiding principles provide a framework for governments to establish land policies that take account of the strategic value of land and the efficient use of land and its resources in Africa’s efforts for inclusive development.

News Land Grabbing / Agrofuels – October 2014

Following our media action the 10^th of October against the World Bank’s “Doing Business” Ranking and the development of the indicators “Benchmarking the Business of Agriculture”, AEFJN and its partners were invited to meet with a World Bank official in Brussels. The representative of the World Bank received our demands regarding the abovementioned indicators. You can find more information on the media action here.

News Land Grabbing / Agrofuels – September 2014

Last year AEFJN joined the international campaign “Our Land, Our Business” initiated by the Oakland Institute. The campaign challenges to World Bank to eliminate its Doing Business Rankings and to stop developing its instrument “Benchmarking the Business of Agriculture”. AEFJN together with other civil society groups will join in an action simultaneously held in several cities around the world, on 10 October. On this day the Bank holds its annual meeting and the idea of the action is to have a series of events worldwide that cannot be ignored. Act and join campaigns in your country!

News Land Grabbing / Agrofuels – July / August 2014

On 26 June the Human Rights Council of the United Nations adopted a resolution establishing a working group that will develop an “international legally binding instrument on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with respect to human rights”. The resolution was introduced by Ecuador and South Africa and was finally approved by 20 votes in favour, 14 against and 13 abstentions.

News Land Grabbing / Agrofuels – June 2014

During the Council meeting of 13 June EU Energy Ministers have reached an agreement on placing a 7 % limit or cap on the use of food-based biofuels in transport fuels, only Belgium and Portugal voted against the agreement.What is more, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia issued a joint declaration that they would vote against a lower cap. In a world where almost 1 billion people go hungry, it is irresponsible to continue to burn food for fuel and food-based biofuels should be phased out instead of being given public support.

News Land Grabbing / Agrofuels – April & May 2014

In the 1980’s the World Bank (WB) imposed liberalization measures on developing countries through its Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP). In order to receive conditional loans cash-strapped developing countries were obliged, amongst others, to open up their economies to foreign investors, to lift import and export restrictions and encouraged to export commodities (raw materials) to spur economic growth. These programs were withdrawn in 2002 after heavy criticism from civil society and the academic world. The WB’s “Doing Business” (DB) ranking is based on the same economic philosophy as the SAP’s with a focus on liberalization and Foreign Direct Investment as the engine for economic growth.

News Land Grabbing / Agrofuels – February-March 2014

In 2012, the G8 launched the “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition”. According to the G8, the New Alliance would focus on increasing agricultural productivity and aiming to take 50 million out of poverty. The agribusiness companies are seen as key players to realize these goals and many large companies are involved in this alliance, while the main food producers in many African countries, family farmers, are not consulted.

News Land Grabbing / Agrofuels – January 2014

Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, is convinced that the targets for biofuels should be canceled. Biofuels are responsible for the increase in hunger and increased land grabbing in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

News Land Grabbing / Agrofuels – December 2013

On 12 December 2013 the European Energy Ministers voted on a proposal of the Lithuanian Presidency reforming the EU Biofuels policy in the European Council. The Lithuanian Presidency watered down the original proposal of the European Commission amending the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive and Fuels Quality Directive (both determine the targets for agrofuel production in the EU).

News Land Grabbing / Agrofuels – November 2013

The Coalition for the Protection of African Genetic Heritage (COPAGEN) (La Coalition pour la protection du patrimoine génétique africain) organized a forum in Dakar on the impact of large-scale land acquisitions on food security and livelihoods of local communities. Forum participants agreed that the phenomenon of land grabbing destroys the biodiversity and the environment and threatens food sovereignty of affected countries. Land grabbers often introduce in an uncontrolled manner genetically modified organisms that threaten local seed and food varieties.

News Land Grabbing / Agrofuels – October 2013

A recent report of UNCTAD[1] calls upon governments around the world for a “paradigm shift” in agriculture, in particular, a shift away from the agribusiness towards small scale farmers as the main actors in agriculture. Poverty, hunger and climate change should be treated as intertwined crises and agro-ecological family farming has the capacity to deal with these problems simultaneously.

News Land Grabbing / Agrofuels – September 2013

The plenary of the European Parliament agreed on a limit of 6% on the consumption of all land-based biofuels in transport fuels. This allows industry to increase production, because agrofuel consumption currently stands at 4,7%.

News Land Grabbing and Agrofuels - July / August 2013

A threat to African farmers and their farmland is the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA). The MCA is a US government programme which manages US foreign assistance and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is the agency that administers the MCA-programs. The difference with a regular development agency is that private sector officials take part in the leadership structure.

News Land Grabbing / Agrofuels May / June 2013

Campaigning and pressure on your national policy-makers can produce results. In the articles below you can see how campaigning from British civil society has contributed to a change of course in British politics on Biofuels.

News Land Grabbing - February / March 2013

On 12 October 2012 the Commission tabled a proposal amending the Renewable Energy (RE) Directive. The proposal stipulates that 5% of member states’ transport fuels can consist of food-based biofuels, or first generation biofuels.

EU BIOFUELS & LAND in AFRICA

The European Union continues to promote agrofuels crops which require land in Africa. Experts have just published a report where they explain that 'biofuels' will be the main solution ...

While the European Commission is preparing to submit a report on the impact of "indirect land use change" caused by biofuels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and several other studies review downwards the previous estimates ...

In March 2011, some companies and governments will start the certification process developed by the 'Roundtable for Sustainable Biofuels' (RSB). The EC has not yet said whether it recognizes this certification.

LAND - Land grabbing for EU agrofuels is likely to increase

tl_files/aefjn-files/Food sovereignty/Biofuels/Biofuel pompe dans champble.jpg

March 15, 2012 - The maritime transport and aviation and the distributors of agrodiesel warns EU against any attempt to withdraw support for agrofuels and against the ...

Biofuels - EC approved 7 Sustainable schemes for Biofuels

19 July 2011 - the Commission has recognised seven voluntary schemes.

The most complete is the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB EU RED) of the EPFL and 120 Organisations because it also addresses social issues and supports rural development.

LAND & EU biofuels promotion

November 2010 - Large new EU biofuels markets revealed by the National Plans for Renewable Energy.

The advanced biofuels should reach 10% of this market in 2020.

Some governements recommends that EC takes some measures to avoid the Land Use impacts due to biofuels crops.

The European commission not neutral ...

BIOFUELS - UK: just 4 % of biofuel are environmentally sustainable

The Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA) published on 28 January 2010 shows that just 4 per cent of biofuel imported for use in the UK meets the environmental sustainability standard set by the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RFTO).

The majority of biofuel imported in UK have bad impacts in the region of production: causing deforestation and land use changes that are increasing climate changing emissions and pushing people off their land.

LAND for BIOFUELS in TANZANIA - Call for MORATORIUM

2009 - A major new study funded by Sida and written by academics from three Tanzanian universities warns of the far-reaching impacts on land and water of large-scale biofuel plantations in Tanzania.

Plantations are likely to lead to impoverishment of the poor who sell their land cheap to unscrupulous investors. The high water demand of crops like sugar cane is likely to have serious implications for river flows.

The report calls for a moratorium on biofuel projects until a new legal and policy framework is in place.

Source: Development Today

Land - Togo - Inades: a call against land grabbing

March 17, 2012-Inades FormationTogo held the first "Forum" on the land grabbing in Togo. The hundred participants drafted a "Declaration" for all Togolese players.

BIOFUELS - Angola: President Implements New Biofuel Law

LAND - Sierre Leone - Landowners and land users take action

tl_files/aefjn-files/Food sovereignty/LAND/Map Sierra Leone in Africa.jpg

Sierra Leone

April 2, 2012 - About 100 Sierra Leonean landowners and land users deliberated issues and impacts of ceding their land under pressure. They take action against a pattern of coercion, lack of consultation and failure to fairly compensate. They want a constructive dialogue with policy makers in Sierra Leone.

LAND & BIOFUELS : damning reports

September 07 - Biofuels in the EU increased land grabbing. The World Bank has just published a report ...

AGROFUELS in Member States

National Renewable Energy Action Plans are available

Read more … AGROFUELS in Member States

AGROFUELS: Mozambique, EU and Brazil

July 14 - Agreement to develop bioethanol, biodiesel and bioelectricity projects in Mozambique

DR Congo : a new law on agriculture

A new law in agriculture sector has been enacted on December 24, 2011. It will take effect by June 24, 2012.

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