Guidelines For Sustainable Large Scale Land Deals In Africa

Over the last few years, agribusinesses, investment funds and government agencies have demonstrated a growing interest in acquiring large portions of land, mostly in developing countries and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In the host countries, investors and government see these acquisitions as opportunities to attract foreign investment that will enhance food and energy security and stimulate socio-economic development. Analysing a number of these deals in Africa suggests that these objectives are usually not attained and that their sustainability appears to be uncertain.

"This report was prepared for 'Legal tools for citizen empowerment, ' a programme steered by the International Institute for Environment and Development"--Page iii.

Large-scale farmland investments in sub-Saharan Africa have to date produced a striking uniformity of largely negative local socioeconomic and environmental outcomes, raising questions about their contribution to sustainable development. This study attributes these outcomes to eight interrelated factors, namely, (1) deficiencies in the law, (2) elite capture, (3) conflicts of interest, (4) capacity constraints, (5) high modernist ideologies, (6) limited contestation, (7) incompatibility of production systems, and (8) misalignment of corporate accountability. Considering the important role of poor implementation and enforcement in shaping outcomes, greater emphasis should be placed on institutional rather than legal reform in host countries. Institutional conditions relating to (1) mandate, (2) capacity, (3) incentives, and (4) accountability need to be fulfilled. Findings also highlight the importance of balanced cross-sectoral reform, risks associated with decentralization, and the need to exercise greater caution when adopting free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) principles. This Info Brief concludes with a number of concrete recommendations for policy makers.

This book focuses on profiling, from both literature-based and primary research points of orientation, instances of land grabs and/or acquisitions with a focus on the implications of land grabs for trade, investment and development policy in Africa under the global green economy transition agenda. In many instances, case studies and examples paint a picture that could be of use to policy-makers. Overall, the book advocates a 'satisfy-satisfy' orientation when land deals are made, as well as total transparency from key actors, building grassroots negotiation capacity and awareness. To illustrate some of the emerging issues in terms of land-grabs, acquisition and their implications for trade, investment and development policies, the sixth Trade Policy Training Centre in Africa (trapca) conference took place in Arusha, Tanzania on 24 and 25 November 2011. The conference had two objectives: (1) to come up with concrete policy interventions and recommendations that would harness foreign investment in land on the continent; and (2) to publish this edited book of selected papers presented at the conference that met the rigorous specifications laid down by the editors and publishers. One of the major revelations to emerge from the Conference was that 'there is no vacant land in Africa'. In addition, participants took the view that land deals in Africa needed to be done on a 'satisfy-satisfy-satisfy' rather than a 'win-win-win' basis. This book is jointly published by trapca and the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA).

Four other themes will addressed: politics, economics, the environment and the history of land investments in sub-Saharan Africa.

Rapid growth of emerging economies, emerging interest in biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels and recent volatility in commodity prices have led to a marked increase in the pace and scale of foreign and domestic investment in landbased enterprises in the global South. Emerging evidence of the negative social and environmental effects of these large-scale land transfers and growing concern from civil society have placed ‘global land grabs’ firmly on the map of global land use change and public discourse. Yet what are the processes involved in these large-scale land transfers? This paper provides a comparative analysis of legal and institutional frameworks and actual practices associated with large-scale land acquisitions in Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. Drawing on policy documents, interviews with government officials from diverse sectors and discussions with customary leaders and affected communities, we explore some of the deficiencies in legislation and practice which currently undermine the ability to safeguard customary rights in the context of large-scale land acquisition.