Land grabbing and right to adequate food in ethiopia 221 been described by some as a neocolonialist scramble for africa. The state has transferred small and mediumscale land parcels to mainly domestic investors 3. 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. European involvement in land grabbing with a particular look at uganda. 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. Indigenous communities displaced from their land by the expansion of agribusiness in mato grosso do sul, brazil. Land grabbing and share of the value added in agricultural processes. 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. With its weak system of governance and abundant arable land and water resources. Africa, cultural, economics, history, journalism, nonfiction, politics, writing. Grain foreign pension funds and land grabbing in brazil. Subscribe today to the monitor click here for your free 30 days of. 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. Jul 05, 2011 land grabbing is occurring on a scale and at a rate faster than ever known before food first, 2011.
Indigenous organisations outraged by ethiopias government. Ownership, equity, and liberty in land use rights daniel weldegebriel ambaye, ethiopia key words. In ethiopia, foreign investment is a fancy word for. We narrow down the global literature and focus on a specific country, ethiopia, which has been subject to significant land deals 1.
Research in ethiopia, ghana, mali, mozambique, senegal and tanzania indicate that land grabbing is currently a big challenge for african countries because of. Pdf this paper examines the domestic political economy of socalled land grabbing in ethiopia, assessing the motivations of the ethiopian. Although one in 10 ethiopians is going hungry, the government is leasing fertile land to foreign investors. Review of land grabbing policies of successive regimes of. Stakeholders perspectives on largescale agricultural.
Friends of the earth has looked at cases of land grabbing in 11 countries across africa, from ethiopia to mozambique see appendix. Land grabbing and human rights transnational institute. In ethiopia land has been considered as an important economic and social asset where the. The indigenous peoples of ethiopia make up a significant proportion of the countrys estimated population of 105 million. The study used fao unpublished data on land suitability and availability. Pdf landgrabbing and the right to adequate food in ethiopia. 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. Ethiopia attracts investors with its cheap labor and fertile land. Large areas of land have already been leased to a number of foreign companies. It refers to the capturing of power to control land and other associated resources like water. Effects of largescale agricultural investments on smallholder. Africas hot spots related stories think you know africa. 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. Ethiopias president views these developments as key to improving the quality of life in africa.
Studies suggest that a third of the land sold or acquired in africa is intended for fuel crops some 5 million hectares. While some of this land is sold outright to private. South west cameroon is a good example, because land appropriation for commercial agriculture is occurring at an alarming rate feintrenie et al. The brutal reality of ethiopia s new sugar wars ethiopia s mursi tribe says they were imprisoned and tortured to protect chinese sugar plantations. Land grabbing as new enclosures in contemporary ethiopia.
We are grateful for the inspiration and information about land grabbing and ethiopia we got from dr kjell havnevik. Based on the discussion above, it is possible to conclude that land grabbing for biofuels is the most serious national issue in ethiopia. Land grabbing, sustainable development and human rights. 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. Read the report from the indianethiopian civil society summit on land investments new delhi, february 57, 20 on february 6, 20 the indian social action forum insaf, kalpavriksh, peace, and the oakland institute convened a daylong civil society summit at the india international centre, new delhi, bringing together activists resisting land grabs across india and ethiopia. 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 ethiopian project will be financed by the african development bank. Land grabbing and the human rights obligations of the eu. 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 tragic truth of land grabbing for biofuels in ethiopia. 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. While used broadly throughout history, land grabbing as used in the 21st century primarily refers to largescale land acquisitions following the 200708. Did west ignore rape charges related to ethiopia land grab.
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. Oct 17, 2014 land grabs in the developing world create a system so unequal that resourcerich countries become resource dependent. This study is conducted in order to shed light on and investigate the welfare situation for people affected by these investments. Pdf ethiopia history of land tenure and the present land. Are us and uk turning a blind eye as ethiopia uproots natives. In ethiopia, more land grabs, more indigenous people pushed. Indigenous organisations outraged by ethiopia s government land deal with iconic land grabbing company. Mediumscale forestland grabbing in the southwestern. In ethiopia, more land grabs, more indigenous people. The ethiopian constitution of 1995 restricts the legislative power of the. 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. World land grabbing in ethiop ia foreign investors and famine. Download pdf, 505 kb international large scale land acquisitions in ethiopia the key to trigger agricultural modernization, development and. This is tnis second draft of our popular primer on land grabbing.
Citizenship and ethiopia s new agricultural investment policies. Pdf the post2008 global land rush was mainly targeted at africa. 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. The article argues that a human rights approach is fundamental to reconcile the sustainable development imperatives of economic development and environmental protection in the. Land grabbing, large scale land acquisition, international investments, welfare, labor demand, wage, household, oromia region, ethiopia. This paper examines the domestic political economy of socalled landgrabbing in ethiopia, assessing the. This global land grab is a massive transfer of vital food producing resources from poor rural communities to a wealthy global elite. So broader narratives of landgrabbing seeing governments as unwitting. May 11, 2018 indigenous organisations outraged by ethiopia s government land deal with iconic land grabbing company written on 11 may 2018.
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. Odusola over the past decade, largescale land acquisition in africa has become quite intense, especially in drc, ethiopia, madagascar, mozambique, sudan, tanzania and zambia. The rush for land and agricultural investment in ethiopia. Journeys in the new colonialism by author stefano liberti in pdf epub. 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. Women and land rights in ethiopia ethiopian legal brief. It is important to unpack what land grabbing really involves if we are to understand what is really happening. Land rights and land grabbing in oromia, ethiopia request pdf. Regarding employment, even though almost all the unskilled manua. 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 current global land grab is causing radical changes in the use and ownership of land. There is a deeprooted understanding among the lowland communities that land belongs to the community rather than to the government. Thescholarsinterviewedwill be presented via footnotes in the text.
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. Discarded land deals 2016 list of deals that were discarded from the main dataset because they were sold, cancelled or. Skype interviews were held in september2014,wereopenended,lastingseveralhourstodraw on observations and documentation available on land grab trends in. The imperial regime 19301974 had imposed an oppressive land. 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. From this perspective, land grabbing is essentially control grabbing. 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. A better way to start to understand land grabbing is through the lens of political economy. Indianethiopian civil society summit on land investments.
In ethiopia, land grabbing undermines affected communities active participation in decisions about 17understanding land investment deals in africa. Land is a common property of the nations, nationalities and peoples of ethiopia. Web of scienceindexed publications combined results of land grabbing, largescale land acquisition, agricultural investment 2005 2019. Land grabbing in ethiopia foreign investors and famine. Forest investments and channels of contestation in highland ethiopia 5. Original title isbn 9781781682326 published on 20116. Geopolitical drivers of foreign investment in african land and water resources 3. The paper draws on trade data between india and ethiopia, expert interviews, studies and reports on the use and productivity of grabbed land. Land rights and land grabbing in oromia, ethiopia sciencedirect.
Land grabbing is the contentious issue of largescale land acquisitions. Republic of ethiopia fdre unequivocally states that land shall not be individuals property. In ethiopia, foreign investment is a fancy word for stealing land. The paper examines ethiopia s program of largescale land. Landgrabbing and the right to adequate food in ethiopia. Land grabbing by foreign investors in developing countries risks and opportunities published popular. While it is true for most indigenous communities that deprivation and violation of their right to land is not a new phenomenon, it is also. See foreign direct investment in the agricultural sector in ethiopia, ecofair trade dialogue. The political economy of agricultural investment in ethiopia published in the journal of peasant studies 391. Land concentration, land grabbing and peoples struggles in. Legal and institutional frameworks relating to land in ethiopia.
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. This content was originally written for an undergraduate or masters. 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 ethiopian government has set aside an area of land around the size of belgium, 3 million hectares, available for lease. Ethiopia iwgia international work group for indigenous. The scale and impact of land grabbing for agrofuels. The paper examine land grabbing in sudan, and its implication on small farmers and food security.
Chinas dual role as trade partner and donor could as. Land is a very vital resource and source of livelihood for the majority of people in ethiopia. Environmental impact assessments are not required or are performed in an ad hoc manner. 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. As land in ethiopia is owned exclusively by the state and. The term land grab defines the seizing of land by a nation, state, or organization, especially illegally, underhandedly, or unfairly. 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. Past and present of political power in ethiopia power. The rush for land and agricultural investment in ethiopia mdpi. This paper examines the domestic political economy of socalled land grabbing in ethiopia, assessing the. 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. Historical aspects of landgrab in ethiopia with political. Addressing the human rights impacts of land grabbing, lorenzo cotula 2014 european parliaments subcommittee on human rights. Land laws currently in force also do not sufficiently protect rights of rural land users.
Land grabbing is the most legally and ethically problematic form of largescale land acquisitions. For example, in ethiopia much land acquisition is led by national parastatal agencies. A study on land grabbing cases in uganda april 2012. Estimates of land deal figures for ethiopia vary wildly.
Threats to sustainable development posed by land and water. 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. 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. Africa embarked on the purchase andor lease of thousands of hectares of arable lands from countries in africa includ ing, madagascar, ethiopia, mozambique. In ethiopia, one of the worlds largest recipients of foreign aid, the. 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.
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