3.1.1 Agricoltura e land grabbing: gli attori in campo

THE ROLE OF AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS IN THE LAND GRABBING BUSINESS

Hans Holmén – Linkoping University, Dept of Thematic Studies, Svezia

During the last few years the number of publications on the theme of "land grabbing" has virtually exploded. The phenomenon - i.e. the appropriation of (mostly) agriculktural land by the powerful, with subsequent dispossession and dislocation of the poor and powerless is real. Reports about land grabbing tend to folloow a rather stereotyped pattern saying that its mmagnitude is immense, that Africa is the main target and that the continent is un der heavy attack by greedy outsiders in a neo-colonial struggle for loand. However, a careful reading of land grabbing literature reveals that while this message fits well certain prefabricated "explanatory" models, it may be misleading. Contrary to this privileged explanation, the magnitude of land grabbing may be exaggerated, the drivers behind it tend to be others than those repetedly mentioned, and the principal agents domestic elites rather than outsiders. Hence, the issue needs to be tackled in a way quite different from what is most often proposed.

LARGE-SCALE LAND ACQUISITIONS AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS: A CHALLENGE FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW

Stefano Montaldo–Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza

The last few years have seen a surge of interest in foreign acquisitions of land for agricultural use in developing countries. This trend led to fears of land grabbing, especially because of the generally large size of the deals and the lack of transparency and incompleteness of contracts. Moreover, large-scale land allocations mainly affect high-value lands, due to their agricultural production capacities or to the availability of abundant waters for irrigation.

After the season of nationalizations boosted by the decolonization process, this modern rush to the conquest of foreign agricultural lands is often led by private actors, namely multinational enterprises, which on their part benefit from the support of some governments fostering international direct investments in land assets.

The emerging phenomenon of agricultural land acquisitions by foreign investors is still far from being properly analyzed and addressed at international level. As far as the legal perspective is concerned, it raises remarkable questions on the need for a tougher regulation of multinational companies’ activity, as well as on the role that international institutions and civil society are (or should be) called to play.

To this regard, the proposed paper briefly analyses recent agricultural land acquisition trends, then focusing on the main legal challenges brought by this phenomenon, such as the fact that foreign investors often take advantage from the lack of formal rural land tenures in less developed countries.

Moreover, the paper aims at considering the efforts that international actors have put in place in order to set up rules allowing for a proper balance between foreign investors’ interests and local needs. To this regard, the analysis is centred on three aspects: the effectiveness of multinational companies’ self-regulatory solutions; the role of international law instruments; the debate on the adoption of an international code on large-scale land acquisitions.

I POSSIBILI EFFETTI DELLA RIFORMA FONDIARIA IN BURKINA FASO SUI PROCESSI DI ACCUMULAZIONE DELLA TERRA

Anna Caltabiano - Università di Bologna

In Burkina Faso è in atto un processo di riforma che, sulla base del principio di messa in sicurezza fondiaria, mira a riconoscere legalmente i sistemi di diritti consuetudinari nelle zone rurali, ridefinendo il regime demaniale e fondiario. Uno degli obiettivi alla base della riforma è la promozione di un’agricoltura moderna, competitiva, integrata ai meccanismi di mercato e che contribuisca all’autosufficienza alimentare attraverso investimenti agricoli privati legati al riconoscimento di titoli di proprietà individuali. Scopo del paper è di analizzare i possibili effetti della riforma fondiaria in un contesto rurale caratterizzato da un'agricoltura di sussitenza basata sul sistema di exploitation familiale, e in cui si stanno inserendo attori, denominati agribusinessmen, provenienti dalla zone urbane che stanno acquisendo terra nelle campagne senza però avere competenze specifiche in grado di favorire la modernizzazione agricola. Il rischio è che la riforma favorisca processi di accumulazione della terra attraverso la compra-vendita di titoli fondiari in cui i piccoli contadini, privi dell'accesso al credito e bisognosi di rispondere a necessità economiche di base, venderebbero i titoli di proprietà, e quindi la terra, ad attori urbani che dispongono di risorse economiche per acquistarli. Tale processo, lontano dal garantire lo sviluppo agricolo, metterebbe a rischio la sicurezza alimentare nelle zone rurali.

THE COMMODITIZATION OF COMMONS: THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY AND ACADEMIC ORGANIZATIONS IN LARGE SCALE LAND ACQUISITIONS

Davide Cirillo – Università di Padova (Egidio Dansero – Università di Torino; Awa Yombe Yade - Università Cheick Anta Diop)

Traditional societies always treated land as a common good, a fundamental resource. Land was considered a continuity symbol which linked clans to their ancestors. To preserve land has been their key priority to guarantee social and environmental sustainability. Nowadays land represent a key assets and it is facing a process of commoditization. In recent years a new wave of investments in land by states, companies, and investments funds targeted the Global South. International organizations did not take a stand yet in the debate. Although they recognized risks related to land acquisitions they only set up voluntary guidelines. Nevertheless,because of the lack of an international law on land deals, many of them happen in violation of the human rights of local communities thus threatening their food security and sovereignty.  Through the theoretical models of the Italian territorialist school (moving from scholars like Raffestin, Turco, Dematteis, Magnaghi) this paper aims to highlights key issues in large scale land acquisitions. Territory is considered as an ensemble of complex relations between actors (at all scales), and between the latter and local resources. In this perspective we will show the centrality of relation in land deals territoriality. Relations between stakeholders involved in a land acquisitions are almost asymmetric because of the different means that stakeholder can use. The mediation and facilitation thus became a key element to reduce such asymmetry in power and to avoid land acquisitions to become land grabbing. The essay will finally focus on the role of civil society and academicals organizations. By analyzing their actions and strategies will be shown how their interaction should represent key element to reduce scalar distances between global and local. By using their networks, skills and expertise they should improve the empowerment of local communities as well as monitor about environmental, economical and social impact of the investments.