5^th November 2014

 

The seminar will address issue related to conflicts and large-scale land acquisitions with contributions from:

 

Maria Cristina Rulli, Politecnico di Milano

Water appropriation in large-scale land acquisitions

 

Ward Anseeuw, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Renewed interest for agriculture and the rush for land – Some perspectives on investment models, trends and data

 

Maria Cristina Rulli

> Bio

Dr. Maria Cristina Rulli is Associate Professor in Hydrology and Water Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano since 2002. She is author of papers in the fields of hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, slope stability analysis and water resources assessment. Her most recent research investigates the emergent phenomenon of the foreign direct investments in agricultural land (FDI) and the implication on water resources   availability and assessment. In 2002 she was awarded with Environmental friendly Innovation Prize by Fondazione Legambiente, Milano, Italy. In 2003 she won the Young researcher award, National Institute for Mountain Research, Roma, Italy.

> Abstract

Water appropriation in large scale land acquisitions

Societal pressure on the global land and freshwater resources is increasing as a result of the rising food demand by the growing human population, dietary changes, and the enhancement of biofuel production induced by the rising oil prices and recent changes in United States and European Union bioethanol policies. Many countries and corporations have started to acquire relatively inexpensive and productive agricultural land located in foreign countries, as evidenced by the dramatic increase in the number of transnational land deals between 2005 and 2009. Large scale land acquisition is driven by a need for agricultural land. In many cases, however, the lack of adequate freshwater resources in the investor country is also a major contributing factor. The comprehensive evaluation of the water associated to large scale land deals provides an estimate of the freshwater removed from target countries through crops export. This phenomenon is of particularly concern because it affects countries prone to malnourishment and in which demographic pressure is dramatically increasing.

 

 

Ward Anseeuw

> Bio

Dr Ward Anseeuw, a development economist and policy analyst, is a research fellow at the Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) seconded to the Post-Graduate School of Agriculture and Rural Development of the University of Pretoria. He is also the co-director of the Center for the Study of Governance Innovations. He has conducted research for the last 15 years in Southern Africa and the African continent, more particularly on the issues of agricultural and land policies, agrarian and land reforms, land conflicts and large-scale land acquisitions. He has published extensively on these issues in scientific journals and with renowned publishers, including Land, transition and compromise (with Chris Alden, Palgrave, 2009), The struggle over land in Africa – Conflicts, politics and change (with Chris Alden, HSRC Press, 2010) and South Africa’s Agrarian Reform (In French, Editions Universitaires Européennes, 2011). Regarding large-scale land based investments (LSLBI), Ward Anseeuw coordinated for the ILC the Commercial Pressures on Land project and is one of the founding members of the Land Matrix. He released an asessment of LSLBI for Southern Africa, detailing the different investment models being developed in the region, and has implemented a similar African based study for the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa of the UN.

> Abstract

Renewed interest for agriculture and the rush for land – Some perspectives on investment models, trends and data

Since much of the focus on large-scale land acquisitions is predominantly political and ideological, different models and practices embedded in the phenomenon and, by consequence the diverse implications they imply, tend to be overlooked. In addition, practices are changing and evolving rapidly.

The objective of this presentation is to give a more disaggregated assessment of investment models implemented and to analyze their differentiated implications and trends. It will also lead to some reflections on data and the changing role data pays within the framework of the phenomenon and its regulation.

 

admission to the Seminar is free of charge, registration is required at: http://goo.gl/iDEU1p

a detailed programme of the seminar is enclosed.