Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
land, defenders of
our future
A new era of the
global land rush
This publication is a contribution to the Land Rights Now campaign.
For more information, please visit www.landrightsnow.org
LAND RIGHTS IGNORED
Since 2009, Oxfam and others have The most comprehensive analysis Oxfams latest land rights campaign
been raising the alarm about a of land deals - to be published next focuses on cases typical of the
great global land rush. Millions of month - shows that we are now escalation we can expect. Women
hectares of land have been entering an era of implementation left behind. Rights ignored. Entire
acquired by investors to meet rising as contracts are increasingly communities evicted from their
demand for food and biofuels, or for signed and work on their intended homes. We are in the midst of the
speculation. This often happens at projects started. This means we single biggest attack in the world
the expense of those who need the will see their full implications in the today on peoples identity, rights,
land most and are best placed to years to come. Up to 59 percent of livelihoods and security, as well as
protect it: farmers, pastoralists, these deals cover communal lands our environment. They cannot
forest-dependent people, claimed by Indigenous Peoples and afford to lose this fight, nor can we.
fisherfolk, and indigenous peoples. small communities, meaning that
millions are affected. Yet only a
small fraction of deals have
involved any real dialogue with
local communities. The potential
for escalating conflict is huge.
Miriam Miranda (above) leads a group territories, opposing a model of death that People are being beaten, forcibly evicted,
defending the lands of Afro-Honduran grows stronger each day. We are at the intimidated, disenfranchised,
communities against theft and front of the avalanche of attacks. criminalized, tricked, discriminated
exploitation, called the Fraternal Everywhere throughout Honduras, like in against, and denied their rights.
Organization of Black People of Honduras all of Latin America, Africa, Asia, women
Experts from Global Witness track the
(OFRANEH). More than 100 land rights are at the forefront of the struggles for our
assassination of land and environmental
defenders have been murdered in rights, against racial discrimination, for
defenders. In 2015, more than two land
Honduras in the past six yearsincluding the defence of our commons and for our or environmental defenders were killed
Mirandas close friend, Berta Cceres. At survival. Were at the front not only with each week, almost half of whom were
the World Bank Groups 2015 Spring our bodies but also with our force, our from indigenous communities.3
Meetings, Oxfam proudly hosted Miranda ideas, our proposals. We dont only birth
so that she could lobby against the World children, but ideas and actions as well. The attacks on the custodians of
Banks support for the palm oil common lands are helped by weak and
plantations affecting the lands of her If the problem is global, we have to have pitiless governments, and dodgy
people. That same year, OFRANEH won the a global response.1 lending. Big businesses are reaping the
US Food Sovereignty Prize for its struggle Governments and powerful business profitsfrom mining and logging
to reclaim control of their food systems. interests are marginalizing up to 2.5 companies, to agribusinesses and
billion women and men from their lands.2 speculators.
Without our lands, we cease to be
people, Miranda told an interviewer. For It is the single biggest attack in the The prize is land and the resources
us, the struggle for our territories, our world today on peoples identity, rights, that lie above and below it: forests,
commons and our natural resources is of livelihoods and security, as well as our minerals, water and the very soil itself.
primary importance to preserve environment.
For every win in their existential struggle
ourselves as a people. A diverse campaign of terror and for recognition and safety, indigenous
She added, I want to talk about the role of displacement is taking place across many peoples and other groups who depend
women in defending life, culture, and countries, driven by greed and impunity. upon common lands suffer crushing
losses each day. This all combines to The International Work Group for They are therefore largely powerless
add a new chapter to the centuries of Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), in their report within mainstream political economies.
abuse against land and people that The Indigenous World 20168 notes that The absence of land titles is equated
began with the first colonialization. indigenous peoples around the world have erroneously with an absence of
shown few signs of [socio-economic] productivity and of rights, and
Half of the worlds landmass is home to eventually, of existence.
progress and are, in some cases, even
indigenous peoples and local
moving backwards. It further claims that Indigenous peoples and local
communities that are its traditional
the root cause of many indigenous communities are hugely resilient and
owners. But they have no formally
peoplespoverty is their precarious courageous, but they are too often left
recognized ownership to 80% of this
situation when it comes to land.9 facing overwhelming odds. Oxfam works
land. The rest is therefore often
The IWGIA places particular blame upon with partners and representatives of
considered fair game for plunder,
large agri-business, extractive their struggles around the world. The
typically under the guise of economic
fight is not only happening in developing
development. Ninety percent of rural industries and infrastructure developers.
countries, but rich ones too: the United
land in Africa is undocumented. In Peru, Governments are so eager to attract
States, Australia, Norway, Canada, New
an area five times the size of Switzerland them, the IWGIA says, that they will
Zealand, Japan, India and Brazil are all
lacks recognition. Globally, the amount change local laws in a more corporate-
home to indigenous peoples struggles.
of land held or governed collectively is friendly way which threatens to
immense twice the size of Brazil and undermine indigenous peoples rights. The Land Rights Now campaign,10 which
Russia combined.4 Oxfam adds mega-projects for tourism or Oxfam helped launch alongside
energy, land speculation and carbon hundreds of other organizations, is
There is a long list of benefits to projects to the list of offenders. drawing attention to the crisis faced by
securing peoples rights to these lands. traditional lands. It says: Because we all
It would protect more than 5,000 human In many cases, governments simply benefit, we should all protect and
cultures, and 4,000 different languages, dont act in the interests of indigenous defend those peoples and customary
as well as 80 percent of the planets peoples and local communities. institutions that have preserved these
biodiversity.5 Research by the World Documentation and registration of the ecosystems for centuries.11
Resources Institute shows that the rate land rights of indigenous peoples and The campaign calls for a doubling of the
of deforestation on indigenous lands in local communities are ignored by area of land recognized as owned or
the Amazon is less than one tenth than politicians. Mapping is often opposed. controlled by indigenous peoples and
rest of the region.6 Such stewardship is Administrative procedures are long and local communities by 2020 as a start.
crucial in the battle against climate cumbersome. Despite customary land But it would be a game-changing start
change. Forests held by indigenous rights having been enshrined in that would make a huge difference in
international law, they are too often and the lives of millions.
peoples and local communities store
too easily trampled on in practice.
37.7bn tons of carbon7, which is According to forthcoming data from the
equivalent to the worlds entire annual Undocumented land has become treated Land Matrix Initiative, up to half of the
emissions of CO2 due to fossil fuel as a euphemism for vacant land. documented cases of major deals since
combustion. It is hard to believe that the Therefore, pastoralists, forest peoples and 2000 involved land claimed by
world can bring emissions down herders have often come to be considered communities and indigenous peoples.
sufficiently if we dont tackle the squatters and trespassers. Traditional These deals are quickly moving to full
massive changes affecting these agriculture is treated as backwards and implementation with operations starting
forests, and give secure rights to those unproductive rather than as an effective on the ground, meaning the fight for
who have defended them. method of land management. community land will be increasingly brutal
in the coming years. The cases Oxfam is
This is a battle between people in an Because indigenous peoples and local highlighting in this brief are typical of the
unequal world, where lands and communities often live outside escalation of conflict we can expect. It is
resources that are not yet protected are mainstream capitalistic market time we saw the threats to these
mercilessly consumed. structures they are poor in cash terms. communities as threats to all of us.
They came at night. Masked, armed men torched homes and fields in
the Shasthrawela and Ragamwela coastal villages of Paanama, Sri
Lanka, and now more than three hundred families are displaced.34
This was in 2010. Six years later, families rapidly being eaten up by tourism
are still displaced. Some, like Rathnamali More than 5,000 distinct cultures ventures, where fishing communities are
Kariyawasam, have ended up employed around the world depend on evicted and their cultures lost. While
on other farms. However, their meagre indigenous and community lands. tourism can be a major source of
wages are hardly enough to provide livelihoods for millions if done
enough food, let alone education, for The women led the exiled villagers in sustainably, it can be a devastating
their families. filing court cases, petitioning Sri Lankas force for communities and the
Human Rights Commission, and organizing environment if driven purely by the
The stunning beauty of their lands
protests. Rathnamali was one of them. search for profits.
attracted trouble. With the end of the Sri
Lankan civil war in 2009, tourism In 2015, they sealed a major victory. A
skyrocketedespecially from Europe, newly elected government ordered the WHATS THE SOLUTION?
and the United Kingdom and Germany in return of 340 acres of land to the Sri Lankan authorities must immediately
particular. community. However, nothing has been carry out the Cabinets decision from
Much of this development was handled done to implement this decision. February 11, 2015, and return 340 acres
by the military. After the raid on the of land back to the Paanama villagers.
The Paanama villagers are at a tipping
Paanama lands, they put up electrified Tourists cannot be accomplices to these
point. If they get their land back, other
fences around the villages. A luxury crimes. The government of Sri Lanka
rural Sri Lankan communities in danger
hotel and a conference centre were should make a firm choice and promote
of eviction could demand the same. This
built. just sustainable tourism.
would also pause the seemingly
unstoppable environmental destruction
along Sri Lankas coast.
Tourism is a growing driver for land
grabs. This is a particular issue in
coastal areas around the world that are
INDIA
Land is our life.
andana Jani, community member,
K
Kutia Kand Adivasi, Odisha
In India, the 2006 Forest Rights Act was supposed to protect the
rights of millions of communities like the Kutia Kand Adivasi in
Odisha, in the east of the country.
Kandana Jani, a 62-year-old father of The high global demand for teakwood WHATS THE SOLUTION?
five, followed the law and fought to have furniture, floors and other commercial
The Indian government must stop
the rights of his family and 50 others in home goods has made this a profitable
claiming community lands for industrial
his community recognized through the industry. However, expanding teak
farming, mining or badly planned
Forest Rights Act. plantations comes at the expense of the
conservation projects. Instead, it should
Kutia. Where before they planted a
But local authorities, under the guise of recognize the rights of tribal groups and
variety of crops, and managed
forestation projects, have started local communities over their lands, and
biodiversity in the forests, now they are
bringing in profitable teak tree properly implement the 2006 Forest
fighting against the spread of these tree
plantations onto land that Kandana and Rights Act. If this is realized on the
plantations.
his community have rights to. ground, more than 150 million women
Without the forests, the community is and men, along with half of the countrys
now in danger of disappearing. However, forests, will benefit.
Around half of Indias rural
Kandana and others are not sitting the
households derive resources
needed for their livelihoods from fight out, but are instead petitioning the
indigenous and community lands. government to enforce their own laws.
In 2006, with the Forest Rights Act, India
recognized in law, rights of forest
dependent communities, and proved to
be a world leader on this matter. But
competing interests have reduced that
ambition. India needs to be a forests
champion once again.
mozambique
I do not feel secure where I live now
because the land is only borrowed. Our
community needs a place to live
Namonaro Koneliwa, farmer, Gurue district
1. Quotes from Ts. Field and B. Bell. 2013, August 26. 17. K.C. Boudreaux. 2015. Operational guidelines for 29. Indigenous people make up 5 percent of the
Without Our Land, We Cease To Be a People: responsible land-based investment. USAID. www. worlds population but represent 15 percent of its
Defending Indigenous Territory and Resources in usaidlandtenure.net/documents/operational- poor and around 33 percent of its extremely poor.
Honduras. The Huffington Post. http://www. guidelines-responsible-land-based-investment See United Nations Department of Social and
huffingtonpost.com/beverly-bell/-without-our- Economic Affairs. 2009. State of the Worlds
land-we-ceas_b_3816825.html 18. K. Geary. 2015. Risky investment and human Indigenous Peoples. New York: United Nations
rights abuses: Does the World Bank think this is publication; and also Hall and Patrinos. 2006.
2. Oxfam, International Land Coalition, Rights and development?. Oxfam Policy & Practice Blog. Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Human
Resources Initiative. 2016. Common Ground. policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/blog/2015/04/ Development in Latin America 1994-2004. New York,
Securing Land Rights and Safeguarding the Earth. risky-investment-and-human-rights-abuses NY: Palgrave McMillan.
Oxford: Oxfam. www.landrightsnow.org/en/
common-ground/ 19. Oxfam Novib. 2012. Race naar de top ! Oxfam 30. Ellison-Loschmann, L., Firestone, R., Aguila, L.,
Novib GROW blog. growinnederland.blogspot.co. McKenzie, F., Gray, M., & Jeffreys, M., 2015. et al.
3. Global Witness. 2014. Deadly Environment. Global uk/2012/04/race-naar-de-top.html (Dutch) 2015. Barriers to and delays in accessing breast
Witness. www.globalwitness.org/ cancer care among New Zealand women: disparities
documents/12993/deadly%20environment.pdf 20. Oxfam Australia. 2015. Banking on shaky ground:
one year on. Oxfam Australia blog. www.oxfam.org. by ethnicity. BMC Heath Services Research, 15, 1,
4. Oxfam, et al. 2016. Op.cit. au/2015/05/banking-on-shaky-ground-one-year- 394.
on/ Reeve, C., Banfield, S., Thomas, A., Reeve, D., &
5. The World Bank. 2008. The Role of Indigenous
Peoples in Biological Conservation. Washington: Oxfam Australia. 2016. Australias big four banks Davis, S. 2015. Community outreach midwifery-led
The World Bank; WWF International and Terralingua. and land grabs. Oxfam Australia Banks and Land model improves antenatal access in a
2000. Indigenous and Traditional Peoples of the Storify. www.oxfam.org.au/what-we-do/ disadvantaged population. Australian Journal of
World and Ecoregion Conservation. Gland: WWF food-and-climate/australian-banks-and-land- Rural Health.
International; grabs/banks-and-land-latest-updates/ 31. King, Malcolm et al. Indigenous health part 2:
6. C. Stevens et al. 2014. Securing Rights, 21. J. Thorpe. 2013. Sugar Rush: Land rights and the the underlying causes of the health gap. The
Combating Climate Change: How Strengthening supply chains of the biggest food and beverage Lancet. Volume 374. Issue 9683, 76-85.
Community Forest Rights Mitigates Climate Change. companies. Oxfam briefing note. www.oxfam.org/ 32. Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. 8
World Resources Institute and Rights and en/research/sugar-rush September 2015. Comunidad Garfuna Triunfo de la
Resources Initiative. Cruz y sus Miembros vs. Honduras. Sentencia
Rights and Resources. 2013. New Reports: Global
7. Ibid. Land Grab Brings Significant Risk to Investors As (Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas)
Communities Respond to Economic Harm, Human www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/casos/articulos/
8. D. Vinding and C. Mikkelsen (eds). 2016. The Rights Abuses. Press release. www.
Indigenous World 2016. Copenhagen: IWGIA. www. seriec_305_esp.pdf
rightsandresources.org/wp-content/
iwgia.org/publications/series/yearbook-the- uploads/2014/01/doc_5713.pdf 33. http://www.un.org/climatechange/
indigenous-world summit/2014/09/peru-germany-norway-launch-
M. Colchester and S. Chao (eds). 2013. Conflict or climate-forest-partnership/
9. Ibid. Consent? The oil palm sector at a crossroads.
10. Oxfam, et. al. 2016. Op.cit. Forest Peoples Programme. www.forestpeoples. 34. Quote from P.M. Bandara, villager of Paanama.
org/topics/palm-oil-rspo/publication/2013/
11. Ibid. conflict-or-consent-oil-palm-sector-crossroads 35. Byamugisha. 2013. Securing Africas land for
shared prosperity: a program to scale up reforms
12. The former ownership of land according to the 22. M. van Zijl. 7 August 2014. Nestl declares zero and investments. Africa Development Forum.
reports in the Land Matrix (336 deals for which tolerance for land grabs. Oxfam Behind the Brands Washington DC: World Bank Group
information is available) is attributed to campaign news. www.behindthebrands.org/en/
communities (32 percent), private smallholders (13 campaign-news/nestl%C3%A9-declares-zero- Photos by Oxfam India; Rashmini de Silva and
percent), states (27 percent) and private tolerance-for-land-grabs Shantha Padmakumara / Oxfam in Sri Lanka; Julie
large-scale farmers (28 percent). State ownership Barnes and Percy Ramirez / Oxfam in Peru; Oxfam in
in many regions and countries co-exists with 23. UN Human Rights Council. 2012. Report of the Honduras; Oxfam in Mozambique. Photos from
customary land tenure, either individually or Working Group on the issue of human rights and Australia were kindly provided by the Kimberley
communally. Therefore, for many land deals, state transnational corporations and other business Land Council (KLC). All rights remain with the KLC.
ownership could still imply that land is owned enterprises. A/HR/C/20/29. http://www.ohchr.org/
traditionally by communities. Read more: http:// Documents/Issues/Business/A.HRC.20.29_en.pdf
www.landmatrix.org. 24. A. Cullen and R. Munoz. 8 September 2016. North
13. Percentages refer to 161 cases reporting Dakota pipeline fight gives spark to Native American
information on consultation. Read more: www. activism. Reuters. www.reuters.com/article/
landmatrix.org. us-usa-pipeline-nativeamericans-idUSKCN11D2RR
14. Committee on World Food Security. 2012. The 25. Oxfam. ILC. RRI. 2016. Op. cit.
Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible 26. Taylor. 2007. Indigenous Peoples and Indicators
Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forest of Well-being: Australian Perspectives on United
in the Context of National Food Security. Rome: FAO. Nations Global Frameworks. Social Indicator
15. S. Parmentier. 2013. Two years on: What Research, 87, 111-126.
became of The Guidelines on the responsible 27. MacDonald, Willox, Ford, Shiwak & Wood. 2015.
governance of tenure of land, fisheries and Protective factors for mental health and
forests?. Oxfam International blog. blogs.oxfam. well-being in a changing climate: Perspectives from
org/en/blogs/14-05-13-two-years-guidelines- Inuit youth in Nunatsiavut, Labrador. Social
responsible-governance-tenure-land-fisheries- Science & Medicine, 14, 133-141.
and-forests
28. Rigby, C. W., Rosen, A., Berry, H. L. & Hart, C. R.,
16. Foncier & dveloppement. 2014. Guide to due 2011. If the lands sick, were sick: The impact of
diligence of agribusiness projects that affect land prolonged drought on the social and emotional
and property rights. www.foncier-developpement. well-being of Aboriginal communities in rural New
fr/publication/guide-to-due-diligence-of- South Wales. Australian Journal of Rural Health,
agribusiness-projects-that-affect-land-and- 19, 249254.
property-rights/
Land rights dont just mean someone owning a plot of land.
Land rights mean a mother or a father is able to harvest
enough crops to feed their family and sell at market. Lands
rights mean communities can practice their ancestral
traditions and worship at sacred sites. Land rights mean
protecting forests, rivers, coastlines and more from
unaccountable governments and greedy businesses. Land
rights mean handing nature on to the next generation.