Ownership, equity, and liberty in land use rights daniel weldegebriel ambaye, ethiopia key words. Landgrabbing and the right to adequate food in ethiopia. Download pdf, 505 kb international large scale land acquisitions in ethiopia the key to trigger agricultural modernization, development and. Forest investments and channels of contestation in highland ethiopia 5. The paper draws on trade data between india and ethiopia, expert interviews, studies and reports on the use and productivity of grabbed land. Ethiopia iwgia international work group for indigenous. Discarded land deals 2016 list of deals that were discarded from the main dataset because they were sold, cancelled or. Historical aspects of landgrab in ethiopia with political. Did west ignore rape charges related to ethiopia land grab. The study used fao unpublished data on land suitability and availability. Land rights, holding rights, expropriation, largescale agricultural investment summary from time immemorial, land had been controlled by the elite kings and their trusted followers in ethiopia. Subscribe today to the monitor click here for your free 30 days of. See foreign direct investment in the agricultural sector in ethiopia, ecofair trade dialogue.
Although the land grab debate has focused on headline grabbing largescale land deals involving foreign companies and states, in ethiopia these are part of a wider government push for commercialisation that includes small and large, foreign and domestic investors, as well as smallholders. This study is conducted in order to shed light on and investigate the welfare situation for people affected by these investments. Land is a common property of the nations, nationalities and peoples of ethiopia. South west cameroon is a good example, because land appropriation for commercial agriculture is occurring at an alarming rate feintrenie et al. As land in ethiopia is owned exclusively by the state and. A better way to start to understand land grabbing is through the lens of political economy. The impact of land grabbing in ethiopia is manifested through five interconnected factors that the regime has designed to sustain its military, political and economic powers in order to protect its brutal and savage governance system for the next quarter or half a century. The rush for land and agricultural investment in ethiopia mdpi. The political economy of agricultural investment in ethiopia published in the journal of peasant studies 391. The right to ownership of rural land and urban land, as well as of all natural resources is exclusively vested in the state and the peoples of ethiopia. Land grabbing is the most legally and ethically problematic form of largescale land acquisitions. World land grabbing in ethiop ia foreign investors and famine. The objective of the thesis is to analyze and describe the land rights and expropriation laws in ethiopia and to compare them with the practice in order to determine the fairness of compensation.
The state has transferred small and mediumscale land parcels to mainly domestic investors 3. The development bank of ethiopia suspending loans for commercial farms because of the failure of numerous farms in gambella, where the bank was even tricked into giving two loans for a single agriculture project. The rush for land and agricultural investment in ethiopia. In ethiopia land has been considered as an important economic and social asset where the. Indigenous communities displaced from their land by the expansion of agribusiness in mato grosso do sul, brazil.
In ethiopia, more land grabs, more indigenous people pushed. Eight years after releasing its first report on land grabbing, which put the issue on the international agenda, grain publishes a new dataset documenting nearly 500 cases of land grabbing around the world. Women and land rights in ethiopia ethiopian legal brief. The term land grab defines the seizing of land by a nation, state, or organization, especially illegally, underhandedly, or unfairly. Request pdf land rights and land grabbing in oromia, ethiopia the land is not only a vital livelihood asset but also indispensable for the enjoyment of several human rights including the right. Land rights and land grabbing in oromia, ethiopia request pdf. Article presented at the conference international land grabbing organized by the world land deals politics initiative in collaboration with journal of peasant studies of 6 to 8 april 2011.
The anywaa survival organisation aso is outraged by recent news report that the ethiopian government is providing a new lease of lands to the disgraced land grabber karuturi global ltd. Western governments see ethiopia as a strategic bulwark in the global fight against terrorism and point to its progress toward achieving the millennium development goals, an international program to end poverty and hunger. The indigenous peoples of ethiopia make up a significant proportion of the countrys estimated population of 105 million. The ethiopian government has set aside an area of land around the size of belgium, 3 million hectares, available for lease. Land grabbing in ethiopia foreign investors and famine. So broader narratives of landgrabbing seeing governments as unwitting. This paper examines the domestic political economy of socalled land grabbing in ethiopia, assessing the. Land grabbing and share of the value added in agricultural processes. Indianethiopian civil society summit on land investments. Access to rural land by investors is guaranteed by article 4 of ethiopia s rural land administration and land use proclamation 4562005 so long as priority is supposedly given to peasant farmers and pastoralists.
Environmental impact assessments are not required or are performed in an ad hoc manner. Studies suggest that a third of the land sold or acquired in africa is intended for fuel crops some 5 million hectares. The brutal reality of ethiopia s new sugar wars ethiopia s mursi tribe says they were imprisoned and tortured to protect chinese sugar plantations. This article explores the impact of land grabbing in ethiopia and examines the human rights and sustainable development frameworks within which land grabbing takes place. The paper examines ethiopia s program of largescale land. Legal and institutional frameworks relating to land in ethiopia. This content was originally written for an undergraduate or masters. Western governments see ethiopia as a strategic bulwark in the global fight against terrorism and point to its progress toward achieving the millennium development goals, an. With its weak system of governance and abundant arable land and water resources. Citizenship and ethiopia s new agricultural investment policies.
Land is a very vital resource and source of livelihood for the majority of people in ethiopia. Research in ethiopia, ghana, mali, mozambique, senegal and tanzania indicate that land grabbing is currently a big challenge for african countries because of. For example, in ethiopia much land acquisition is led by national parastatal agencies. The areas where land grabbing is concentrated in africa coincide closely with the continents largest river and lake systems, and in most of these areas irrigation is a prerequisite of commercial production. A study on land grabbing cases in uganda april 2012. There are said to be 11,018, 750 landholders in the country with the total area of land cultivated estimated at 10,719,890 hectares. Threats to sustainable development posed by land and water. The ethiopian project will be financed by the african development bank. Land rights and land grabbing in oromia, ethiopia sciencedirect. We are grateful for the inspiration and information about land grabbing and ethiopia we got from dr kjell havnevik. Regarding employment, even though almost all the unskilled manua.
In ethiopia, foreign investment is a fancy word for stealing land. Land grabbing and right to adequate food in ethiopia 221 been described by some as a neocolonialist scramble for africa. Review of land grabbing policies of successive regimes of. The scale and impact of land grabbing for agrofuels. Land grabbing by foreign investors in developing countries risks and opportunities published popular.
Republic of ethiopia fdre unequivocally states that land shall not be individuals property. Indigenous organisations outraged by ethiopias government. This paper examines the domestic political economy of socalled landgrabbing in ethiopia, assessing the. Land grabbing, local contestation, and the struggle for. Original title isbn 9781781682326 published on 20116. Pdf the post2008 global land rush was mainly targeted at africa. Land concentration, land grabbing and peoples struggles in. Indigenous organisations outraged by ethiopia s government land deal with iconic land grabbing company. Jul 05, 2011 land grabbing is occurring on a scale and at a rate faster than ever known before food first, 2011. Land grabbing is the contentious issue of largescale land acquisitions. In ethiopia, more land grabs, more indigenous people.
Skype interviews were held in september2014,wereopenended,lastingseveralhourstodraw on observations and documentation available on land grab trends in. Friends of the earth has looked at cases of land grabbing in 11 countries across africa, from ethiopia to mozambique see appendix. European involvement in land grabbing with a particular look at uganda. The imperial regime 19301974 had imposed an oppressive land. Addressing the human rights impacts of land grabbing, lorenzo cotula 2014 european parliaments subcommittee on human rights. When over onehundred papers were presented at the international conference on global land grabbing in 2011, not one positive outcome could be found for local communities. While used broadly throughout history, land grabbing as used in the 21st century primarily refers to largescale land acquisitions following the 200708.
Land grabbing and the human rights obligations of the eu. In ethiopia, land grabbing undermines affected communities active participation in decisions about 17understanding land investment deals in africa. Pdf landgrabbing and the right to adequate food in ethiopia. Estimates of land deal figures for ethiopia vary wildly. Journeys in the new colonialism by author stefano liberti in pdf epub. Oct 17, 2014 land grabs in the developing world create a system so unequal that resourcerich countries become resource dependent. Ethiopia attracts investors with its cheap labor and fertile land. This global land grab is a massive transfer of vital food producing resources from poor rural communities to a wealthy global elite. Ethiopias president views these developments as key to improving the quality of life in africa. In ethiopia, one of the worlds largest recipients of foreign aid, the. The paper descriptively presents introductory information, data of global land grabbing, impacts of land grabbing on livelihoods of rural community, political function of land grabbing policy of the tplf regime, and conclusive results. Ethiopia s president views these developments as key to improving the quality of life in africa. The current global land grab is causing radical changes in the use and ownership of land.
Odusola over the past decade, largescale land acquisition in africa has become quite intense, especially in drc, ethiopia, madagascar, mozambique, sudan, tanzania and zambia. During the interviews, the land grab affected people dismissed the government justification that all land in ethiopia belongs to the state, and strongly argued that the land grabbing policy was intended to deprive communities of their land use rights, destroy. Web of scienceindexed publications combined results of land grabbing, largescale land acquisition, agricultural investment 2005 2019. Africa embarked on the purchase andor lease of thousands of hectares of arable lands from countries in africa includ ing, madagascar, ethiopia, mozambique. From this perspective, land grabbing is essentially control grabbing. In ethiopia, foreign investment is a fancy word for. In view of the land grabbing and food security debate, the paper critically evaluates whether acquiring farmland in ethiopia can indeed contribute to food and energy security in india. It is important to unpack what land grabbing really involves if we are to understand what is really happening. Africas hot spots related stories think you know africa. More than 87 biofuel companies from 25 different countries are operating on 3,791,602 hectares of land between 2005 and 2012 almost in all regional states in ethiopia except that of tigray. Large areas of land have already been leased to a number of foreign companies. Land deals 2016 the complete list of current land deals in pdf format revised version posted 30 august 2016 click here to download annexe 2. Although one in 10 ethiopians is going hungry, the government is leasing fertile land to foreign investors. Land grabbing, sustainable development and human rights.
Mediumscale forestland grabbing in the southwestern. Are us and uk turning a blind eye as ethiopia uproots natives. We narrow down the global literature and focus on a specific country, ethiopia, which has been subject to significant land deals 1. About land grabbing in the last years has emerged a new global trend that can be categorize as a new type of neocolonialism or imperialism, the land grabbing. Pdf ethiopia history of land tenure and the present land. While some of this land is sold outright to private. Chinas dual role as trade partner and donor could as. Geopolitical drivers of foreign investment in african land and water resources 3. Feb 01, 2016 the impact of land grabbing in ethi opia is manifested through five interconnected factors that the regime has designed to sustain its military, political and economic powers in order to protect its brutal and savage governance system for the next quarter or half a century. Land grabbing as new enclosures in contemporary ethiopia.
Based on the discussion above, it is possible to conclude that land grabbing for biofuels is the most serious national issue in ethiopia. Stakeholders perspectives on largescale agricultural. Thescholarsinterviewedwill be presented via footnotes in the text. May 11, 2018 indigenous organisations outraged by ethiopia s government land deal with iconic land grabbing company written on 11 may 2018. Today, however, several years down the road, it is clear that this framing of land grab bing has obscured more than it was able to illuminate. Land grabbing and human rights transnational institute. Apart from the recent global land grabbing, in ethiopia many small and mediumscale land appropriations for commercial agriculture and industrial and urban development have also been effected since the mid1990s 22,25.
It refers to the capturing of power to control land and other associated resources like water. The paper examine land grabbing in sudan, and its implication on small farmers and food security. Past and present of political power in ethiopia power. This is tnis second draft of our popular primer on land grabbing. The article argues that a human rights approach is fundamental to reconcile the sustainable development imperatives of economic development and environmental protection in the. Africa, cultural, economics, history, journalism, nonfiction, politics, writing. Pdf this paper examines the domestic political economy of socalled land grabbing in ethiopia, assessing the motivations of the ethiopian. Over the past several years, grain staff and allies in different regions have been tracking media and other information sources on a daily basis and posting reports on land grab developments. There is a deeprooted understanding among the lowland communities that land belongs to the community rather than to the government.
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