Land Grabs in a Green African Economy

Land Grabs in a Green African Economy
Author: Nhamo, Godwell
Publisher: Africa Institute of South Africa
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2014-12-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0798304774

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).

Handbook of Land and Water Grabs in Africa

Handbook of Land and Water Grabs in Africa
Author: John Anthony Allan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 514
Release: 2012-09-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1136276726

According to estimates by the International Land Coalition based at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), 57 million hectares of land have been leased to foreign investors since 2007. Current research has focused on human rights issues related to inward investment in land but has been ignorant of water resource issues and the challenges of managing scarce water. This handbook will be the first to address inward investment in land and its impact on water resources in Africa. The geographical scope of this book will be the African continent, where land has attracted the attention of risk-taking investors because much land is under-utilised marginalized land, with associated water resources and rapidly growing domestic food markets. The successful implementation of investment strategies in African agriculture could determine the future of more than one billion people. An important factor to note is that Sub-Saharan Africa will, of all the continents, be hit hardest by climate change, population growth and food insecurity. Sensible investment in agriculture is therefore needed, however, at what costs and at whose expense? The book will also address the livelihoods theme and provide a holistic analysis of land and water grabbing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Four other themes will addressed: politics, economics, environment and the history of land investments in Sub-Saharan Africa. The editors have involved a highly diverse group of around 25 expert researchers, who will review the pro and anti-investment arguments, geopolitics, the role of capitalist investors, the environmental contexts and the political implications of, and reasons for, leasing millions of hectares in Sub-Saharan Africa. To date, there has been no attempt to review land investments through a suite of different lenses, thus this handbook will differ significantly from existing research and publication. The editors are Tony Allan, (Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography, School of Oriental and African Studies and King’s College London); Jeroen Warner (Assistant Professor, Disaster Studies, University of Wageningen); Suvi Sojamo (PhD Researcher, Water and Development Research Group, Aalto University); and Martin Keulertz (PhD Researcher, Department of Geography, London Water Group, King’s College London).

Land Grab

Land Grab
Author: Keri Vacanti Brondo
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2013-06-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816530211

This is a rich ethnographic account of the relationship between identity politics, neoliberal development policy, and rights to resource management in native communities on the north coast of Honduras. It also answers the question: can “freedom” be achieved under the structures of neoliberalism?

Africa's Land Rush

Africa's Land Rush
Author: Ruth Hall
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2015
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1847011306

Interrogates the narratives of land grabbing and agricultural investment through detailed local studies that illuminate how these are experienced on the ground and the implications for Africa's land and agricultural economy.

Green Grabbing: A New Appropriation of Nature

Green Grabbing: A New Appropriation of Nature
Author: James Fairhead
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2014-10-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1317850521

Across the world, ecosystems are for sale. ‘Green grabbing’ – the appropriation of land and resources for environmental ends – is an emerging process of deep and growing significance. A vigorous debate on ‘land grabbing’ already highlights instances where ‘green’ credentials are called upon to justify appropriations of land for food or fuel. Yet in other cases, environmental green agendas are the core drivers and goals of grabs. Green grabs may be drivn by biodiversity conservation, biocarbon sequestration, biofuels, ecosystem services or ecotourism, for example. In some cases theyse agendas involve the wholesale alienation of land, and in others the restructuring of rules and authority in the access, use and management of resources that may have profoundly alienating effects. Green grabbing builds on well-known histories of colonial and neo-colonial resource alienation in the name of the environment. Yet it involves novel forms of valuation, commodification and markets for pieces and aspects of nature, and an extraordinary new range of actors and alliances. This book draws together seventeen original cases from African, Asian and Latin American settings to ask: To what extent and in what ways do ‘green grabs’ constitute new forms of appropriation of nature? What political and discursive dynamics underpin ‘green grabs’? How and when do appropriations on the ground emerge out of circulations of green capital? What are the implications for ecologies, landscapes and livelihoods? Who is gaining and who is losing? How are agrarian social relations, rights and authority being restructured, and in whose interests? This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Peasant Studies.

Biofuels, Land Grabbing and Food Security in Africa

Biofuels, Land Grabbing and Food Security in Africa
Author: Prosper B. Matondi
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2011-06-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1848138814

The issue of biofuels has already been much debated, but the focus to date has largely been on Latin America and deforestation - this highly original work breaks fresh ground in looking at the African perspective. Most African governments see biofuels as having the potential to increase agricultural productivity and export incomes and thus strengthen their national economies, improving energy balances and rural employment. At the same time climate change may be addressed through reduction of green house gas emissions. There are, however, a number of uncertainties mounting that challenge this scenario. Using cutting-edge empirical case studies, this knowledge gap is addressed in a variety of chapters examining the effects of large-scale biofuel production on African agriculture. In particular, 'land grabbing' and food security issues are scrutinised, both of which have become vital topics in regard to the environmental and developmental governance of African countries. A revealing book for anyone wishing to understand the startling impact of biofuels and land grabbing on Africa.

Handbook of African Development

Handbook of African Development
Author: Tony Binns
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 725
Release: 2018-04-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 131749508X

This handbook presents an extensive new overview of African development - past, present and future. It addresses key core themes and topics that are pertinent to the continent's development - including sections on history, health and food, politics, economics, rural and urban development, and development policy and practice. The volume draws on the expertise of over 60 of the world's leading scholars to provide a detailed and up-to-date analysis of the key opportunities and challenges that confront Africa, and how such issues are being addressed. Arranged by key themes, the handbook provides not only a historical understanding of the past, but also political perspectives on the future. The chapters provide critically informed analyses of their topics by drawing upon the latest conceptual viewpoints and applied experiences in Africa in the form of case studies to offer a comprehensive examination of the opportunities, challenges, key debates and future prospects. This handbook is an invaluable state-of-the-art overview and reference concerning many different aspects of Africa's development, which will be of interest to academics in all fields of African studies, and also academics and students working in cognate disciplines such as development studies, geography, history, politics and economics.

Sovereignty Becoming Pulvereignty

Sovereignty Becoming Pulvereignty
Author: Artwell Nhemachena
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2022-09-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9956552828

This book delves into the topical issue of the future of humanity and of being African in a world increasingly subjected to the power of technology and the dominance of a mercilessly self-absolved global elite. A slave is not only someone who is materially impoverished but also someone who is deprived of autonomy and sovereignty in the sense of being physically or virtually chained or shackled to human and nonhuman networks that negate the essence of the "I" or the "self". Discoursing the neologism slave 4.0 with the ongoing 21st century revolutions designed to create flat ontologies, this book argues that the world is witnessing not only the emergence of industry 4.0 but also the concomitant emergence of slave 4.0. Whereas historically, Africans were physically captured and transported across the Atlantic Ocean, minds of twenty-first century Africans are set to be nanotechnologically scanned, captured and transferred to the metaverse where they will neither own natural resources nor biologically reproduce. The book is handy for scholars in sociology, anthropology, political science, government studies, development studies, digital humanities, environmental studies, religious studies, theology, missiology, science and technology studies.

Grid-locked African Economic Sovereignty

Grid-locked African Economic Sovereignty
Author: Warikandwa, Tapiwa Victor
Publisher: Langaa RPCIG
Total Pages: 654
Release: 2019-02-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9956550302

The emergent so-called “Fourth Industrial Revolution” is regarded by some as a panacea for bringing about development to Africans. This book dismisses this flawed reasoning. Surfacing how “investors” are actually looting and plundering Africa; how the industrial internet of things, the gig economies, digital economies and cryptocurrencies breach African political and economic sovereignty, the book pioneers what can be called anticipatory economics – which anticipate the future of economies. It is argued that the future of Africans does not necessarily require degrowth, postgrowth, postdevelopment, postcapitalism or sharing/solidarity economies: it requires attention to age-old questions about African ownership and control of their resources. Investors have to invest in ensuring that Africans own and control their resources. Further, it is pointed out that the historical imperial structural creation of forced labour is increasingly morphing into what we call the structural creation of forced leisure which is no less lethal for Africans. Because both the structural creation of forced labour and the structural creation of forced leisure are undergirded by transnational neo-imperial plunder, theft, robbery, looting and dispossession of Africans, this book goes beyond the simplistic arguments that Euro-America developed due to the industrial revolutions.

Re-Inventing Africa's Development

Re-Inventing Africa's Development
Author: Jong-Dae Park
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2018-12-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3030039463

This open access book analyses the development problems of sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) from the eyes of a Korean diplomat with knowledge of the economic growth Korea has experienced in recent decades. The author argues that Africa's development challenges are not due to a lack of resources but a lack of management, presenting an alternative to the traditional view that Africa's problems are caused by a lack of leadership. In exploring an approach based on mind-set and nation-building, rather than unity – which tends to promote individual or party interests rather than the broader country or national interests – the author suggests new solutions for SSA's economic growth, inspired by Korea's successful economic growth model much of which is focused on industrialisation. This book will be of interest to researchers, policymakers, NGOs and governmental bodies in economics, development and politics studying Africa's economic development, and Korea's economic growth model.