“The Rush for Land: Is Belgium complicit in the new global Wild West?”

On 10 June 2013, in cooperation with other Belgian civil society organisations, AEFJN presented the report “The Rush for Land, Is Belgium complicit in the new global Wild West?” to the Belgian parliament and to the office of the Ministry for Development Cooperation. This report analyses the involvement of Belgians in land-grabbing abroad and includes case studies from Africa and other parts of the world.

It gives an insight into the policies that can encourage land grabbing and it was precisely these issues that were directed to the Belgian MPs. After this civil society presentation, there was a debate between civil society, the private sector and MPs.  This led to a dialogue between the MPs and Civil Society where the MPs asked for information so that they could formulate questions for Parliament.

Unfortunately, the lack of policy coherence became clear when the Secretary of State for Energy proposed new legislation in Parliament that included an increase in the threshold levels of agrofuel in petrol and diesel.  This would raise the levels of agrofuel consumption in Belgium.

In the meantime, the law was voted on with no reference to the data and analyses about agrofuels that had been presented in the report of Belgian civil society.  Generally speaking, the law suits the Belgian agrofuel industry, but could be very damaging for people in Africa as shown in the report.  To read the report, click here.